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PAUL G. HEARNE/AAPD LEADERSHIP AWARD RECIPIENTS:

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Learn about some of the great things recipients have done since receiving their awards and how the awards help their advocacy work.

The Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Awards Program was created in 1999 to recognize emerging leaders in the disability community. This program also carries on the work of Paul Hearne, AAPD's founder and a renowned disability rights leader, and helps to realize his goal of cultivating emerging leaders to carry on the disability movement. Including the three awards made at the third-annual AAPD Leadership Gala on March 16, 2004, a total of 37 awards have been made.

Every awardee receives an unrestricted cash award of $10,000, which is intended to further his or her strong advocacy work in the disability community.

So, what have awardees done with their award money? Are they continuing their strong advocacy efforts? Have the cash awards really made a difference in their lives and helped to better the disability movement?

It is exciting to report that all past Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award recipients are on the move and making a difference! They continue to make their marks in the movement, each building upon their work they were able to advance as the result of winning a Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award. Here's a quick overview:

Individual award recipients have:

Collectively, this cadre of recognized leaders is leaving its mark on the world of disability, with each demonstrating his or her distinctive and substantial contributions to the disability rights movement. Their efforts underscore the reality of how each person may forge a lasting impact irrespective of race, age, color, national origin, gender, economic status… or disability.

Following are quick summaries of specific paths that Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award recipients have taken:

Cheri Blauwet (2003) The last year has brought many successes and travels, and ultimately, a new career focus that I have found to be welcomed and exciting! After receiving the Paul Hearne Leadership Award in March of 2005, I went on to achieve the largest success of my racing career, that is, winning the 2004 Boston Marathon. Crossing that finish line in 1 hour and 39 minutes, in 1st place, was truly incredible and probably one of the most proud moments of my life. After taking about a month off, I began to train again because 2004 also brought the Olympics and Paralympics in Athens. After finishing my first year of medical school in May, I began to push towards Greece. I trained hard, went to several U.S. team camps, and interned part-time at the NPR affiliate in San Francisco, KQED public radio. I researched and helped produce a show called "Forum" which brings together experts in many fields to discuss controversial topics in policy and current events. It was a really exciting and interesting way to spend my down time when I wasn't training!

I left for Europe in early August and trained in Switzerland and Austria before heading into Athens to do an exhibition 800 meter event at the Olympics. Next came there Paralympics (always held 2 weeks after the Olympics), and after 10 days of intense competition I was able to come home with 1 gold medal in the 800 meters and 2 bronze medals in the 5000 meters and marathon.

Because I competed in Athens throughout August and September, I decided to defer my fall quarter of medical school. After coming home for a few weeks, I returned to Europe and worked for 6 months in Bonn, Germany, at the headquarters of the International Paralympic Committee. While there, I composed and promoted a paper called "Promoting Health and Human Rights for People with a Disability Through the Paralympic Movement." It can be found on the IPC website.

While in Europe, I was also able to make many great connections in the international sport and disability rights scene. I hope to work next summer to help formulate the Articles relating to the "Right to Health" and the "Right to Recreation and Sport" for the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability that is being drafted.

In January I returned to medical school an I'm currently plugging away at my classes. I plan to "make-up" the 2004 Fall quarter and then to begin clinical rotations next winter. I am beginning to consider what accommodations I'll need in order to create a successful educational and professional environment within both the clinic and hospital setting. I expect this to include things like lower exam tables, using a standing frame for surgical procedures, etc. It's all very exciting! I am contemplating a retirement from elite racing competition beginning also early next year.

My work with the International Institute for Disability Advocacy (IIDA) has remained on my radar, however I have decided to resume significant work in the non-profit sector only after finishing medical school. I believe that this decision will allow me to focus my attention on becoming the best physician possible, and to continue to build my academic and professional foundation so that I can enter into strong leadership roles in the future.

Kevin Long (2003) continues as the CEO of Global Deaf Connection, expanding access to education and employment opportunities among Deaf communities in developing countries. Over the last year GDC sponsored an additional 15 Deaf Kenyans to attend teacher training college in Kenya, thanks to Y's Men International, continued to support Deaf education at the Silent Cooperative Center for the Deaf in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo through an extension of USAID funding and established an intensive academic tutoring program for Deaf young adults preparing for college in Jamaica. Advocating for Deaf rights became a greater focus of GDC's work over the last year; GDC partnered with the Kenya Programmers for Disabled Persons in Nairobi to successfully modify Ministry of Education policies that limited Deaf community access to education and employment. GDC shares professional expertise with Deaf schools abroad by hosting exchange trips for Deaf education professionals. Contact Kevin through GDC's website at www.deafconnection.org if you are interested in learning more about his work!

Alison A. Hillman (2003) In May, I presented at a conference on the Human Rights Protections for People with Mental Disabilities sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization on "The Legal Battle for the Rights of People with Mental Disabilities" in São Paulo, Brazil. At the end of the conference, a C/X/S group was formed, which pledged to hold the first inter-American C/X/S gathering in 2005, inviting representatives from countries in the region.

In June, I organized and led a joint investigation mission between MDRI and Human Rights Watch to Argentina to document the human rights situation of people with mental disabilities in Buenos Aires' psychiatric hospitals (report forthcoming in 2005).

Following Argentina, I made a return trip to Paraguay with photographer Eugene Richards to document the human rights situation within the country's Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, where MDRI had requested that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) grant emergency measures in December 2003 to address egregious violations of the rights to life and health of the more than 400 people detained in the institution (scenes from video I shot during MDRI's first visit to the institution in October 2003 were shown at the AAPD Awards Gala in March 2004). Based on the evidence gathered during this trip, in July I prepared a legal brief, together with attorneys from the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), to petition the IACHR for an extension to the original emergency measures request. The IACHR granted our request on July 21, 2004.

In September, I coordinated the release of MDRI's report Human Rights & Mental Health in Peru, together with the Association for Human Rights of Peru (APRODEH) in Lima. I spent three weeks presenting the findings and recommendations of the report to Peruvian audiences, and being interviewed on Peruvian television, radio and in the news media. Peru's Minister of Health attended the report release and promised far-reaching mental health reform, particularly with regard to the government's discriminatory practices in providing health services and supports to people with mental disabilities.

In late September, I returned to Paraguay to prepare for an October hearing before the IACHR with developmental disabilities specialist John McGee. In the October 26th hearing before the IACHR, MDRI and CEJIL presented McGee's written report of observations and recommendations for reform, and MDRI showed video footage I had taken three weeks prior of continuing inhuman and degrading conditions in and animal-like treatment of the people detained in the institution.

In December, I returned to Paraguay, where MDRI began negotiations with government representatives toward reforming the country's mental health system. These reforms are aimed at addressing the grave human rights violations inflicted upon the individuals detained in the institution by creating a network of community-based services and supports that will respond to the needs of people who have been detained long-term in the psychiatric hospital as they transition to life in the community. As I write this email, I am waiting for the signatures of Paraguay's government representatives on an agreement that will put in place the groundwork for the creation of community-based mental health services in the country.

In mid-December I returned to Argentina for MDRI's second investigation into the human rights of people with mental disabilities. This trip was closely coordinated with the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), an Argentinean-based human rights organization. This follow-up to the June investigation visited two provinces outside the capital to get a sense of what conditions and services are like for people with mental disabilities outside of Buenos Aires. A joint MDRI-Human Rights Watch report on our observations and recommendations for reform will be forthcoming this year.

In February, I travel to Calgary, Canada to accept an award at the "Picture this" film festival for the documentary I created as part of MDRI's original petition to the IACHR in December 2003.

* Historic settlement reached to deinstitutionalize mental health system in Paraguay (2005). See the Mental Disability Rights International website for more information.

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Carrie Griffin Basas (2002) graduated from Harvard Law School in 2002 and subsequently passed the bar exam. She practiced civil rights and public interest law for a brief period, but then ultimately decided to implement her Hearne Award dream in September 2003 by devoting herself full-time to the development of a new non-profit organization in Washington, DC, HireAbilities. The organization attempts to connect people with disabilities with meaningful employment opportunities and nationally to work with government, private companies, and other non-profit organizations to help diversifying their workplaces with disability as a focus. As the organization's founder and first president, she is working to create a national network of employees with disabilities committed to reforming their workplaces and pursuing their ambitions.

Claudia Gordon (2002) continues to serve as Vice President of National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA). Donating a portion of the award funds and an enormous amount of time, Claudia revamped the NBDA website and newsletter, while remaining active in several disability-oriented boards and advisory groups. Post-award exposure has increased the demand for speaking engagements. In 2003, Claudia delivered more than a dozen workshops and keynotes at graduations, conferences, summits and rallies across the country. In late 2003, she joined the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as attorney advisor in its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. In this capacity, she advises on the application of federal laws relating to the rights of people with disabilities to policies. She also monitors the integration of people with disabilities into DHS emergency preparedness efforts.

Peter Cody Hunt (2002) continues to blaze trails in Pittsburgh. In 2003, he was honored as a 40 under 40 award recipient, because of his volunteer work with the local disability communities. This accolade was presented to 40 young people under the age of 40 in Pittsburgh, who made a positive impact on the region's development, by Pittsburgh magazine and the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project. He was also named the 2003 Dick Thornburgh Scholar -- he is preparing a manuscript examining the impact of former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh's legacy on the lives of individuals with disabilities. In November 2003, Peter completed his three-year tenure as a member of the Board of Directors at the Three Rivers Center for Independent Living (TRCIL). Currently, he is the Study Coordinator of the University of Pittsburgh Model Center on Spinal Cord Injury and a doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Science, hoping to complete his dissertation by spring 2004. Shortly thereafter and with a fellow TRCIL Board member, he mobilized the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Life's Work (Vocational Rehabilitation Center) to develop programs culturally appropriate to serve Asians with Disabilities. He is also a network member for the Center on disability Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Sarah Louise Triano (2002) embarked on a nationwide Disability Pride Tour in 2003 in order to break down the internalized shame among people living with disabilities, support a systematic redefinition of disability and promote the belief in society that disability is a natural and beautiful part of human diversity that disabled people can take pride in. Her stops have included Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Carson City and New Mexico. As part of her effort to promote disability pride, Sarah also created a website, Disabled And Proud , wrote the entry on Disability Pride at the request of Sage Publications for the Encyclopedia of Disability, is planning the nation's first annual Disability Pride Parade to be held on July 18, 2004, and partnered with Dan Wilkins from The Nth Degree to design a line of Disability Pride products. A portion of the proceeds from sales of these products support the nation's first locally-based Leadership/Organizing Project for Youth with Disabilities at Access Living in Chicago, which Sarah directs. Also to promote disability pride, Sarah is working diligently to spread her message among allies and other progressive movements. In 2003, she participated in the Midwest Training Academy's Organizer Training, began an on-going dialogue with the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership in Detroit, participated in the NOW/AAPD Conference in October, and is co-sponsoring an Intergenerational Dialogue on Youth Organizing that features such celebrated civil rights leaders as Bob Lucas and Grace Lee Boggs.

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Alicia Contreras (2001), the Program Director of Whirlwind Women, continues to be passionate about improving the quality of wheelchairs produced in developing countries. She has carried forth with her work in Thailand, Uganda, Kenya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Chile and Mexico. She is responsible for negotiating the first-ever city funding of the first independent living center for women with disabilities in Mexico. In 2000, she was a Mexican Delegate to United Nations/NGO Forum in Beijing. Alicia has also been the recipient of a New Voices Fellowship.

Daniel Davis (2001), former Vice President and co-founder of the National Disabled Student Union, graduated with Highest Honors in History from the University of California at Berkeley in 2002 and now serves as a policy analyst for the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL). In this capacity, he tracks public policy, generates action alerts and writes for NCIL's advocacy publications on issues impacting the rights of persons with disabilities. He also monitors developments involving Medicare/Medicaid, challenges to the ADA, judicial nominations, IDEA and Rehabilitation Act reauthorizations, appropriations and housing. He remains involved in disability youth advocacy and makes speeches to advance these efforts, most recently at the 2003 California RespectAbility Conference.

Ann Annie Forts (2001), a person with Down Syndrome, continues promoting her UP Syndrome philosophy as she volunteers in her community and pursues a nationwide public speaking career as a self-advocate and motivational speaker. Her audiences include parent support groups, educators, students of all ages, professional groups (including social workers, doctors and nurses), disability organizations, federal and state human services departments, church groups and community service clubs. She has also continued her efforts to raise a minimum of $1 million for the Annie Forts "UP" Syndrome Fund, which she established to provide enrichment opportunities for persons with Down Syndrome and to help support individuals interested in pursuing a career in special education. To date, the UP Fund has received over $200,000 in donations including Ann's donation of her $10,000 Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award check. Annie continues to offer her favorite piece of advice to everyone she meets: Please do not prejudge the limits of our abilities, just because we happen to have a disABILITY!!! Everyone should focus on the ABILITY part of the word disABILITY.

Kristen Jones (2001) has begun pursuing her Master's Degree in Special Education. She has continued her efforts in coordinating Disability Mentoring Day in the Houston area for the fourth consecutive year. She recently completed her term as the 2002-2003 Co-chair to the National Youth Leadership Network and has since been elected Chair of Membership for the Network. Since 2002, she has also served in an advisory capacity to the Texas Youth Leadership Forum. Most recently, she was chosen to work on a grant project in the Houston area, Career Journeys, an e-mentoring network for youth with disabilities whose goal is to empower them to expand their understanding of viable career options through online communication with mentors in different areas of career interest.

Frances S. Priester (2001) moved from Chicago to Washington, DC, in 2003 to become the Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs of the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health, which annually serves more than 12,000 consumers and their families. She manages a budget of over $500,000 and supervises a staff of expert consumer rights advocates. This is a far cry from the 300 forensic consumers served while working for the State of Illinois. She also works to implement the recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and educates consumers about recovery, self-determination and personal responsibility for management of mental illness. Her goal now is to establish a new non-profit volunteer program for people with psychiatric disabilities to determine possibilities surrounding gainful employment.

Jerry White (2001) is at the forefront of a global effort to secure a UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities by 2006. Too often, people with disabilities, including landmine survivors, have a marginal place in society. They cannot attend school, own property, have a passport, adopt a child or earn a living.This Treaty is an international legal framework to protect and promote the basic dignity and rights of all people with disabilities.

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Olegario Ollie Cantos (2000) used the Hearne Award money further to build the Outreach and Education Program at the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, which resulted in new programs such as a volunteer attorney panel, a comprehensive disability rights self-advocacy training, and the Southern California Disability Rights Leadership Conference (which grew to become the California RespectAbility Conference). In 2002, he became AAPD's first General Counsel and Director of Programs. In this capacity, he coordinates Disability Mentoring Day and has grown the program to now reach all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 14 foreign countries, and more than 7,000 mentee participants. He continues to be active with the National Federation of the Blind, serves on the board of independent living centers in two states, and is an activist in the Republican Party.

Matthew Matt Cavedon (2000), originally winning the Award when he was just 11 years old, continues his work as an advocate for people with disabilities. He spoke at a United Cerebral Palsy national Conference, Family ReUnion X and XI Conferences in Nashville, and was the keynote speaker at the Connecticut Association of Schools Conference. He has also received several major awards, including the Bloomer Award from Northeast Magazine, the Lands End Born Heroes Award, Tony the Gr-r-reat Tiger Award and the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. Continuing to work with the non-profit organization Boundless Playgrounds, he testified at the Connecticut State Legislature in support of a $1 million initiative to build playgrounds. He was thrilled to learn that a project in his hometown of Berlin, Connecticut, would receive $70,000 from the initiative and was overjoyed when that playground, Friendship Place, opened in June 2002. Currently a freshman in high school, he is an editor on the school newspaper, a member of the drama club, a peer mediator, a member of the Youth Expert Panel for a national anti-bullying campaign, and a member of the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees. He maintains a website: Play 4 All.

Robert Bobby E. Coward, Jr. (2000), now serves as Executive Director of Disabled Individuals for Real Empowerment and Community Training (DIRECT), a new non-profit organization in Washington, DC, whose mission is to promote access to community-based services and supports, housing, employment and other endeavors that promote full participation in community life by people with disabilities in that city. Also a local and national activist with the Association for Disability Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), he is heavily involved with pushing for passage of the Medicare and Medicaid in Community-based Services Supports Act (MiCASSA), which promotes community living as opposed to human warehousing of people with disabilities in institutional settings.

James R. Meadours (2000) continues to be extensively involved with the self-advocacy movement, recently completing a seven-year tenure on the National Board of Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, a large grassroots organization of people with developmental disabilities. He is active with People First of Louisiana and has played a substantial role in building the group to have more than twenty chapters throughout that state. He speaks to people with disabilities and their families about the need for meaningful self-determination and the richness of possibility that comes with taking active part in the social, political and economic lives of their communities.

Sharon Lynn Nguyen (2000) devoted her Award funds to working with the people of Vietnam to advance employment opportunities and to conducting aggressive outreach and education efforts among Vietnamese Americans with disabilities. In 2000, she participated in the Presidential Conference for Youth with Disabilities in Employment and was later selected by U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to serve on the Presidential Task Force for Youth with Disabilities on Employment from 2001 to 2002. She presently works at Team of Advocates for Special Kids (TASK) in Riverside, California, as a Vietnamese Outreach Coordinator, training parents and professionals on issues of special education. She has spoken to many Vietnamese youth organizations to educate youth about disability issues and to raise awareness.

Lauren Teruel (2000) was the reigning Miss Deaf America from 2000 to 2002 and an outspoken advocate for enhanced literacy among members of the Deaf community. She went on to receive a New York City Teaching Fellowship and attended graduate school in New York, concurrently teaching within the New York Public School System. In April 2004, she will be a keynote speaker at the biannual CASA conference: the 2004 Community Awareness for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and Deaf-Blind.

Sabrina-Marie Wilson (2000). The HEART Motto reflects the lifestyle approach of the program founded by Sabrina-Marie Wilson. It's frank spirit challenges her audience of chronically/terminally ill patients to action and sustained vision for success in living their life to the fullest. Sabrina-Marie was born with Cooley's Anemia and she draws from her life experiences in successfully learning from obstacles and triumphs of surviving what most times is a fatal blood disorder. In addition, to seeing many of her peers lose their lives to Thalassemia, she has also experience rehabilitation after a stroke.From these experiences, she was inspired to develop HEART. She says: In my being unable to just stand from a sitting position to standing or just waking up in the morning and getting dressed in 10 minutes, my esteem was challenged to learn a different way to do things that easily took for granted and a different way of thinking and being. With her family's inability to accept her health challenges and having little emotional support, the independent living movement became her source of inspiration.

Her motivational seminars promotes the SSEE or vision method of precise goal planning. In addition, she encourages community, national advocacy and voter's participation for all people with health challenges. She tell her audience:After all, change needs to begin with YOU!

As of 2004, Sabrina-Marie has been featured on The Trinity Broadcasting Cable Network, On The Go with American Association of University Woman, The Washington Post,WNCF-ABC TV( American Broadcasting Company); WAKA-CBS TV (CBS Corporation/Viacom); WSFA-NBC (National Broadcasting Company),WAPZ-AM , WHUR-FM, WHMM, WJLD-AM Radio Your Health,The Kojo Nnamdi Show, The Bernie McCain Show; the Nationally Syndicated On A Roll with Greg Smith; National Urban Networks; National Public Radio the Lifestyle Feature Article in The Advertiser 2004; Lifeline, a National CAF Publication, and contributed to The Campaign 12 Reason's to Give Campaign for The American Red Cross.She has done television, print, voiceover and public relations work on civil rights, disability and health related issues.

Beginning in Fall2001,she began a Disability Issues Forum in the Washington Metropolitan Area. In 2002, this effort expanded to include HEART Forums,Holistic Advocacy and Cooley Anemia Awareness across North East America. Some of the institutions that she visited include: National Headquarters of the Disabled American Veterans, The National Congress of Black Women; Auburn University, Tuskegee University, Alabama State University,The University of Alabama, Birmingham, Howard University, Howard University School of Law, University of Maryland, Baltimore, among many others. She is also currently serving on the National Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Braintrust on Disability and Health September 2003-2004.

In addition to Traditional Medicine, she is a strong advocate of Natural and Integrative Medicine giving credit to it dramatically enhancing her quality of life today.

In 2004, Sabrina-Marie continues outreach to a diverse population across America!

Sabrina-Marie is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and has ongoing outreach to communities by way of media monthly on XM National Satellite Radio and National Urban Radio Networks.

Noone's life is a waste, but there are wasted lives based on the attitude of ones HEART

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Michael Mike Ching (1999) completed his Masters degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in June of 2003. He subsequently joined IBM Research as a Software Engineer. He is currently working on a web scale advance text analytics project called Web Fountain at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. More information about Mike's project can be found at the Spectrum IEEE

David Gonzalez (1999), the first person with a psychiatric disability to receive the Award, currently works for a specially-designed research project funded by the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor to assist individuals with psychiatric disabilities to obtain competitive employment. New York Works provides a wide range of services to its clientele, including job placement services and financial advice. Since receiving the Award, David has been honored with other awards for his commitment to consumer empowerment, including the 2000 NYC/DMH Advocacy Award and the 2001 NYS/OMH Citizen Participation Award. He has appeared on numerous television and radio talk shows and been a guest speaker on issues of advocacy at many conferences and conventions throughout the United States, including the 2000 Rebellious Lawyering Conference at the Yale University School of Law and the 2002 Hope and Recovery Conference of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. David continues to maintain and update an anti-stigma website he designed with funding from the Award, which has attracted nearly 30,000 visitors worldwide, many of whom are college students and mental health professionals. Always on the cutting-edge, this past August, David took a courageous stand for human rights by participating in the Fast for Freedom in Mental Health in Pasadena, California. His work can be seen on his web site CineMania Stigma.

Marlene Huff (1999) has since earned her PhD in Social Work, and is an Associate Professor at Eastern Kentucky University and Director of the Social Work Program. In addition to teaching, she is the author of a variety of articles surrounding disability issues, chronic illness and death and dying. She also owns her own business, Creative Solutions of the Bluegrass, LLC., which is primarily a counseling and education organization but also holds a variety of service grants and contracts. She serves as a consultant for a variety of human services, businesses and corporations on disability issues.

Jennifer Jenny Kern (1999), after concluding her service as the Director of Whirlwind Women, a grassroots network of women wheelchair builders, remains active in the growing international movement of people with disabilities, striving to promote equality of opportunity and economic self-sufficiency worldwide. Now a consultant with Mobility International USA (MIUSA) and with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), she has led disability rights trainings in Uzbekistan Costa Rica with seasoned and emerging activists. She was also involved in organizing DREDF's 2001 symposium, From Policy to Practice, and serves on DREDF's board. Jenny returned to graduate school in 2002 to pursue a Masters Degree in East-West Psychology. She can be found scuba diving in her spare time, and has plans to start a family in the near future.

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All of these distinguished leaders - and all of the other Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award recipients not highlighted here - are working to pave the way for better lives and opportunities for people with all types of disabilities, and their collective ongoing efforts serve as a living legacy to be passed on to the next generation of emerging activists. As the momentum continues to quicken, so, too, will the pace of change for a brighter future.

We are delighted that you are reading the stories of these extraordinary disability rights movement leaders, but even more importantly, we encourage you to get involved with them and in the disability rights movement!

For questions about the Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Awards Program, please contact AAPD at 800-840-8844 (V/TTY) or by email AAPD.

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