You'll see in the corner the record button
So you should see that it's recording now,
and I'm going to mute myself now, and
you'll go ahead and do your intro. Thank
you Marcie. Hi there, I'm Marcie Roth, and
I have been workign in disability rights
for my whole adult life, since I was a
freshman in high school. I am currently
the executive director and CEO of the
World Institute on Disability and I have
been working over the years and services
for people living in residential programs
early in my career with people in with
children in school settings, people in
vocational rehabilitation, and then people
in community living environments, then
along the way, I became very involved in
disability rights and very involved in
the early days of advocacy before
the ADA was introduced. And then I worked
for disability advocacy organizations
almost ever since. In addition to my own
disability, I'm also the parent of two now
adults with disabilities. My husband also
has a disability and much of my family
also happen to be people with disabilities
so disability rights is just part of
everything I am and most everything I do.
I did spend from 2001 and onward focusing
very much on what happens to people
with disabilities before, during, and
after disasters. And that's been a real
particular laser focus of mine ever since
and in fact, I've had the opportunity
as an appointee in the Obama
administration to spend just about 8 years
at FEMA, establishing FEMA's Office of
Disability Integration Coordination and
building a cadre of disability experts of
the same pond, supporting governors and
emergency managers and most particularly
engaging people with disabilities and
disability organizations in emergency
preparedness and throughout disaster
response recovery and mitigation. So one
last piece since I've been with the World
Institute on Disability since last
September, my ongoing focus on global
disability rights has really been
something that I've had much more
opportunity to been actively involved in
and I have spent the time since joining
WID building a strategic planning process
and supporting the organization to
establish new priorities, taking a look at
the organization's mission, and very
recently establishing for particular areas
of focus for the organization as we move
forward. Thank you Marcie. Excellent, okay
I apologize that my neighbor is chipping a
lot of brush today, so it's making a lot
of extra sound whenever I unmute, but
don't worry, it won't interfere with your
recording. Okay, so the first question is
about the past. So tell of your first
memory realizing that there were
accessibility issues, discrimination, or
lack of inclusion. What is your personal
story or connection with the American with
Disabilities Act? What do you remember
about the day that it was signed, if
applicable? And what was the impact on
you and on others? Remember to tap
something so that the camera shifts to you
before you start.
I first became aware of disability at a
very young age. I had a best friend in
first grade. His name was Gregory, and he
and I were just wonderful friends. We
spent a lot of time together, and then all
of a sudden, one day Gregory was gone
and I didn't know what happened to him or
where he went and it wasn't until many
years later that I found out that Gregory
had Down Syndrome, and he had been removed
from my kindergarten class and first
grade I think it was at that point. And
apparently he had been sent to some other
school, somewhere. And the loss of his
friendship was pretty surprising and
I didn't understand you know where he went
Looking back on it, it was kind of
peculiar that we didn't just get to still
be friends 'cause he didn't move away, he
just stopped going to my school. But I
remember just being confused and then just
over the next number of years, I lived in
a town that was also the home of Save the
Children, and I was always very interested
in the work that Save the Children was
doing and I am embarrassed to admit that
my earliest involvement in humanitarian
work was from a very charity-model
approach, and I spent a lot of my
childhood raising money for Save the
Children and getting involved in other
activities that were very much following
the charity-pity model and certainly not a
model that uh making space for and lifting
up other people with disabilities. The
onset of my disability wasn't until many
years later, but when I was in high school
I had the, I had a requirement to do