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
and very recently establishing four 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 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
to the American’s 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 the 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’s kind of peculiar that we didn’t get to still be friends
‘cause he didn’t move away, he just stopped going to my school.
But, I...
I remember just being confused and then 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, you know, 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 of
making space for and supporting and lifting up other people with disabilities.