Max Barrows is Outreach Director for Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA), a position he has held since 2007. He mentors youth and adults with developmental disabilities to speak up for themselves and become leaders. GMSA is a lead partner of the Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC). Max leads SARTAC’s technical assistance team assisting local and state self-advocacy organizations across the nation.

Max connects with people on all levels advocating for true-inclusion of people with developmental disabilities. In his work, he advances the message that when you meet an individual with a disability, presume competence. He received a White House Champions of Change award for this work in 2015 and Champion of Equal Opportunity award from the NACDD in 2019. Max is an accomplished self-advocate from Vermont who served as a board member for Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered from 2008 to 2016. On a personal level, Max has a very high interest in extreme weather and he likes to watch college and professional sports.

Ruthie-Marie Beckwith, PhD is a national consultant who helps people with disabilities develop and implement strategies for greater autonomy in their daily lives. She is the founder and principal partner of Blue Fire Consulting and provides consulting services across the United States in areas of self-determination, community organizing, leadership development, and self-employment. Committed to grassroots approaches to empowerment and resource mobilization, she is the former Executive Director of TASH, an international non-profit organization that advocates for human rights and inclusion for people with significant disabilities. She teaches advocacy and disability history at CUNY as Adjunct Faculty.

Lydia X. Z. Brown, Esq. writes about disability, race, and queerness. They are an organizer, advocate, educator, attorney, strategist, and writer whose work has largely focused on interpersonal and state violence targeting multiply-marginalized disabled people living at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, and language. Lydia co-edited All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism, the first-ever anthology entirely by negatively racialized autistic people. Their first published short fiction piece appeared in Open In Emergency, the Asian American Literary Review's special issue on Asian American Mental Health.

Lydia is currently policy counsel for the privacy and data project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, adjunct lecturer in disability studies for Georgetown University's English Department, and policy and advocacy associate at the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network. They are also founder and director of the Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of Color's Interdependence, Survival, and Empowerment. Previously, Lydia worked on disability rights and algorithmic fairness at Georgetown Law's Institute for Tech Law and Policy, and served as Justice Catalyst Fellow for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.

Bernard Carabello was born with cerebral palsy, misdiagnosed with an intellectual disability, and confined at the Willowbrook State School at the age of three, where he spent the next 18 years of his life. When he got out of Willowbrook, he decided to do something about it. In 1977, Bernard testified before the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, recounting conditions at Willowbrook. Bernard’s testimony contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act in 1980. In 1986, Bernard founded and served as the first executive director of the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State. Bernard retired earlier this year after two decades as an advocate and ombudsman for the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities. Today, he continues his work as a member of the Advisory Council of Supported Decision-Making New York (SDMNY).

Dr. James Conroy has headed many large scale longitudinal studies of deinstitutionalization and special education since the 1970s. His scientific measurement techniques evolved into worldwide studies of quality of life among people with disability, children, and elders. He served as an expert witness in many of the nation’s most effective pro-community and pro-inclusion court cases in disability and special education. He founded the non-profit Center for Outcome Analysis in 1992, devoted to research on the trend away from segregated models for citizens with disabilities – institutions, large sheltered workshops, and separate education systems. Over the past 25 years, he extended that work into other nations on every continent. He is currently working toward establishment of memorials, museums, and centers of public learning about the disability rights movement, both in Pennsylvania and nationally.

Jack Derryberry, Esq. received his B.A. in history at Duke University in 1969 and his J.D. at the University of Tennessee in 1972. His practice has consisted of class action litigation on behalf of persons with disabilities, social security disability matters, special education law, TennCare appeals, health care certificates of need and more. He was lead counsel in People First of Tennessee v. Arlington Developmental Center and People First of Tennessee v. Clover Bottom Developmental Center. He provided legal services pursuant to John L. v. Adams at Woodland Hills Youth Development Center and New Visions Youth Development Center for the Department of Children's Services from 1992-2007. Most recently, Jack worked as a partner in the firm Derryberry & Derryberry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Chester Finn is employed by the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (NYS OPWDD). He served three terms as National President of Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) and he has been a past President of Self Advocacy Association of New York State (SANYS) as well as an advisor to SANYS. He worked with New York State and OPWDD to shut down the developmental centers in New York and developed person centered opportunities in the community using self-direction and other options.

Samuel (Sam) (top left) and William (Bill) Gage (bottom left) are twins who led the efforts to close Tennessee's state-run institutions as part of People First of Tennessee v. Arlington Developmental Center and People First of Tennessee v. Clover Bottom Developmental Center. Bill served as the President of People First of Tennessee while Sam served as the President of their microboard, Gage and Gage, Inc. Both continue to promote self-advocacy in McNairy County while serving as People First of Tennessee Advisory Council Members.

Claudia Gordon, Esq. is a dedicated advocate for people with disabilities who specializes in creating a world that allows them to feel seen, heard, valued, and included. Claudia is the first deaf Black woman attorney in the United States.

She is currently employed with T-Mobile where she oversees government and compliance with the accessibility business unit that seeks to remove communication barriers for customers with disabilities, including individuals who are deaf, deaf-blind, or have a speech disability. During the Obama Administration, Claudia served as the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and the Associate Director of Public Engagement for the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Claudia she’s held a number of senior leadership positions at agencies such as the National Council on Disability, the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She is a graduate of Howard University and the American University’s Washington College of Law.

Judith Gran, Esq. practiced law at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia from 1984 to 2009. She served as Director of Disability Projects from 1998 to 2009. She has conducted class action litigation to obtain community services for institutionalized persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Montana, California, Illinois and Tennessee. Her work as counsel for the Arc of Pennsylvania and the plaintiff class during the implementation phase of the consent decree in Halderman v. Pennhurst from 1986 through 1998 led to significant improvements in community service systems in Philadelphia and other counties. Ms. Gran represents special education students in administrative and judicial proceedings in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states, including the class action suit Gaskin v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a case brought to enforce the least restrictive environment mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that is now in the implementation phase. She is a currently a partner at Reisman Carolla Gran & Zuba LLP.

Regina Kline, Esq. is a Civil Rights Attorney, Former Partner at Brown, Goldstein, Levy, LLP. and Co-leader of Inclusivity, Regina is nationally known for her litigation and policy work in advancing the rights of people with disabilities to move from sub-minimum wage and segregated employment to competitive integrated employment. She previously served as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she provided legal and policy counsel regarding efforts to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C.’s mandate for community integration in employment, education, law enforcement/criminal justice, homelessness, and health care.

Dr. Jennifer Kurth is Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas, and affiliated faculty at the Kansas University Center on Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD). Her research centers on inclusive education for students with extensive and pervasive support needs. This includes examining outcomes of inclusion in terms of skill development and quality of life indicators for students with disabilities, as well as how educators develop skills and dispositions for inclusive practices.

Frank J. Laski, Esq. is former Executive Director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, served as Director of Disability Projects for the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, is Past President of TASH and served as its Executive Director pro tem (1994). Mr. Laski is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the University of Massachusetts. Currently Frank is engaged in a public interest law practice exclusively focused on representation of people with disabilities and their organizations. He has an extensive record in litigating cases brought to enforce the rights of people with disabilities including systems reform cases such as: Conn. ARC v. Thorne, Jackson v. Fort Stanton Hospital & Training School, Homeward Bound v. Hissom Memorial Center, Halderman v. Pennhurst, People First of Tenn. v. Arlington Developmental Center, U.S. v. Tennessee, Rosie D. v. Romney and Rolland v. Romney.

Mathew McCollough, a Filipino American with developmental disabilities, is currently the Director for the District of Columbia Office of Disability Rights (ODR), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance office for the District Government. Previously, Mr. McCollough served as the Executive Director of the District of Columbia Developmental Disabilities Council, the Communications Manager for the DC Office of Disability Rights and a Grants Manager and Trainer with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities and for the National Service Inclusion Project. Mr. McCollough has served on several boards and commissions and including the Chair of the District of Columbia State Rehabilitation Council, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Health Equity Council and the District of Columbia Commission on Human Rights. In 2016, he was elected Board President of the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the Association’s first President with developmental disabilities. In 2016, he was inducted in the Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame. Mr. McCollough was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011 and 2015 to serve on the United States Access Board, an independent Federal agency devoted to establishing accessibility standards. He received a Master’s degree in Public Administration from American University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from James Madison University.

At 20, Cal Montgomery was expected to spend the rest of his life in an institution, fitted with a helmet he couldn't take off, and routinely placed in mechanical prone restraint. At 22, he faced life in a locked-door isolation room for the crime of "extreme self-mutilative ideation" (coming out as trans). When he was 25, the facility he was in burned down (he did not start the fire) and the subsequent shortage of beds in the system gave him an opportunity to flee the system. For over 25 years, he has worked on disability rights issues.

Ruby Moore is the Executive Director of the Georgia Advocacy Office, the designated Protection and Advocacy system for people with disabilities in Georgia. Ruby grew up with family members with disabilities. She is nationally known for her work with people with disabilities for over 40 years, particularly in the areas of employment, augmentative and alternative communication, and the design and implementation of supports needed for people with disabilities to live, work and be educated in the community. Ruby has served as an expert for the US Department of Labor and US Department of Justice. She assisted the Department of Veteran’s Affairs to design an employment program to help 50,000 homeless veterans to access employment. She has testified before various federal administrative agencies, the Congress, and the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. She founded an agency that works locally, nationally and internationally to expand opportunities for people with disabilities to work.

Ruby has many years of practical experience in designing, planning, evaluating and delivering community supports for people with disabilities. She has served as an expert and consultant in numerous systems reform lawsuits, including landmark cases in the field such as Lane v. Brown, Halderman v Pennhurst, and Wyatt v Stickney. She is the past President of TASH and currently the Co-Chair of the International Initiative for Disability Leadership (IIDL)-US Advisory Committee.

Tia Nelis is the Director of Policy and Advocacy for TASH. She comes to TASH after serving as a Self-Advocacy Specialist at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center within the Institute on Disability and Human Development at University of Illinois at Chicago. She also is one of the past chairperson of the National Organization of Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE). She founded and successfully promoted People First of Illinois, where she served as president. Tia, a long-time member of TASH, has received the Burton Blatt Award, awarded by the Illinois TASH chapter, as well as the Elizabeth Boggs award from the President’s Committee.

Tia has drawn on experiences relating to her own disability in promoting and demonstrating the benefits of empowerment for people with disabilities. She has wide experience in conducting training and advocating for progressive polices with legislators and public officials.

Barbara Ransom, Esq. received her B.S.Ed. in 1971 with the thought that she would do what she had been born to do — be a teacher — for the rest of her life. Barbara applied her teaching credentials to almost every level of education — wisely leaving the middle school experience to more stalwartly comrades. For more than a quarter of a century, Barbara has represented individuals, classes and advocacy organizations in the pursuit of ensuring that persons with disabilities receive rights secured through the U.S. Constitution, Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and various state constitutions and civil rights laws. Recognizing that our nation has been made richer for its ability to fashion laws that value the humanity and potential in each of us, Barbara has used these laws to the best of her ability to ensure that school districts, state and local public servants, businesses — and even some opposing counsel and judges — remain mindful of the soul of America.

Debra Robinson is the Executive Director of Speaking for Ourselves (SFO). She has lead SFO to become a nationally recognized organization. Before joining SFO, Debra was active in the disability movement in New York. Debbie was also present at the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. She was appointed to the National Council of Disabilities by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and has served the American Association of People with Disabilities, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), and has represented the disability community and SFO on many other committees and organizations. Representing the disability community, Debra works tirelessly to advocate for others and to help others advocate for themselves. Debra resides in Philadelphia.