Hezzy Smith

Experience

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  TIME Magazine

  Mar 2004 - Aug 2005

  Editorial intern

  Published 2 articles, including lead in 3-page section on innovators in mathematics.

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  TIME Europe Magazine

  Jun 2006 - Aug 2006

  Reporter-Researcher

  Published 5 articles, including a self-pitched 2-page book review spread.

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  Cooperative for Human Services, Inc.

  Jun 2007 - Aug 2007

  Intern

  Developed rights-based life skills curriculum for intellectually disabled group home residents.

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  Harvard Law School Project on Disability

  Sept 2008 - Nov 2020

  • Directed program activities, including technical support on legislation and litigation, and trainings for lawyers, disabled people’s organizations, and self-advocates.• Produced report on disability inclusion practices at BRAC, the world’s largest development NGO, and drafted new disability inclusion policy for the Human Resources Division in summer 2013.• Successfully advocated with Ministers of Law and of Social Welfare, MPs, and public officials to include disability-based discrimination and reasonable accommodation provisions in new national law.• Initiated filing of two High Court petitions challenging discriminatory recruitment rules barring persons with disabilities from the civil and judicial services, which have resulted in an interim order allowing disabled candidates to take the national civil service examination for the first time.• Drafted memoranda and submissions for local counsel for ongoing High Court cases on disability-related harassment that led a medical student to commit suicide and arbitrary detention of disabled beggars. • Oversaw production of first textbook in Bengali on disability rights law (400 pages).• Oversaw production of first Bengali-language manual (100 pages) and documentary video in Bengali on self-advocacy for organizations working with persons with intellectual disabilities. • Successfully advocated for installation of wheelchair access ramps at the High Court in spring 2011. • Organized trainings, workshops, and advocacy conferences in Bengali with lawyers and activists on national and district levels, as well as disability rights seminars for High Court lawyers and lectures. • Supervised five summer interns’ field research projects on violence against disabled women and access to mental health care in Harvard’s first overseas human rights internship program. Show less

  • Research Associate

    Aug 2014 - Nov 2020

  • Director, Bangladesh Program

    Aug 2009 - Jul 2014

  • Frederick B. Sheldon Fellow

    Sept 2008 - Jul 2009
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  Centro de Investigación y Docencia en Derechos Humanos

  Jun 2012 - Aug 2012

  Researcher

  Conducted field and legal research on Argentina’s National Mental Health Law. Produced a memorandum in Spanish on the National Directorate on Mental Health and Addictions’ interdisciplinary capacity assessments of persons with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities in guardianship proceedings.

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  U.S. Department of Justice

  Aug 2012 - Nov 2012

  Student Volunteer, Disability Rights Section

  Conducted legal research and produced memoranda in the walkup to two suits filed in summer 2013, on issues including fundamental alterations of State healthcare services delivery systems under Olmstead; statutory damage awards available to private plaintiffs alleging healthcare-related discrimination; employers’ access to employees’ medical histories; and assignee liability for discriminatory, high-interest mortgages.

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  Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

  Jan 2013 - May 2013

  Intern

  Produced memorandum, presented at the 148th session, on the Inter-American Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities’ general observation on legal capacity. Assisted to prepare admissibility and merits decisions and country reports in Spanish. Compiled databases of petitions and resolutions on disability and economic, social, and cultural rights in Spanish and in English.

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  Universidad de La Salle

  Jun 2013 - Aug 2013

  Researcher

  Produced an amicus curiae brief in Spanish on guardianship procedural law and treaty interpretation in a constitutional challenge to Mexico City’s plenary guardianship laws before the Mexican Supreme Court. Trained journalists, self-advocates, and law students on disability-based discrimination and legal capacity.

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  American University Washington College of Law

  Aug 2013 - Jun 2014

  Student Attorney

  Represented low-income clients in matters of guardianship and powers of attorney, advanced directives for mental health treatment, immigrants’ eligibility for public benefits, nonpublic school placements and assistive technology devices for special education students, and post-secondary education accommodations.

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  COMEXUS Fulbright-García Robles

  Aug 2014 - May 2015

  Fulbright Fellow

  Researched guardianship proceedings involving adults with disabilities in the light of Mexico's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the implications of the Mexican Supreme Court's October 2013 resolution in the case of Ricardo Adair.

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  Research Foundation of The City University of New York

  Aug 2016 - Apr 2020

  Senior Project Coordinator

  Responsible for overall coordination of awareness-raising, direct service provision, advocacy, and administrative activities of the 4 organizations comprising the 5-year Supported Decision-Making New York (SDMNY) pilot project, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, whose aim is to promote awareness of and access to supported decision-making in New York State, including by designing and implementing a model for supported decision-making. Show less

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  Harvard Law School

  Nov 2020 - now

  Taught "The Law and Persons with Intellectual Disabilities" in spring 2024 and offering "Disability, Capacity, and Rights" in fall 2025.

  • Lecturer on Law

    Jan 2024 - now

  • Director of Advocacy Initiatives at Harvard Law School Project on Disability

    Nov 2020 - now