Legal Clinic for the Disabled

Legal Clinic for the Disabled’s (LCD) mission is to empower low-income people with disabilities and the deaf and hard of hearing in the Philadelphia region to achieve inclusion, independence, and justice. LCD pursues its mission by providing free legal representation to the diverse population of low-income individuals and families living with disabilities in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties to help them overcome legal obstacles that would otherwise affect independence, health, or quality of life.

LCD was founded in 1987 through a joint effort of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital (Magee) and the Young Lawyers Divisions of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. LCD opened its doors at Magee in 1990, establishing one of the first Medical Legal Partnerships (MLP) in the nation, and the very first in the Philadelphia region. In the years that followed, LCD strategically expanded the MLP Initiative, which now includes six partnerships operating at nine sites across the city. The MLP movement is growing in the region, but LCD’s remains the most broadly located, most deeply partnered, and most firmly established in Greater Philadelphia. Philadelphia continues to be the poorest big city in the nation and has the fourth highest rate of disability (Pew, 2023). Twenty-five percent of people with disabilities live in poverty as compared to 11% of the overall population (US Census, 2021). The intersection of poverty and disability creates a high incidence of legal challenges that affect basic needs, which LCD helps to address onsite in community settings where clients live and/or receive other services.