Senator Ed Markey (Keynote Speaker) has represented Massachusetts in Congress for more than four decades and has amassed an unparalleled record as a legislator and champion of people with disabilities. Most importantly, he authored part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (dealing with telecommunications services for the deaf) and was the chief architect and drafter of the landmark Communications and Video Accessibility Act. He is a consumer champion and national leader on energy, environmental protection and telecommunications policy and a deep commitment to improving the lives of the people of Massachusetts and the nation.
Judy Heumann (Panelist) is an internationally recognized disability rights activist and leader in the disability community. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations, non-profits, and various other disability interest groups, has produced significant contributions since the 1970's to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. She served as Special Advisor for International Disability Rights to President Barack Obama and Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the administration of President Bill Clinton. Judy received her Bachelor’s degree from Long Island University and her Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Lydia X. Z. Brown (Panelist) is Policy Counsel, Privacy and Data Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, focusing on disability rights and algorithmic fairness and justice. They are also lead editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism, a groundbreaking anthology on autism and race published by the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network and a founding board member of the Alliance for Citizen-Directed Supports. Before joining CDT, Lydia worked on disability rights and algorithmic fairness at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Tech Law and Policy. Prior to that, Lydia was Justice Catalyst Fellow at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, where they advocated for disabled students’ civil rights in schools, and an adjunct professor of disability policy and social movements at Tufts University. Lydia holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic from Georgetown University, and a J.D. with joint concentrations in Criminal Law and Justice and in International Law and Human Rights from Northeastern University School of Law.
Zainab Alkebsi (Panelist) is policy counsel at the National Association for the Deaf, where she provides analysis, recommendations and counsel on policy issues affecting people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind. Prior to joining NAD, she served as Deputy Director at the Maryland Governor’s Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, where she coordinated the offices’ legislative and policy efforts. She is a member of the Bar of the State of Maryland and received her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law and B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Deepa Goraya (Panelist) is a Public Rights Project Fellow with the Delaware Attorney General’s Office. Prior to that, she was a civil rights and Disability Rights attorney at Disability Rights Maryland, where she focused on Medicaid and other healthcare issues such as representing individuals with disabilities in administrative hearings to obtain and maintain support services. Prior to Disability Rights Maryland, Ms. Goraya was Associate Counsel at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs where she worked on numerous cases challenging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and state and local disability statutes. Some of her successes included a settlement against Sweetgreen, Inc. to remediate its online ordering platform, which was inaccessible to blind customers; a public consent decree against Barbri, Inc. to make its online bar review course and materials accessible to blind students; participating in a successful trial against Baltimore County for failure to accommodate, and then constructively discharging, a 30-year employee with a disability; and a settlement against taxicab companies in Washington, DC that refused to pick up customers with service animals. She is a member of the California and Washington, D.C. bars, and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2012, and from UCLA, Cum Laude, in 2008. She has served as a Commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights, and currently serves on the board of the Disability Rights Bar Association and on the board of the National Association of Blind Lawyers.
Ricardo Thornton (Interview) survived the notorious Forest Haven institution, a place he describes as a prison for people with intellectual disabilities. The residents were routinely hosed down, drugged and dressed only in diapers or sheets. Through the courage and skills that Ricardo developed through being a Special Olympics athlete, he helped shut down Forest Haven and went on to prove that people with intellectual disabilities can live lives full of love and leadership.
Robert Dinerstein (Moderator) acting dean, professor of law, and director of the Disability Rights Law Clinic at American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL), where he has taught since 1983. Dean Dinerstein has previously served as the law school's associate dean for academic affairs from (1997-2004), associate dean for experiential education (2012-2018), and director of the clinical program (1988-96 and 2008-2018). He specializes in the fields of clinical education and disability law, especially mental disabilities law (including issues of consent/choice, capacity and alternatives to guardianship), the Americans with Disabilities Act, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, legal representation of clients with mental disabilities, and disability and international human rights.
