Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) 2016 West Coast Update Conference San Francisco, CA

Bill Botten

Accessibility Specialist

William (Bill) R. Botten is the Accessibility Specialist for the Office of Technical and Information Services at the U.S. Access Board. Previously, he was Director of the Office of Accessible Seating/Services for Centre Management, a national sports arena management company. His responsibilities included ensuring compliance with State and Federal accessibility requirements at all managed properties, as well as working with design and construction officials during arena construction and alterations. His training experience includes hundreds of presentations over the last 25 years to local, state, and national audiences on injury prevention, disability awareness and sensitivity, and accessibility issues. He was part of a team that developed the new combined guidelines for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA). Mr. Botten specializes in access issues related to recreation facilities and outdoor developed areas as well as providing technical assistance to the building design and construction industry, State and Federal agencies and consumers with disabilities.

Arlene Mayerson

Arlene Mayerson is the Directing Attorney of Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF). One of the nation’s leading experts in disability rights law, she has been a key advisor to both Congress and the disability community on the major disability rights legislation for the past two decades, including the Handicapped Children’s Protection Act as well as other legislation ensuring the special education rights of students with disabilities, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At the request of members of Congress, Ms. Mayerson supplied expert testimony before several committees of Congress when they were debating the ADA. She filed comments on the ADA regulations for more than 500 disability rights organizations. Ms. Mayerson has devoted her career exclusively to disability rights practice, representing clients in a wide array of issues. She has provided representation, consultation to counsel, and coordination of amicus briefs on key disability rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education to the Civil Rights Reviewing Authority, responsible for reviewing civil rights decisions of the Department. In addition to her position at DREDF, Ms. Mayerson is currently a lecturer in disability law at the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). She has published many articles on disability rights and is the author of a comprehensive three–volume treatise on the ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act Annotated-Legislative History, Regulations & Commentary (Clark Boardman Callaghan, 1994), which sets forth the legislative history and regulations for each provision of the ADA.

Silvia Yee

Silvia Yee is a Senior Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) where her work has included projects to increase physical and programmatic accessibility and disability awareness in the delivery of health care services, as well as impact litigation to increase access for people with disabilities in myriad aspects of public and private life. Ms. Yee maintains interests in health care reform, international disability rights, and models of equality. Prior to joining DREDF, Ms. Yee worked in private commercial practice in Canada, and with the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, where she published on the topics of Canadian Health Care Standards and the extent of the nursing profession’s legal authority. Ms. Yee received her B.M., M.A., and L.L.B. degrees from the University of Alberta. Following graduation from law school, she clerked with Justice William Stevenson at the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Lainey Feingold

Lainey Feingold is the Owner and Lead Counsel for the Law Offices of Lainey Feingold. Her principle work is with the blind and visually impaired community on technology and information access issues, including web and mobile accessibility. Ms. Feingold has long worked with the blind community nationally in successful efforts to obtain talking ATMs, accessible websites and mobile applications, tactile point of sale devices, accessible (audible) pedestrian signals, talking prescription labels, audio description equipment, and alternative formats including braille, audio, electronic and large print. In addition to her work with the blind community, she has resolved numerous other cases on behalf of persons with disabilities, including national class actions against Shell and Chevron resulting in ADA implementation at over 5,000 service stations across the country. Along with co-counsel, she has developed Structured Negotiation, an alternative to filing a lawsuit that emphasizes collaboration and focuses on solutions. Using this method, Ms. Feingold and her co-counsel have negotiated more than 60 settlement agreements without filing a single lawsuit. She has negotiated these agreements with some of the largest organizations in the United States, including American Express, the City and County of San Francisco, Bank of America, Weight Watchers, CVS, Wal-Mart, Major League Baseball, and Wells Fargo Bank.

Erica C. Jones

Erica C. Jones is the Executive Director of the Center on Disability and has been the Principal Investigator and Director of the Pacific ADA Center since 1991. She is a nationally recognized expert in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), has been involved with the ADA since 1986 when the first draft of the law was being written, and has an intimate knowledge of the spirit and intent of the law. She was involved in testifying before Congress and educating state and federal legislators in relation to passage of the ADA. As a person with a disability, Ms. Jones is fully aware of problems that exist in the implementation of the ADA in areas of employment, accessibility, and the full inclusion of persons with disabilities. She has been active in the disability field for more than 30 years. Ms. Jones has kept current on case law, interpretations, and new developments with the ADA. Her work with the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities gives her intimate knowledge of issues for people with disabilities and entry to all sectors of the community. She is current with all disability laws and also has intimate knowledge of state and US territory local disability law.

Jan Garrett

Jan Garrett is the Program Manager for the Pacific ADA Center at the Public Health Institute (PHI). She currently serves as the Program Manager of the Pacific ADA Center. A major project at PHI, the Pacific ADA Center is part of the ADA National Network, a group of 10 regional centers across the U.S. that provide information, training and materials to businesses, state and local governments, and disability communities about their rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ms. Garrett serves on a number of regional and California state committees on which she provides expertise in service and volunteering and transportation accessibility.

Don Risdall

Don Risdall is the Senior Technical Assistance Specialist for the Pacific ADA Center at the Public Health Institute (PHI). A major project at PHI, the Pacific ADA Center is part of the ADA National Network, a group of 10 regional centers across the U.S. that provide information, training and materials to businesses, state and local governments, and disability communities about their rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Mr. Risdall is also a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) and has over twelve years of experience providing training and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Toni Lee Acevedo

Toni Lee Acevedo is the Training Coordinator for the Pacific ADA Center at the Public Health Institute (PHI). A major project at PHI, the Pacific ADA Center is part of the ADA National Network, a group of 10 regional centers across the U.S. that provide information, training and materials to businesses, state and local governments, and disability communities about their rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ms. Acevedo has worked in the field of disability with an emphasis on employment, health care, disability benefits and civil rights.