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
And you’ll go ahead and do your intro.
Thank you Marcie.
Hi there, I’m Marcie Roth
And I have been working in disability rights
For my whole adult life,
And actually, 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 in services
for people living in residential programs early in my career
with people in,
children in school settings,
people in vocational rehabilitation,
and then people in community living environments,
that 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 for 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 e actively involved in
and I have spent the time since joining
WID building a strategic planning process
and supporting the organizations to establish new priorities,
taking a look at the organization’s mission