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Speaker Biographies
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Dr. David Barney received his
MPH from the University of California (UC) at Berkeley, his MSW from San
Diego State University, and a PhD in social work from the University of
Kansas.
At present, he is a College Associate Professor in the School
of Social Work at New Mexico State University (NMSU). He teaches classes
in both clinical social work practice and social work research. Dr.
Barney’s previous experience includes positions as the medical
epidemiologist for Alameda County in California and assistant statistician
at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Previously, as Director of
Research at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center he
conducted evaluation activities for a network of 12 Special Projects of
National Significance throughout the U.S. that served American Indians,
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Other major research and evaluation
efforts have included the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
U.S./Mexico International Border HIV/AIDS Initiative and the HRSA National
American Indian and Alaska Native HIV/AIDS Technical Assistance Center. He
has conducted HIV/AIDS evaluations for adherence issues and Title III
programs under the Ryan White CARE Act. Dr. Barney was the principal
investigator on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
funded Latino Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Project. Dr. Barney has
made more than 50 presentations on HIV/AIDS at national conferences,
published two articles on HIV care evaluation methods, and published
numerous articles on HIV/AIDS case management. Currently, he serves as
multi-site evaluator for the Paso del Norte Health Foundation Two Should
Know: Healthy Human Sexuality Initiative.
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Betty E. S. Duran, MSW, MPH
is the Evaluation Project Director on staff at New Mexico State University
(NMSU). Ms. Duran has more than 13 years of experience in research and
program evaluation, specifically in the areas of direct client services
and medical care with American Indians and Latinos. Areas of research
specialty include domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, adolescent health, and
tribal ethnographic studies.
Ms. Duran currently is employed by NMSU as
evaluation project director for research contracts and grants overseen by
Dr. David Barney. Prior to working at NMSU, Ms. Duran worked for four
years at the University of Oklahoma as Director of the Evaluation and
Research Center in the School of Social Work. Her experience also includes
working for the University of California at Berkeley in the School of
Pubic Health, Native American Research Center as Director of the Wellness
Project. She also worked with the National Native American AIDS Prevention
Center as Director of Client Services for approximately five years.
Ms.
Duran holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Kansas
and a Master of Public Health from the University of Oklahoma. She has
presented at national and international conferences on the benefits of
traditional American Indian medicine, HIV/AIDS with minority populations,
domestic violence, and substance abuse among American Indians and research
with tribal communities. She currently teaches in the College of Health
and Social Services at NMSU.
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Micah Fialka-Feldman was in inclusive
education in the Berkley, Michigan School District from his elementary
through high school years. He has a cognitive impairment and was supported
by the general and special education staff, including a paraprofessional,
peer tutors (LINKS), a Circle of Friends, and use of creative
modifications and accommodations to meet his needs in classes. He excels
in the use of computers and software programs. Micah uses tools such as
Screen Reader, PowerPoint, and a voice-to-text program called Dragon Point
& Speak to enhance his independence to learn and communicate. He actively
participates in his educational planning and IEPCs. He uses PowerPoint
presentations and includes his friends in the planning. Micah has won many
awards, made presentations all over the country and Canada, and written
many publications. He serves on the Kids As Self Advocates [KASA] Advisory
Board and as the Chair of the KASA Task Force.
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Kira Fisher is project
coordinator with Acting for Advocacy (A4A) at the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill Center for Development and Learning, which is the
University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education,
Research, and Service in North Carolina. A4A serves youths with
disabilities in the Occupational Course of Study in North Carolina high
schools. Ms. Fisher teams with the co-director and with the inclusive
training team to plan, prepare, and present training workshops to youths,
emerging leaders, and professionals. As an emerging leader, Ms. Fisher was
the first member of AmeriCorps with a disability to serve in North
Carolina. Ms. Fisher has a BA and a background in teaching children with a
disability. (return to top of
page)
Nichole Goble – During Ms. Goble’s time as the youth
co-director and side-SALYD liaison for SALYD (Self-Advocacy and Leadership
for Youth with Disabilities), she has been part of many presentations and
panel discussions on disability topics. A few of the topics with which she
was involved were volunteerism, self-advocacy, and issues around the
transition stages. In addition to SALYD, she has worked with Iowa’s Youth
Leadership Forum, serving as a staff member in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
In 2005, she helped out in the Welcome Room, the purpose of which was to
make sure the youth who just arrived felt comfortable in their new setting
and began to meet their fellow delegates. She also spoke with parents
about any issues or concerns they had.
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As a youth with a disability, Ms.
Goble feels her experiences have shaped her self-advocacy skills and have
had an impact on how she views her disability. It made it important to her
to pass on to others what she has learned. She has had additional
opportunities to share her knowledge through recent appointments to the
Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and University of Iowa Center for
Disabilities and Development’s Community Partnership Advisory Council and
her election as president of the Des Moines-based Citizen Advisory
Committee. (return to top of
page)
Janice Goforth is the Project Coordinator for the Center for
Emerging Leadership (CEL). She also coordinates CEL's sister project,
Project LEADERS through Interwork Institute. Janice is a distance
instructor, teaching Disability and Society at the Community College
level. Her background is in Disability Services Management, Vocational
Education, and Rehabilitation Counseling. She is a Certified
Rehabilitation Counselor and holds a certificate in Rehabilitation
Technology. (return to top of
page)
Tyler Greene is a 17- year-old junior at West High School
in Waterloo, Iowa. Mr. Greene created an Eagle Scout Project in the fall
of 2006. It was the production of a training DVD on Ability Awareness,
“I’m Tyler … don’t be surprised”. His initial project was to distribute
the DVD to all 365 school districts in Iowa as a training tool for
teachers and administrators. Now 3,500 copies of the DVD are being used in
all 50 states and in 16 U.S. territories and countries by churches,
schools, universities, support groups, youth groups, workforce
development, corporations, and many more organizations.
“My dream is to
do good things that are right and of value. If you have hope, you have a
reason for doing things instead of aimlessly wandering around. We as a
family ruled out 'can't' a long time ago. For us it's not a matter of
whether 'I can' but just a matter of ‘how’.”
Mr. Greene is an active
teenager who enjoys music, karate, Scouting, movies, and the Internet. He
is active in his church with mission work and youth events and in school
in student senate, band, and drama. He also serves on the National Kids as
Self Advocates Advisory Board (KASA), the State of Iowa Special Education
Advisory Panel, and is an Eagle Scout. He was awarded the United Church of
Christ National Disabilities Ministries Award in 2007. He has also been
honored as the namesake and first recipient of the “Tyler Student
Achievement Award” and scholarship given by the Iowa Chapter of the
Council for Administrators of Special Education (CASE).
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Rebecca Hare is
the Project Coordinator for the National Consortium on Leadership and
Disability for Youth (NCLD/Youth) housed at the Institute for Educational
Leadership in Washington, D.C. NCLD-Youth is one of 15 Youth Led Resource,
Information, and Training Centers funded by the Administration on
Developmental Disabilities. NCLD/Youth is currently working in nine states
supporting young leaders in creating state and local policy to educate
students in K-12 public schools about disability history and awareness.
An ardent advocate for youth-led models of leadership development, Ms.
Hare has worked with a number of groups such as the National Youth
Leadership Network and the National Council on Disability (where she
served as the Vice-Chair of the Youth Advisory Committee for 3 years). She
has consulted or given expert testimony to the National Council on
Independent Living, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the World
Bank, the Social Security Administration's Ticket to Work Advisory panel,
the Presidents Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disability, and the
committee for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act
Reauthorization.
Her publications include “Youth Development and Youth
Leadership: A Background Paper” from the National Collaborative on
Workforce and Disability for Youth, articles on civic engagement for the
newsletter Impact, “the 411 on Disability Disclosure,” “Paving the Way to
Work: A Guide to Career-Focused Mentoring,” and various policy agendas for
the National Youth Leadership Network. She received her Bachelor's Degree
in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz in
2001, and is expecting to continue her education in the near
future. (return to top of page)
Michael Hoenig - For the past 14 years, Mike Hoenig has
developed and implemented a variety of advocacy training initiatives for
the Center for Disabilities and Development at the University of Iowa. In
his present role with the Center’s State and Community Projects office,
Mr. Hoenig is responsible for training grants on health promotion,
community capacity-building, youth leadership, and disability awareness.
He has a BA in psychology from Central College, Pella, Iowa, and an MA in
Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Iowa.
Having
experienced blindness from birth, Mr. Hoenig has first-hand knowledge of
many of the barriers which persons with disabilities must overcome. This
personal experience, combined with professional experience as an advocate
and program administrator, has given him the knowledge to be a strong
proponent and teacher of self-determination. During his tenure with the
Center for Disabilities and Development, he has provided
self-determination training for more than 3,000 adults and adolescents
with disabilities. Because of his strong commitment to leadership
development and peer support, many of these individuals are now taking
charge of their lives and creating change in their communities.
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Briana
Jackson is a Peer Mentor with the Center for Emerging Leadership. Her
duties include creating and delivering presentations, mentoring youth, and
assisting with the day-to-day running of the center. She is involved with
the San Diego People First Self Advocacy Group and the San Diego Unified
School District's TRACE Student Governance Council.
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Ophelia McLain, MS
serves as Program Specialist at the Administration on Developmental
Disabilities (ADD). ADD’s mission is to improve and increase services to
and assure that individuals with developmental disabilities have
opportunities to make their own choices, contribute to society, have
supports to live independently, and are free of abuse, neglect, financial
and sexual exploitation, and violations of their legal and human rights.
As Program Specialist, Ms. McLain is the lead on the youth information,
training and resource centers, Project Officer of the logistics and
technical assistance contract as well as University Centers for Excellence
in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) in Regions 2 and 3, and serves in
the rapid response capacity of the Office of the Commissioner.
Prior to
joining ADD, among other duties, she developed standard operating
procedures for a health system. Her focus was to improve processes to
better serve internal and external customers.
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Miguel Monroy is 16
year-old with Orthoreposis, which affects his arms and legs. He lives in a
rural community in Chaparral, New Mexico, 30 minutes north of El Paso,
Texas and 30 miles south of Las Cruces, New Mexico. His passion is his art
work and playing soccer. He holds a position as Sargent at Arms for the
youth group El Poder de los Jovenes Project (Empowerment of Youths) that
is sponsored by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities.
Recently, he was selected by RASEM2 (Regional Alliance of Science,
Engineering, and Mathematics) to participate at a camp, sponsored by New
Mexico State University College of Engineering, in San Diego, California.
This was a great honor because he was one of ten individuals nationwide to
participate at this Mentor/Mentee program which conducts workshops for the
Teacher Outreach Program (TOP). This program provides funding on a
competitive basis for TOP and University partner projects. His artwork was
chosen by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities 2007 Technical
Assistance Institute as the winner of this year’s logo design
contest. (return to top of page)
Dr. Patricia A. Morrissey came to the Administration on
Developmental Disabilities (ADD) as Commissioner in August 2001.
She
has worked in both the public and private sectors in Washington, D.C.
since 1976. Dr. Morrissey worked for the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions for five years. In this position she oversaw
or played a central role in the drafting of major disability legislation
such as: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of
1997; the Developmental Disabilities Act Amendments of 1996 and 2000; the
Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998; the Assistive Technology Act of
1998; the Education of the Deaf Act Amendments of 1998; and the Ticket to
Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act of 1999.
She also worked for the
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor (currently
the Committee on Education and the Workforce), drafting disability
legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She has
written four books, assisted in the production of six training videos on
the ADA, and served as a consultant to Fortune 200 companies on ADA
compliance.
Prior to her current Presidential appointment, Dr. Morrissey
was a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton where she provided
consulting services to federal agencies. Her focus was strategic plans
that would facilitate agencies’ compliance with Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act. That provision of law requires federal agencies to
purchase electronic and information technology that is accessible to and
useable by individuals with disabilities.
Presently her leadership is
focused on promoting the adoption of universal design principles to all
human service delivery programs, and on encouraging implementation of
one-stop centers to facilitate comprehensive services for individuals with
developmental disabilities and their families. She is an asset to
individuals with developmental disabilities, because she passionately
advocates for those we serve, regardless of what setting she is in. She
believes that, if the focus in any situation remains individuals with
disabilities, consensus among diverse perspectives is achievable.
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Dr.
Marjorie Olney is an Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Counseling at
San Diego State University (SDSU). She has an extensive background as a
service provider, advocate, educator, and researcher with and for
individuals with developmental and other disabilities. She teaches masters
level students about job placement, disability history and policies,
services for individuals with disabilities and related issues. Dr. Olney's
current research is on barriers to employment for individuals with
disabilities. She is the Project Director for three projects, including
the Center for Emerging Leadership.
Naomi Ortiz is the Project Director
for the Kids As Self Advocates national youth-run disability advocacy
project. As a dedicated disability community organizer, she believes
people with disabilities deserve a voice in all that affects them. She
offers assistance and training for organizations on youth leadership
development, disability etiquette/culture and on how to involve youth in
organizational leadership roles in meaningful ways. She is proud to be a
disabled person as well as a passionate poet, singer, and artist.
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Curtis
Richards - For more than two decades, Curtis Richards has worked in the
public policy arena at the state and national levels. Known as an “advocrat,”
he blends his advocacy skills with his knowledge of governmental
operations to address education, workforce development, disability, and
health public policy issues with a particular focus on youth and adults
with disabilities.
He is currently a Senior Policy Fellow with the
Institute for Educational Leadership, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
He also maintains a public policy consulting firm known as The Advocrat
Group. Mr. Richards served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of
Education and as an Assistant Director for the California State Department
of Rehabilitation. He has also served as a state legislative staff person,
for both policy and fiscal committees, in California.
Mr. Richards has
spoken extensively on disability issues throughout the country on a wide
range of topics including education, employment, and disability policy. As
a freelance writer he has a number of magazine, journal and newsletter
articles in his portfolio. He is a nationally-recognized leader in the
disability community. Among his numerous awards are: a 2000 Certificate of
Appreciation from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, a 1999
Disability Rights Activist Award from the California Foundation of
Independent Living Centers, and the 1997 Lanterman Award from the
California Association of Postsecondary Education and the Disabled.
Mr.
Richards, who has been visually impaired since he was a toddler, holds a
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government-Journalism from California State
University, Sacramento. (return
to top of page)
Priscilla M. Salinas has worked for The Arc of
New Mexico as Project Coordinator for eight years in Southern New Mexico.
Ms. Salinas has provided advocacy to individuals with developmental
disabilities since the birth of her son who is now a young adult. She has
worked tirelessly for monolingual Spanish-speaking families and was
awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award by the New Mexico Protection and
Advocacy System. (return to top
of page)
Betsy Valnes serves as the Executive Director for the
National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN), Mentor and Contracted Staff with
the National Council on Disability Youth Advisory Council and Cultural
Diversity Advisory Committee, and Vice President of the National
Association for Youth Leadership Forums. She has contributed to inclusion
efforts and program planning in a variety of countries and contributes to
state programs such as the State Independent Living Council and the Youth
Leadership Forum. Her primary disability-related interests and skills
include education, employment, transition services, and cultural
diversity. (return to top of
page)
Deborah Zuver is co-director of Acting for Advocacy (A4A),
which serves youths with disabilities in the Occupational Course of Study
in North Carolina high schools. For more than 20 years, Ms. Zuver has
worked in the disability field with adults and children in educational and
clinical settings. In recent years, Ms. Zuver has coordinated a range of
community-based outreach projects that aim to empower individuals and
families. She is with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Center
for Development and Learning, which is the University Center of Excellence
in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service in North
Carolina. Ms. Zuver holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology with a
concentration in Drama Therapy and she is licensed as a family therapist.
Ms Zuver is registered as a Drama Therapist and board certified as a
trainer through the National Association for Drama Therapy.
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