Pacific ADA Center Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Update Conference 2018 - Los Angeles, CA.

Ana Acton

Ana Acton lives in Nevada City, California, and is the Executive Director for FREED Center for Independent Living serving Nevada, Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, and Sierra counties. As a non-profit Independent Living Resource Center, FREED’s goal is to empower people with disabilities to exercise their civil rights in becoming active, productive members of the community. Ana also hosts “Disability Rap” on KVMR (Nevada City). Disability Rap covers current and emerging disability issues and topics and often includes special guests from across the nation.

Danielle Anderson

Danielle (Dani) Anderson currently serves as the Executive Director of Independent Living Resource Center (ILRC), Santa Barbara. Before assuming the ILRC Executive Director position, Dani served as ILRC’s Community Living Advocate in Ventura County assisting disabled consumers with a variety of independent living services; housing, transportation, peer support and youth transition. Prior to joining ILRC, Dani worked as a Staff Services Analyst for the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) in Sacramento and served for four years as Management Services Technician with the California Department of Rehabilitation. One highlight of her DOR job was Anderson’s leadership role in the Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) for Students with Disabilities.

Alyse Bass

Alyse Bass has over 27 years of experience as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Bass has handled cases under title VII of the Civil Rights Act. She has investigated both individual and systemic matters, negotiated settlements, and has litigated the full range of issues faced by individuals with disabilities ranging from discrimination by places of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA, employment discrimination cases arising under Title I of the ADA (both individual and pattern and practice) as well as cases concerning denial of program access by public entities under Title II of the ADA. She also currently serves as a U.S. Attorney Coordinator for ADA matters. In this role, she coordinates, reviews and shepherds ADA matters which are handled by Assistant United States Attorneys throughout the country.

Roxann Crawford

Roxann Crawford was selected in September 2016 to serve as the Regional Disability Integration Specialist for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region IX after having served nearly four years as the Disability Integration Advisor on the National Incident Management Assistance Team (N-IMAT) – West, one of three (3) elite national response teams.

On deployment, Roxann operates as the lead expert principle advisor to the Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO), ensuring a fully inclusive federal response including accessible communication, and programmatic and physical accessibility for all residents impacted by disasters. Roxann partners with all federal program areas to educate and foster a whole community response which is fully inclusive of the needs of people with disabilities and provides direct programmatic and process review to create more inclusive and fully accessible options during disaster response operations, identifying barriers and finding solutions.

Eva de Leon, MA, CRC

Eva de Leon, MA, CRC, provides lead support and assistance to the Project Director in the daily management of the Northwest ADA Center program. This includes providing supports to all Northwest ADA staff members at the Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation and acting as liaison to the Northwest ADA state partners in Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) including providing training, developing/implementing curriculum, evaluation of staff, evaluation of project and project outcomes. She coordinates and manages projects related to accessibility assessment, Washington State Department of Corrections, and other provisions of the ADA and related federal and state requirements for businesses, state and local governments, and customers. Eva received her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and her Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Western Washington University, and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC).

Alison Everett

Alison Everett is the Accessibility Issues Coordinator for the City of Pasadena. In her position, Ali provides technical assistance and training to City employees, investigates complaints of inaccessibility, conducts compliance assessments, and serves as the staff liaison to the Accessibility and Disability Commission. Ali received her law degree, Master of Public Administration, and Certificate of Advance Study in Disabilities Studies from Syracuse University, and her undergraduate degree from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Jan Garrett

Jan Garrett is employed by the Public Health Institute (PHI), Oakland, California. 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. The Center serves the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii, as well as the territories of the Pacific Basin. Prior to joining the Pacific ADA Center, Ms. Garrett held positions in numerous federal government and non-profit agencies. In those positions, she has trained everyone from government agencies, to architects, rehabilitation professionals, individuals with disabilities, and business leaders.

Kathy Gerk

Kathy Gerk served as the Emergency Services Manager for the City of Richmond Fire Department Office of Emergency Services for 28 years. Ms. Gerk developed and implemented the REACT (Richmond Emergency Action Community Teams) in 1995. This program was developed from the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program, and then customized to meet Richmond’s specialized needs and threats adding hazardous materials awareness, shelter-in-place instructions, as well as a communications component. The REACT program was groundbreaking, as training was implemented at Richmond High School. The program was awarded the Helen Putnam Award of Excellence for five consecutive years beginning in 1997. Kathy has served on numerous committees across the city, county, state and nation including Chair of the IAEM (International Association of Emergency Managers) Access and Inclusion Caucus, Chair of the California Governors CERT Advisory Work Group, Chair of Contra Costa County Cities Citizens Corps/CERT Committee, Chair of City of Richmond PWD/E (People with Disabilities/Elderly) Work Group, among several others. She was instrumental in developing the C8 (Contra Costa County Cities Citizens Corps CERT Committee) promoting partnership efforts between emergency services agencies and the communities they serve. She has received numerous awards including FEMA’s 2009 Honorable Mention for National Citizens Corps Achievement Award Celebrating Resilient Communities – one of five in the nation.

Michael Gibbens, CASp, ICC, CASI

Certified Access Specialist

Michael Gibbens, CASp, ICC, CASI, is a Certified Access Specialist and the author of the best-selling California Disabled Accessibility Guidebook (the CalDAG™). Mike has written 18 books on disabled access compliance, served as expert witness/consultant in well over 1,000 lawsuits, and has served for 18 consecutive years on the Accessibility Code Advisory Committee of the California Building Standards Commission (5 years past as Chairman). As an instructor, Mike has given hundreds of seminars throughout the United States, has been approved by the State Bar to facilitate continuing legal education (MCLE) classes for attorneys, and has been utilized by the Federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to train their attorneys and investigators on state/federal disabled accessibility compliance.

Lewis Kraus, MPH, MCP

Lewis Kraus, MPH, MCP, is the co-director of the Pacific ADA Center. At the Center, he has been the lead for emergency preparedness and management and accessible technology areas. He also leads and coordinates the research for the Pacific ADA Center. He is currently leading the community living research for the ADA Participation Action Research Consortium. Mr. Kraus is also the author of the Annual Report on Disability Statistics in the United States and leads project work in local disability statistics.

Previously, he conducted policy research into personal assistance services (PAS) in the workplace in the United States and the implementation of PAS in emergency preparedness shelters.

He received master’s degrees in public health and city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Cecilia Laufenberg

Cecilia Laufenberg is a Recreation Therapist, certified by the California Board of Recreation and Park Certification. She has been employed by the Conejo Recreation and Park District for 26 years as Supervisor of Therapeutic Recreation services for individuals with disabilities. Cecilia is also a parent to a 20 year old son with autism.

Keith Miller

Keith Miller attended California State University of Northridge where he studied Social Welfare and completed a one-year program in photojournalism at East Los Angeles College. For over 34 years, Mr. Miller has been working with people with disabilities. His years of experience have allowed him to be involved in different steering committees through the Department of Mental Health, Chair the monthly Westside Mental Health Network and Service Area 5 Advisory Committee. Mr. Miller has also worked closely with the Department of Rehabilitation, Pacific ADA Center, Los Angeles Housing Authorities, City of Los Angeles under the Family Source Centers and Youth Services. He believes the building blocks for successful Independent Living Centers are the dedicated staff and leadership of the many people who have worked within the disability movement.

Janet Peters

Janet Peters is the Project Coordinator of Accessible and Assistive Technology with the Great Lakes ADA Center, which offers technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act in the great lakes region. Janet has 20 years of experience with technology for people with disabilities. She has worked extensively with business entities, state and local governments, and education institutions to maximize technology use to further opportunities for individuals with disabilities. She is the creator and director of Punch-In, a self-directed employment resource for young adults with disabilities. Janet also directs the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology in Postsecondary (QIAT-PS) project which provides tools and training for students and campuses to improve assistive technology service delivery. With the Pacific ADA Center, she manages the Accessible Technology Webinar Series, which offers six high quality presentations from nationally recognized speakers to raise awareness and expertise in accessible technology. Janet has her certification in assistive technology from California State University – Northridge and an academic background in computer science and a Masters of Education in Learning Technologies from the University of Minnesota.

Michael Richardson, MPA

Michaeil Richardson, MPA directs the Northwest ADA Center and is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Technical Assistance Unit. He provides technical assistance, training, continuing education, and technical consultation services related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other federal and state disability laws. His entire career has been in the field of disability-related services, having worked as a Job Coach/Job Developer with a Community Rehabilitation Provider and as a state vocational rehabilitation counselor/supervisor. In recent years, Michael has worked at the University of Washington as a human resources Disability Employment Specialist, Program Manager with the Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT) Center, and as the Assistant Director of the Disability Resources for Students office. Having personal experience with hearing loss and involvement in the Deaf Community, Michael also specializes in providing information on accessibility and effective communication for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Don Risdall

Don Risdall has worked at the Pacific ADA Center for the past thirteen years providing guidance on the rights and responsibilities afforded by the federal and state laws prohibiting disability discrimination. In 2013, he successfully passed the exam to become a Certified Access Specialist with the state of California and in 2016 co-taught a four-day intensive training to prepare new candidates to sit for the exam. Don also holds a Master’s degree in Education from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Juliet Shoultz

Juliet Shoultz currently serves as Transportation Systems Engineer in the Board’s Office of Technical and Information Services (OTIS). She has 15 years of experience in transportation planning and engineering for state government. Most recently, she served as the ADA Policy Engineer at the Illinois Department of Transportation where she led development and implementation of the department’s ADA transition plan and served as the department’s accessibility expert, providing technical assistance and reviewing plans for state projects. She is a member of the Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on Paratransit and previously was a member of the Illinois Accessibility Code Revision Committee which was tasked with revising the Illinois Accessibility Code.

Nicole St. Germain

Nicole St. Germain serves as the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Los Angeles District of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency that enforces federal laws which prohibit employment discrimination. Ms. St. Germain oversees the education and outreach initiatives along with public relations for the Los Angeles District, which includes central and southern California, southern Nevada, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa, Wake Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Ms. St. Germain joined the EEOC in 2009 and has held the positions of Enforcement Investigator and Systemic Investigator. She was appointed to the position of Outreach and Education Coordinator in 2016. Ms. St. Germain holds a graduate degree in Forensic Psychology, undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Criminal Justice, and is fluent in American Sign Language.

Barry Taylor

Barry Taylor is the Vice President for Civil Rights and Systemic Litigation at Equip for Equality, where has worked since 1996. At Equip for Equality, he has overseen many individual and systemic disability discrimination cases and he is currently co-counsel in five ADA class actions, including lead counsel in Ligas v. Norwood, a class action on behalf of people with developmental disabilities who are seeking community services. Barry has given numerous presentations on the ADA across the country to people with disabilities, family members, attorneys, employers, businesses, service providers and advocacy organizations. Prior to coming to Equip for Equality, Barry was the AIDS Project Attorney in the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal working to advance the civil rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. From 1988 – 1993, Barry was a litigation associate at the Chicago law firm of Peterson & Ross. He is a 1988 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, where he also received his undergraduate degree in 1985.

Rebekah Tosado

Rebekah Tosado is the chief of the Antidiscrimination Group at the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which has responsibilities related to compliance with various federal civil rights laws, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Jay Woodward

Jay Woodward is a senior staff architect with the International Code Council’s (ICC) Business and Product Development department and works out of the Lenexa, Kansas Distribution Center. His current responsibilities include serving as the Secretariat for the ICC A117.1 standard committee and the development of new ICC publications. With more than 25 years of experience in building design, construction, code enforcement and instruction, Jay’s experience provides him with the ability to communicate effectively on issues of code application and design for code enforcement personnel as well as architects and designers. Jay has previously served as the secretariat for ICC’s Energy Conservation Code and the International Building Code’s Fire Safety Code Development committee.

Dave Yanchulis

Accessibility Specialist at the U.S. Access Board

Dave Yanchulis is an Accessibility Specialist at the U.S. Access Board, a federal agency that develops accessibility guidelines and standards for the built environment, transit systems, information and communication technology, and medical diagnostic equipment under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other laws. He was active in the Board’s development and update of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines and provides technical assistance and training on the ADA Standards. He also manages public affairs for the Board.