when protective laws hurt people??

I know I'm double-blogging but there is another story I'd like to share. Last week I did a hearing with a boy (teenager) accused of breaking a school rule who was facing two months expulsion. He prepared a bunch of material about how the expulsion would harm himself, his mom, his family, his grades, his chances at colllege. . . .etc. I prepared material on how the expulsion was unlawful because the conduct was "disability-related." Only problem was, this smart guy pulled me out of the hearing and explained to me during a break that he didn't really feel good about the words I was saying -- that he didn't like how it felt to argue that his disability had caused his actions, and that he'd prefer that we just stick to the strategy of trying to convince school personnel and their lawyer that the expulsion was too severe. I explained to him that I needed to make the argument because, in my experience, the "too severe" argument would get us nowhere -- there was no liability there, and the lawyer would be moved only by my "disability-related" legal argument. I got permission from him to make the argument, we won at hearing, and I went home feeling like crap. This kid -- really, a man -- had articulated something really important about accountability. The law had no room for it.