• Arizona laws support disability rights.handicap image by laurent gehant from Fotolia.com
  
  Arizona advocates rights for the state's handicapped at least as much as the sun shows its light there. For example, the Arizona Center for Disability Law (ACDL) regularly takes the initiative in investigating reports of disability rights violations in the state, as well as initiating legal remedies on behalf of Arizona's handicapped.
  
  

Mental Disability Rights

• Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), those with mental illnesses significantly impairing major life activities, such as learning and working, receive legal protection entitling them to disability rights. In the 1989 Arizona Supreme Court case of Arnold v. Sarn, the court determined that those with serious mental illnesses have a right to treatment and that the state of Arizona failed to provide such treatment. Implementing this established right is still a work in progress in Arizona, notes the ACDL, with budget shortfalls being among the challenges. In spite of this, however, improvements have been seen in the state's helping those with psychiatric disabilities find their way to recovery.
  
  

Rights to Home Care

• The Arizonans with Disabilities Act (AzDA) complements the federal ADA, both of which support the 2009 U.S. District Court ruling regarding the Arizona Medicaid program's discrimination against disabled citizens in Arizona. This ruling upheld the disabled individual's right to receive community-based care in the home, rather than necessitate his moving to a nursing home facility for needed care.
  
  

Sensory Disability Rights

• On April 30, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Arizona citizens with hearing disabilities a victory by mandating that Arizona movie theaters install equipment enabling the showing of certain movies with captions and audio descriptions. Under the ruling, captions and audio descriptions qualify as "auxiliary aids" in harmony with the ADA. Arizona's Office of the Attorney General notes that this ruling affirms that the ADA and AzDA support not just physical access to public space, but also to the services offered in these spaces.
  
  

Right to Fees Compensation

• Arizona is among 25 states compensating plaintiffs for attorney fees accrued in discrimination cases involving state and local governments, cites John Parry in the book "Disability Discrimination Law, Evidence and Testimony."