Thomas K. Gilhool
Thomas K. Gilhool, a leader in legal advocacy on behalf of disability and civil rights, will be awarded a President's Medallion from Millersville University.
Gilhool, a retired attorney from the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia, will receive the award during the "Disabilities and Public Policy Forum" on Wednesday, March 31.
Gilhool will be speaking at the forum on campus. The event is free and open to the public. Registration begins at 8 a.m. in the Bolger Conference Center.
The President's Medallion is one of the highest honors bestowed by the university, acknowledging the recipient's contributions to Pennsylvanians and a commitment to the values of higher education.
Gilhool is a graduate of Lehigh University, Yale University and Yale Law School.
In 2003-04, he was a Senior Fulbright Fellow in Japan, working with the Japanese Disability Movement.
He joined the law center in 1975 and concentrated his practice in disabilities rights and early childhood development, including state-of-the-art educational practices and children's health care.
He worked at the law center until 1986, when he left to serve Gov. Robert P. Casey as secretary of education.
Gilhool is a nationally recognized leader in the disabilities rights movement. He is credited with the rise of community services for people with developmental disabilities and was a major player in the passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
He represented the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children in PARC v. Pennsylvania, a pivotal case in establishing the constitutional right of children with disabilities to a public education.
The case led to the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
In 1990 Gilhool developed a coalition of legal service organizations to enforce the new provision of the Social Security Act. The new provision required states receiving federal funds to provide basic health care to children enrolled in Medicaid.
The effort led to the enrollment of 300,000 children in Pennsylvania.
The community forum is co-sponsored by the university's Honors College, United Way of Lancaster County, ARC of Pennsylvania and the law center.
For information, contact Dennis Downey at Dennis.Downey@millersville.edu.