525 Jefferson Ave., Ste. 300 Toledo, OH 43604-1373
Phone: 419-255-0814 Fax: 419-259-2880
Traditionally, legal aid offices have attempted to resolve the legal problems of the poor on an individual and case by case basis. Without neglecting the pressing and immediate needs of individual clients, ABLE places an emphasis on identifying and attacking the legal and institutional problems that underlie poverty. ("Fact Sheet on Advocates for Basic Legal Equality," p. 2) In one case, Dotson v. U.S. Department of HUD , ABLE represented low-income housing residents who requested greater enforcement of consent decrees.
In addition to sponsoring cases involving large numbers of low-income minorities, ABLE also files amicus curiae briefs. In Mills v. Rogers (1982), for example, ABLE asked the court to nullify, on constitutional grounds, the forced administration of antipsychotic drugs to patients. While ABLE pursues such reforms for its general constituency, it also has established three special projects. Created in 1980, its Government Benefits Advocacy Project, which receives funding from church-based programs, "works to insure that government benefit programs meet the needs of the clients they were designed to serve." To that end, ABLE's staff provides "individual legal representation," works to change inequitable laws, and attempts to "reduce welfare dependency." Its Handicap Education Advocacy Project attempts "to ensure that handicapped children are able to obtain the full educational benefits" to which they are entitled under law. Finally, the Nursing Home Advocacy Project, created in 1984, "trains volunteer lay advocates to monitor the conditions and care provided the elderly and mentally impaired in nursing homes and other residential care facilities."
