NOW Foundation Women with Disabilities & Allies Forum: Speakers

Women with Disabilities and Allies Forum
Linking Arms for Equality and Justice for All
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Speakers

Marca Bristo

Marca Bristo is an internationally acclaimed leader in the disability rights movement. Bristo has received one congressional and three presidential appointments to disability policy positions. She has received numerous awards, including the Henry B. Betts Award; the Distinguished Service Award; and the Americans with Disabilities Act Award for her role in the creation and passage of the law. Bristo served as chairperson of the National Council on Disability (NCD) from 1994-2002, becoming the first woman and the first disabled person to hold the position. Additionally, Bristo has served with the U.S. delegation to the United Nations and is currently working to establish a UN convention on disability rights. Bristo is the president and chief executive officer of Access Living, one of the nation's foremost disability rights organizations. She also was recently appointed to the Anti Defamation League's Early Childhood Advisory Board and the Disability Funder's Network Board, an offshoot of the Council on Foundations.

Claudia Center

Claudia Center is a Senior Staff Attorney heading the Disability Rights Program at the Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center (LAS ELC). In 1997, she started the Libra Project, a special initiative to advance the employment rights of persons with mental health conditions. Center played a key role in the passage of an amendment to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act that succeeded in broadening protections for persons with disabilities in employment and housing. In the fall of 2001, she argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter US Airways, Inc. v. Barnett. Prior to coming to the LAS ELC, Center was a staff attorney at the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) in Washington, D.C., and a recipient of the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship. She obtained her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992 and her B.A. in Government and African Studies from Wesleyan University in 1987.

Purna Shova Chitrakar

Purna Shova Chitrakar is the Coordinator of Ban Landmines Campaign Nepal (NCBL). Established in 1995, NCBL is the only non-government organization in Nepal working for the complete ban on production, use, transfer and stockpiling of landmines. She is also the Chairperson of the Women Development Society (WODES), an organization that aids women in organizing themselves to recognize their rights by building community-based women's organizations to enable women to achieve equal status through training, education and income generation. In addition to her work with NCBL, in 1988, Chitrakar founded the Women Welfare Society. She was a founding member for the Nepal National Teachers' Association, the Prisoners Information Center, and the Youths for Peace Campaign in Nepal. She is also a member of War Resister International (WRI), World Education for Early Childhood (OMEP), and Women's World Summit Foundation. Purna lives and works in Kathmandu, Nepal with her husband and two children.

Ann Cody

Ann Cody is a Vice President with B & D Sagamore, a federal affairs consulting firm focusing on amateur sports, disability and health legislative and regulatory issues. She is a three-time Paralympian (1984, 1988, 1992) and Olympian (1988) in track and field. There are numerous national and international laws and doctrines that mandate equal opportunity and representation for women in sport. In her presentation, Cody will explore how civil rights laws like Title IX and the ADA can help to level the playing field for girls and women with disabilities in sport and in life. As a leader in disability sports issues, Cody chairs the International Paralympic Committee's Commission for Women and Sport. She also serves on the Women's Sports Foundation committee on sport for girls and women with disabilities, the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation executive council, and the U.S. Paralympics International Relations Committee.

James Dickson

Jim Dickson is Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). He leads the AAPD Disability Vote Project, a broad coalition of 36 national disability-related organizations working to increase political participation by people with disabilities. Dickson co-chairs the Leadership Council on Civil Rights' Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Task Force. Before assuming his position at AAPD, he directed the National Organization on Disability's extremely successful VOTE! 2000 Campaign. The campaign increased the number of voters with disabilities by 700,000, bringing the total of new voters with disabilities to 2 million in the 2000 Presidential election. Dickson was also co-founder of Project Vote!, a national, non-partisan voter registration and education organization that has registered over 3.5 million African-Americans. He has organized and directed voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives in 23 states. Dickson graduated from Brown University. He resides in Washington, DC with his wife and daughter.

Beverly Frantz

Beverley Frantz coordinates the Criminal Justice Initiative and is project coordinator of the National Academy for Equal Justice for People with Developmental Disabilities at the Institute on Disabilities, Temple University. Frantz's area of concentration for the past decade has been on developing and implementing sexual violence risk-reduction awareness training programs for individuals with disabilities and their support systems. She is the co-founder of A Woman's Place, a comprehensive domestic program and shelter. She received the PA Governor's Victim Service Pathway Award for her work in building awareness and enhancing the capacity of victim service organizations to provide appropriate and effective services to individuals with disabilities. Frantz earned an MS from Villanova University and the London School of Economics. She is currently a doctoral student in Human Sexuality, with a concentration on people with disabilities, at Widener University.

Kim Gandy

Kim Gandy became president of the NOW Foundation upon her election as president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in June 2001. A long time activist, Gandy has served NOW at the local, state and national level since 1973, including three years as Louisiana NOW President. She has been a member of the NOW Foundation Board since 1982, and from 1991 to 2001 was Executive Vice President of the Foundation. Among many accomplishments, Gandy served on the drafting committees for two groundbreaking federal laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Gandy is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University (B.S. 1973) and the Loyola University School of Law (J.D. 1978). She resides in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband, ethnomusicologist Kip Lornell, and their two daughters, Elizabeth Cady and Katherine Eleanor.

Wendy Hilsen-Bernard, M.S., L.P.C.

Wendy Hilsen-Bernard, M.S., L.P.C., is the founder of Still River Resources, LLC, one of the country's most progressive service organizations bringing healing and empowerment to women, children and marginalized populations. An activist, advocate and visionary, Hilsen-Bernard is a solution-focused feminist therapist, stress-reduction expert, and yoga and meditation teacher with over 25 years of experience. She currently maintains a private practice as a psychotherapist and life coach and leads retreats, trainings and workshops nationwide.

Andrew J. Imparato

Andrew J. Imparato is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Since Imparato joined AAPD in 1999, the organization has more than tripled its membership, its annual budget, and its staff size. Prior to joining AAPD, Imparato was general counsel and director of policy for the National Council on Disability (NCD). He has also worked as a special assistant to Commissioner Paul Steven Miller at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy; and as a Skadden fellow/staff attorney at the Disability Law Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Imparato serves on the Boards of Directors of the Alliance for Public Technology, National Consumers League, the Center for Bioethics, Culture and Disability, the U.S. International Council on Disabilities, and the National Organization for Nurses with Disabilities. He is also a member of the Consumer Advisory Forum for Blue Cross/Blue Shield Associations.

Kathy Martinez

Blind since birth, Kathy Martinez is an internationally recognized disability rights leader. As the World Institute on Disability's (WID) Deputy Director, Martinez is responsible for the development and supervision of WID's international technical assistance, employment and training projects. Martinez currently supervises the National Technical Assistance Center for Latinos with Disabilities, as well as the International Disability Exchanges and Studies (IDEAS) for the New Millennium Project. Martinez oversees the bilingual web zine, DisabilityWorld, and Proyecto Visión, a web site for disabled Latinos. Martinez led WID's Central American Training Program, and in 1997 she was hired by the International Labor Organization to carry out a leadership development project with disabled women in Namibia. Martinez led the team that organized the 1997 Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities, and in 2000 she co-organized an international advocacy seminar for disabled young women. In July 2002 Martinez was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the National Council on Disability.

Stephanie Ortoleva

Stephanie Ortoleva has had extensive experience in civil rights litigation and policy development in government agencies and public interest organizations. Her work in enforcing laws prohibiting discrimination focuses on the arenas of employment, public accommodations, education, and transportation. After graduating from Hofstra University School of Law with outstanding honors, Ortoleva held a prestigious clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York. She has served as the Supervising Attorney for the New York City Commission on Human Rights, the Director of the HIV/AIDS Legal Project of the Legal Services Organization of Indiana, and the Chief Attorney for the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in New York City. Ortoleva is a manager in the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration. Ortoleva has assumed various leadership positions on the state and national levels in the National Organization for Women.

Pat Reuss

Pat Reuss has been an activist on behalf of women's rights for 31 years. She currently serves as the policy analyst for the NOW Foundation. Reuss was a major force behind the 1994 passage of the Violence Against Women Act and its reauthorization in October 2000. She led the effort to make the 1996 welfare bill less punitive to women. Reuss has been instrumental in passing and protecting civil rights laws, especially Title IX. She led coalitions that passed pension reform, COBRA, improvements in childcare, and the law that protects women from abortion clinic violence (FACE). Among her recognized accomplishments, Reuss received the 1996 "Mentor of the Year Award" from the Public Leadership Education Network for her work with young women. In 1997 the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Associations presented her with the "Annie Barnes Award" for her work on behalf of low income women's reproductive rights.

Karen Thompson

Karen Thompson is president of the home care chapter (Local 99) of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 503 in Oregon, and an advocate for the uninsured, women with disabilities and working people. She herself is recovering from cancer, which was detected late due to her own lack of health insurance. As president of the home care workers in Oregon, Thompson represents 13,000 workers who provide vital Medicaid personal care services to people with disabilities. The home care workers operate in a coalition with disability advocates to develop a way for workers to improve their economic situation. The SEIU Local 503 recently represented the Homecare Commission, a union of home care workers, in successful negotiations for its first contract, with terms including a pay increase and health benefits. She believes change happens through organizing and that there are important alliances to be made between the women's movement, people with disabilities, and the labor movement.

Michele Tingling-Clemmons

Michele Tingling-Clemmons is a founding member of the National Welfare Rights Union and a lifelong activist for social justice. Living in Washington, DC, Tingling-Clemmons is a member of the DC Statehood Green Party and co-chair of the Black Party of the Green Party US. She, her husband Rick, and three of their eight children work to achieve the just society they all desire. They are currently fighting to restore prescription drug coverage for low-income seniors. Tingling-Clemmons has expertise in the fields of occupational health, environmental health and community health care, and is a national expert on federal nutrition programs. A prolific public speaker, she brings clarity to examinations of the struggles that we face in securing affordable health care and economic justice in the face of an economic system that is controlled by the rich, and in examining the linkages that strengthen our common efforts.

Joanne Tosti-Vasey, Ph.D.

Joanne Tosti-Vasey is a leader in the National Organization for Women (NOW). She is the Treasurer of Pennsylvania NOW, Inc. and co-chair of the National NOW Disability Rights Committee. In addition to her work with NOW, she was appointed by Governor Ed Rendell to the Pennsylvania Commission for Women in June, 2003. Tosti-Vasey is also an appointed member of the Centre County Advisory Council to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Treasurer of the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee Women's Caucus, and a member of Centre Countians for Choice. Tosti-Vasey has a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies with a focus on work and family issues. She is a principal in the consulting firm Tosti-Vasey and Vasey. She is married and is the mother of one son.

Laura M. Young, Ph.D.

Laura M. Young, Ph.D., is currently executive director of the Older Women's League (OWL). Headquartered in Washington, D.C., OWL is the only national grassroots membership organization to focus solely on issues unique to women as they age. Prior to joining OWL in 2002, Young was a senior vice president for the National Mental Health Association (NMHA). She developed several nationally recognized community based services for people with serious mental illness, and coordinated a national initiative to educate local and state decision makers regarding the need for comprehensive community based services for adults. She served as the advisor to the NMHA President and CEO on the causes and treatments of mental illnesses. As a spokesperson, Young has been featured in various media outlets including Time, NPR, Washington Post, and the Washington Business Journal. Young currently serves as a commissioner on the Arlington County Human Rights Commission.

Helena R. Berger

Helena R. Berger joined the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) as its Chief Operating Officer in September 1997. Prior to joining AAPD, she was the Advocacy Director for the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association (EPVA). Under her direction, EPVA's advocacy program significantly expanded its public education and community outreach activities, specifically aimed at raising awareness of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Due to her technical knowledge of accessibility laws and regulations, Berger was appointed to chair the Pennsylvania Protection and Advocacy Accessibility Subcommittee and the Barrier-Free Design Committee of the Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on People with Disabilities, as well as elected to the Center for Independent Living of South Jersey's Board of Directors. Berger received her Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from American University. She also attended the University of Copenhagen's Special Studies Program in political and government affairs.

Joanna Busch

Joanna Busch is a student at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., expecting to graduate in May 2004 with a degree in Sociology. She was a MEAD historian, a member of the Honors Program at Gallaudet University, a Presidential's Cum Laude Scholar, and a summer Counselor at Camp Courageous of Iowa for four years. She is interested in health policy issues and disability policy issues, particularly as they affect people who live in rural and semi-rural communities in the United States. Busch, who is deaf, says, "I want to see action, so later on when I am in graduate school and working toward my Ph.D. in Sociology, I can better focus my research so it is more applicable for institutions such as Congress." She plans to do her honors thesis on rural populations and healthcare.

Jan Erickson

Jan Erickson is Government Relations Director for the National Organization for Women and Public Policy Director for the NOW Foundation. She was State President for NOW in Alaska from 1984-86. For the National Organization for Women, Erickson monitors activity in Congress relating to NOW's priority issues and advocates for effective legislation relating to domestic violence/sexual assault, welfare, Social Security, equal pay, affirmative action, child care, child support enforcement, reproductive rights and women's health. For the past sixth months she has been managing a Love Your Body Day project for NOW Foundation which has involved conducting a scientific symposium, under the auspices of NOW, Inc., on silicone breast implant safety. The symposium resulted in a press conference and Capitol Hill briefing along with release of a summary of scientific findings and testimony to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging delay of approval of silicone implants until long-term clinical studies can be completed.

Olga Vives

Originally from Cuba, Olga Vives is a long-time NOW activist who has been a strong women's rights advocate in Illinois for decades. She became Education Vice President of the NOW Foundation in June 2001. Vives has served at various levels of NOW and NOW Foundation, including Illinois NOW Action Vice President, National Board member, Regional Director and former Chair of NOW's National Lesbian Rights Committee. She also served on the NOW Political Action Committee. Vives has successfully managed 200-plus employees as the leader of a large sales organization. She also served as the Vice President of an Internet company that connects large corporations with smaller minority-owned and women-owned businesses. As a mother of three, an immigrant, a lesbian, a Hispanic, an organizer and a Midwesterner, Vives brings a unique and diverse combination of insights and experiences to the office of NOW Foundation Education Vice President.

In consideration of those with allergies and respiratory problems, the Women with Disabilities & Allies Forum is a scent free" event. Participants are asked to use unscented products in lieu of scented toiletries and detergents, and to refrain from wearing perfumes and colognes.

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Women with Disabilities and Allies Forum Linking Arms for Equality and Justice for All Register Online