Ollie Cantos first became active in the disability rights movement in 1990, working on issues affecting the blind community. In 1999, his work expanded to encompass a cross-disability focus on a local level after he started working for the Disability Rights Legal Center in Southern California.
However, it was his involvement with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) that paved the way for him to engage in regional, national, and international cross–disability initiatives.
“I have dedicated my entire life and career to supporting the cross-disability rights movement across the political spectrum and bringing together people with different ideologies and different disabilities, all with the shared philosophy of wanting to ensure that we as people with disabilities are given the same kinds of opportunities to grow and succeed, just like everybody else,” he said.
Eve Hill, who was the executive director of the Disability Rights Legal Center at the time, nominated Cantos for the Paul G. Hearne National Leadership Award, which he received in 2001.
Cantos used the money he received through the award to support and strengthen the Disability Rights Legal Center by expanding outreach efforts and ensuring that they could reach cross-disability organizations and those that support other marginalized and disadvantaged populations. That led to the creation of the Disability Rights Roundtable, which created six coalitions supporting different policy objectives and expanded the Southern California Disability Rights Leadership Conference.
“When I received the Hearne Award, it was amazing, because nowhere was there an award like it, nowhere could emerging leaders not only end up receiving recognition, but also receive the resources needed to build specific initiatives,” he said. “When I got it, I was super surprised, and on top of that, to have additional resources to do what I love, it was just really a life-changing event for me.”
The Hearne Award opened up the door to a vibrant career in cross-disability rights for Cantos. He went on to join AAPD as general counsel and Director of Programs, where he contributed to the further development of Disability Mentoring Day, an idea created by Jonathon Young that started at the White House and has since expanded to programs and disability mentorship events in all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and 11 foreign countries across five continents. Cantos went on to join the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the White House, and then the U.S. Department of Education.
“The wonderful thing about the Hearne Award is that it is not merely a means to recognize emerging leaders, but it also, and more importantly, provides us with the resources needed to expand our dreams of what we wanted to do to contribute to the cross-disability rights movement, and that is exactly what ended up happening in my case,” he said.
He continued: “It set into motion an incredible chain of events that has led to my personal growth as well as my professional growth, and I am eternally grateful to AAPD, not only for what it has done for me, but also what it has helped me to do for our movement. As we continue to build stronger and better still, we get to support emerging leaders of today, where we now are the forebearers of a new generation.”
Cantos said he’s grateful for AAPD and recognizes the tremendous impact the organization has had in creating connections, providing resources, and supporting emerging leaders in the disability rights movement, pointing to the roster of distinguished awardees and the work in disability rights that they have gone on to do in their careers.
“AAPD has played a vital role in my life, and it is because of AAPD that I am forever grateful for the life that I continue to live and for the ways that I have been able to pass on lessons to new generations based on what I was taught right here,” he said.
In reflecting on the future of the disability rights movement and advice he would give to young emerging leaders in the disability community, Cantos said he encourages everyone to continue the legacy of the disability rights movement by learning from the past, being actively engaged in the present, and preparing to mentor future leaders.
“There is always an ongoing opportunity for us to grow in love and in influence by looking at our own personal talents and abilities and strengths and then taking those and applying those to ensuring that fellow people with disabilities get to experience broader opportunities than may have been enjoyed in the past,” he said. “As we keep doing that together, that’s where we’re going to be able to strengthen our movement eternally.”