Seven Emerging Leaders In The National Disability Community To Receive Awards From AAPD Leadership Gala February 27, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mariana V. Nork
(202) 955-6114

WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2002- "It is my very distinct honor to recognize, on behalf of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), seven truly extraordinary individuals, all of whom are emerging leaders within the national disability community, as this year's Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award recipients," Andrew J. Imparato, President and CEO of AAPD, recently announced.

These individuals, whose biographies are attached, were selected on a highly competitive basis from almost 400 applications by a national advisory committee to receive cash awards of $10,000 each, to further their current work in the disability community:

• Alicia Contreras, San Francisco, CA
• Daniel Davis, Berkeley, CA
• Ann Forts, Center Harbor, NH
• N. Linn Hendershot, Hagerstown, MD
• Kristen Jones, Houston, TX
• Frances Priester, Elgin, IL
• Gerard White, Washington, DC

The Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation established The Paul G. Hearne Leadership Awards for Disabilities program in 1999 to recognize and carry on the work of Paul G. Hearne, a renowned leader in the national disability community and AAPD's founder, as well as to realize his goal of cultivating potential leaders to carry on the disability movement. Administration of this program was passed in 2000 to AAPD and the program is now referred to as the Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Awards.

This year's Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award recipients will be honored guests at AAPD's first annual Leadership Gala on February 27 at the Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC. It is during this commemorative event that each recipient will be presented with a cash award, as well as a handsome heavy crystal flame that signifies the passing of the torch.

"All of these seven individuals- the work they do and their significant accomplishments on both the local and national levels- so greatly reflect the rich diversity of the national disability community and its goals and objectives," says Imparato.

Founded by Paul G. Hearne in 1995 to give people with disabilities more consumer power and a stronger public voice, the American Association of People with Disabilities is a national membership organization dedicated to promoting the economic and political empowerment of all people with disabilities; educating businesses and the general public about disability issues; and providing membership benefits, such as financial services and product discounts. AAPD helps to unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act -- equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.

Paul G. Hearne Awardees Biographies