Speakers
Lynnae M. Ruttledge was appointed by President Barack Obama, to be the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Office of Sepecial Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.. She administers a public/private partnership that serves one million individuals with disabilities annually and places in employment almost 200 thousand annually on a budget of three billion dollars. Also, she is the acting director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. She previously served as the Director of the Washington Department of Social and Health Service, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Commissioner Ruttledge served for 25 years in the Oregon vocational rehabilitation program, and began her career in public service as a classroom teacher in Michigan. She has received numerous recognitions and awards for her service including the Washington Governor’s Award for Leadership in Management in 2007. As a person born with a disability, Ruttledge received assistance from the vocational rehabilitation program and graduated from the Northern Michigan University with a B.A. in Education.
Andrew J. Imparato Andrew J. Imparato is the first full-time President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a national non-profit, non-partisan membership organization of people with disabilities, their family members and supporters that was founded in 1995. AAPD pursues its mission of political and economic empowerment of all people with disabilities through public policy advocacy and programs fostering leadership development, mentoring and career exploration, voting and civic participation, and member benefits. Since Imparato joined AAPD in 1999, the organization has more than quadrupled its membership, its annual budget, and its staff size. With more than 100,000 members, AAPD is the largest cross-disability membership organization in the U.S.
John Hockenberry John Hockenberry is a seasoned, experienced journalist who has worked in all aspects of the broadcast profession for a quarter century. His distinguished career has produced important coverage and numerous awards, as well as initiated important new styles of storytelling embracing all of the new media that are currently transforming the profession. As correspondent and anchor for NBC News/MSNBC from 1996 to 2005, Hockenberry was awarded three Emmys; designed and an-
Kathleen West-Evans Kathleen West-Evans is the Director of Business Relations for the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR). She has over 30 years of vocational rehabilitation and employment experience and is fluent in American Sign Language. Kathleen worked within the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation as a VR counselor, assistant regional administrator, and a regional business relations specialist before moving to the federal level with Region X office of the RSA where she worked until 2005. Currently, she is the founder and lead staff person for development of the NETthe national Vocational Rehabilitation-Business Network. The network serves business customers, VR consumers with disabilities, and the 80 state vocational rehabilitation agencies. The NET vision statement: To create a coordinated approach to serving business customers through a national VR team that specialized in employer development, business consulting and corporate relations.
Hotel Information Radisson Lackawanna Station 700 Lackawanna Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503 • (570) 342-8300 Conference rate of $94 (double room). Room reservations must be made by September 7th for special conference rates.
A conference for all who are professionally or personally interested in the lives of individuals with disabilities.
October 6, 2010 Please Post this Brochure
Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.
chored MSNBC program, Edgewise; participated in all coverage for NBC of the Kosovo War; the elections of 1996, 2000, and 2004; September 11th, and the Iraq War. Additionally, he created and produced the first live-streamed audio Internet program from a journalist’s office in 1999 and 2000. He has written articles for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Wired, Metroplis and The New York Times. He has written two books: a memoir, Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence, which was published in 1995; and a novel, A River Out of Eden, published in 2001. He has also written the off-Broadway, one-man show, Spoke Man, completed in 1996.
Panuska College of Professional Studies The University of Scranton, McGurrin Hall, Room 114 Scranton, PA 18510-4586
The Honorable Lynnae Ruttledge
The 9th Annual Northeastern U.S. Conference on disAbility The Patrick & Margaret DeNaples Center The University of Scranton • Scranton, Pennsylvania Honorary Chairpersons: Edward R. & Patricia Leahy
Hilton Scranton & Conference Center 100 Adams Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503 • (570) 343-3000
Presented by:
The University of Scranton The Panuska College of Professional Studies Edward R. Leahy, Jr., Endowment
Program
About The University of Scranton
A Jesuit University in Pennsylvania’s Pocono
Northeast region, The University of Scranton is known for its outstanding academics, state-of-the-art campus and technology, and exceptional sense of community. Founded in 1888, the University has a student population of approximately 5,800 undergraduate and graduate students. The University is nationally recognized for the quality of education it provides. Prominent among these national accolades is Scranton’s ranking among the top 10 master’s universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” for the past 16 years. Scranton is also among just 100 schools in the nation on Templeton’s Honor Roll of CharacterBuilding Colleges and is among only 19 colleges in the nation named to the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement in 2008.
Conference Mission
The University of Scranton believes that disability
is part of the human experience and that assisting individuals and families living with disabilities to achieve optimal quality of life requires multi-disciplinary interventions, education, research and leadership. The mission of the Conference on disABILITY is to positively influence the quality of life and wellness of individuals and families living with disabilities by promoting in its deliberations the foundational principles of individualization, self-determination, productivity, employment, independence and full participation in community life by creating an effective learning environment, collaborative and focused discussion and the identification and sharing of effective practices useful in the United States and around the world.
Registration
Wednesday, October 6
7:45–8:30 Registration and Continental Breakfast
12:00–1:30 Lunch
Online registration: www.scranton.edu/disabilityconference
8:30–8:45 Welcome and Opening Remarks
Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Awards for Excellence, Edward R. and
To register by mail: Complete and return this form.
Patricia Leahy
Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., President, The University of Scranton
Annual Conference Poem, Josie Cordaro Cultural Presentations
Debra A. Pellegrino, Ed.D., Dean, The Panuska College of Professional Studies
Edward R. and Patricia Leahy, Honorary Conference Chairs
8:45–9:45 The Honorable Lynnae Ruttledge Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. Introduced by William Gannon, Executive Director, PA Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
1:45–3:00 Concurrent Sessions 1. Building a Collaborative Approach to Business Customers Through the NET: National Employment Team
Name Title Organization Address City
Kathleen West-Evans,
Telephone
Director of Business Relations, Council on State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
2. Assistive Technology—What’s New?! Ann E. Dolloff, Assistant Director
State
Zip
Fax
Registration Cost ❑ Professional: $99 ❑ Student/Individual with a disability/Family: $40
Pennsylvania’s Initiative on Assistive Technology (PIAT), Institute on Disabilities at Temple University
Method of Payment ❑ Check or money order payable to “The University of Scranton” ❑ Visa ❑ MasterCard
3. Hidden Disabilities and ADA Protection
Card Number
10:45–11:00 Break
Marian Vessels, Director, Disability and Business Technical Assistance
Cardholder’s Name
11:00–12:00 Concurrent Sessions
3:00– 3:15 Break
1. The Rehabilitation Act and The ADA: Landmark Legislation Supporting the Employment of Americans With Disabilities
3:15–4:00
Kathleen West-Evans
Introduced by J. Joseph Grady, Esquire
9:45–10:45 Andrew Imparato CEO/President of American Association of Persons with Disabilities Introduced by Mrs. Patricia Leahy, Director of Government Affairs,
National Rehabilitation Association
Director of Business Relations, Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
2. ADA: Ensuring Equality of Opportunity in the Workplace? Stephen S. Pennington, Esquire, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Client Assistance Program
Jamie C. Ray-Leonetti, Esquire, Assistant Director, Pennsylvania Client Assistance Program
3. The ADA: Twenty years of challenges and progress. Where are we now?
Amanda Reinsfelder, Assistive Technology Specialist
Center
Senator Robert Casey (via teleconference)
4:00– 6:00
John Hockenberry, Emmy Award-winning journalist
Cultural Experiences Including: Musical Performances by Hands of Praise Artwork on Display by Verve-Vertu and Matthew Mroz Accessible Model Train Layout by Wheelchair Engineers Program History of Disability Photographic Display by Temple University
Special Accommodation Requests must be made by September 25 ❑ I have special communication, accessibility, accommodation or dietary needs. Please indicate
CEUs Please indicate type of CEU required. ❑ HRCI CEU Certification Number________________________________ ❑ Act 48 PDE Professional ID# _______________________________________________ ❑ NBCC Certification Number _________________________________________________ ❑ CRCC Certification Number ________________________________________________ ❑ PA/Professional Counselor/LSW License Number____________________ ❑ CEUsPA/Marriage and Family Therapist License Number_____________ ❑ ACHE Category II Certification Number__________________________
Cancellations must be received on or before September 30. There will be no refunds after that date.
Rory Giovannucci, Housing Advocate Posters and Vendors will be available in the ballroom throughout the day, during breaks, and before/after lunch.
For additional information: Contact Rebecca Dalgin at (570) 941-7819 or dalginr2@scranton.edu www.scranton.edu/disabilityconference
Signature
Conference Registration Deadline: September 30, 2010
Keith Williams, Community Organizer Sharon Quinn, Manager of Core Services NEPA Center for Independent Living
Expiration Date
Mail completed form and fee to: disABILITY Conference Panuska College of Professional Studies The University of Scranton, McGurrin Hall, Room 114 Scranton, PA 18510