Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Michael Schwartz Receives Fulbright to Study Health Care Access for Deaf Persons in Northern Ireland

Wednesday, August 13, 2014, By Kelly Homan Rodoski
Share
College of LawdisabilitiesResearch and Creative

Michael Schwartz, associate professor of law and director of the Disability Rights Clinic in the College of Law, has been named a recipient of a research scholarship through the U.S.-U.K Fulbright Awards Program. He will spend the spring 2015 semester engaged in research at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz

He will study the interplay between law and practice in the health care setting in Northern Ireland, particularly with the obligation of health care providers to be communication accessible to deaf persons.

“My work as an attorney for over 32 years in the United States has made me aware of the difficulty deaf people face in effectively accessing appropriate health care, especially mental health services,” says Schwartz, who is deaf. “The health care setting in the United States is by and large inaccessible for many deaf people because either a sign language interpreter is not present or the provider does not have cultural competence in working with deaf people. Based on anecdotal evidence from my contacts in the United Kingdom, my working assumption is that what is happening in the U.S. is also the case in Northern Ireland.”

Schwartz’s study will collect the narratives of the parties in the medical triad—patient, provider and interpreter—in an effort to better understand how they work and devise improvements in the delivery of health care services and greater compliance with the mandates of disability law.

Schwartz’s Fulbright research ties in with his human rights work at Syracuse University. He is currently working to establish a relationship with key elements of civil society in Ethiopia that will advance the country’s disability agenda; he visited the country to perform research last year. He is also working to bring an Ethiopian disability rights lawyer to Syracuse University as a student next year and is organizing an annual trip to Vietnam for students interested in the country’s disability policies and practices.

He is eager to go back to Northern Ireland, a place he has visited no less than 15 times in his life. “The Fulbright is the culmination of a long-held dream to live and work in Northern Ireland, one of my favorite spots on Earth,” Schwartz says.

Formerly a University Fellow, Schwartz holds five degrees, including a Ph.D. from Syracuse in education with a concentration in disability studies. He received a juris doctor degree from the New York University School of Law. He has been an actor with the National Theater of the Deaf; a law clerk to a federal district court judge; assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office; a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice; a solo practitioner; and assistant attorney general in the New York State Department of Law. Prior to coming to Syracuse, he taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology for four years.

Beyond his scholarly activities, Schwartz holds a private pilot’s license and scuba diving certification. He has traveled the world extensively since 1967, including Canada, Mexico, East Africa, Vietnam, Israel and Europe.

  • Author

Kelly Rodoski

  • Recent
  • WiSE Hosts the 2025 Norma Slepecky Memorial Lecture and Undergraduate Research Prize Award Ceremony
    Friday, June 13, 2025, By News Staff
  • Inaugural Meredith Professor Faculty Fellows Announced
    Friday, June 13, 2025, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • Lab THRIVE: Advancing Student Mental Health and Resilience
    Thursday, June 12, 2025, By News Staff
  • 7 New Representatives Added to the Board of Trustees
    Wednesday, June 11, 2025, By News Staff
  • Whitman Honors Outstanding Alumni and Friends at 2025 Awards and Appreciation Event
    Tuesday, June 10, 2025, By News Staff

More In Health & Society

Lab THRIVE: Advancing Student Mental Health and Resilience

Lab THRIVE, short for The Health and Resilience Interdisciplinary collaboratiVE, is making significant strides in collegiate mental health research. Launched by an interdisciplinary Syracuse University team in 2023, the lab focuses on understanding the complex factors affecting college students’ adjustment…

Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention

A book authored by Timur Hammond, associate professor of geography and the environment in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, received an honorable mention in the 2025 International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) Book Award competition. The awards…

Snapshots From Route 66: One Student’s Journey to Newhouse LA

“If you ever plan to travel west, travel my way, take the highway that’s the best.” It’s been nearly 80 years since Nat King Cole uttered the now famous lyrics, “Get your kicks on Route 66,” but still to this…

Studying and Reversing the Damaging Effects of Pollution and Acid Rain With Charles Driscoll (Podcast)

Before Charles Driscoll came to Syracuse University as a civil and environmental engineering professor, he had always been interested in ways to protect our environment and natural resources. Growing up an avid camper and outdoors enthusiast, Driscoll set about studying…

Major League Soccer’s Meteoric Rise: From Underdog to Global Contender

With the 30th anniversary of Major League Soccer (MLS) fast approaching, it’s obvious MLS has come a long way from its modest beginning in 1996. Once considered an underdog in the American sports landscape, the league has grown into a…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.