Ruth Luckasson

Ruth Luckasson, JD, is a distinguished professor of special education at the University of New Mexico, where she has been the Chair of the Department of Special Education for 14 years. She is a past president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She currently serves on The Arc of the United States Policy and Positions Committee and as chair of its Legal Advocacy and Human Rights Subcommittee.

Ruth previously served on the President’s Committee on People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the Board of Trustees of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on the Classification of Intellectual Disabilities for the ICD-11, and as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law.

She has testified before Congress and courts across the country. She has also consulted or given speeches in many countries, including: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, and Thailand.

Ruth is author or co-author of 17 books and over 75 chapters and articles. She has published widely in the areas of: definition, classification, and systems of supports for people with intellectual disability (ID); clinical judgment and professionalism; special education; legal and human rights; criminal justice of victims and defendants with ID; and community living of individuals with disabilities.