Disability Victory is a 501(c)(4) organization that is working to build the political power of disabled progressives through training, networking, and leadership development. As co-Founders and co-Directors, Neal and I manage every aspect of this new and growing organization as a team of two. Since launching in 2023, we have:Facilitated accessible, virtual campaign training workshops to educate disabled leaders on the skills they need to run for office or staff a campaign;Fostered partnerships with organizations including Run for Something and the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute to empower more disabled leaders to run for office;Created resources to educate campaign training programs on accessibility, explored the barriers to running for office for people receiving Social Security disability benefits, and motivated more first-time candidates to run for local office;Run the day-to-day operations of a young, growing organization; whether it’s fundraising, finance, website creation, social media management, content creation, or fostering new partnerships, we’ve done it all!

I have served as a subject matter expert on U.S. voting rights with a focus on accessibility and disability voting rights in the Carter Center’s Democracy Program since September 2022. In November 2022, I worked with Carter Center staff and Detroit Disability Power to audit 261 polling places in Southeast Michigan. During the Election Day audit, I supported our observers and team on the ground by communicating with observers, analyzing real-time data, and providing logistical support. Our subsequent analysis and report found that 84% of polling places in metro Detroit are not fully accessible, and this data is now being used by Detroit Disability Power and other Michigan-based disability rights groups to advocate for accessibility improvements.As a disability access subject matter expert at the Carter Center, I continue to engage in this partnership with Detroit Disability Power and other disability rights groups to train others on conducting polling place audits and support replication in other jurisdictions. Additionally, I work to promote the inclusion of accessibility and disability voting rights in other aspects of the Democracy Program’s work.

As a disability civic engagement expert, I work in nonpartisan and progressive spaces to advocate for greater election accessibility, educate voters on the voting process, and encourage disabled leaders to get involved in democracy. This work has included:American Association of People with Disabilities REV UP Voting Guides: I have researched and authored the state voting guides for AAPD’s REV UP (Register! Educate! Vote! Use your Power!) Program for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 election cycles. Each guide includes the information that voters with disabilities need to register to vote, understand their voting rights, research what’s on their ballot, and vote in the polling place or by mail. To author these guides with each state or territory’s current rules, laws, and options for voting, I maintain a comprehensively researched data sheet that is regularly updated with new voting information. These guides also include important information for voters with disabilities that is often unavailable in other voting guides. This includes state rules on guardianship and voting, availability of curbside voting and remote accessible absentee voting, and rules for receiving assistance when voting in person, by mail, and returning a mail-in ballot.Center for Civic Design, "Training Poll Workers for Accessible Voting:" In 2023, I worked on behalf of the Center for Civic Design to author a report and sample training presentation for the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Voting Technology Series. These provide a template for election officials to modify to supplement their own poll worker training. They include guidance on how poll workers can assist voters with disabilities on accessible voting systems in a way that preserves their privacy and independence. They also provide recommendations and best practices for election officials on training and supporting their poll workers.

As Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Director, my work spans five goals: (1) increasing voter registration and (2) voter turnout of people with disabilities, (3) advocating for election reform, (4) making the voting process accessible for people with disabilities, and (5) helping people with disabilities engage in campaigns and run for office. I am the creator Elevate: Campaign Training for People with Disabilities, the first and only program to train people with disabilities to run for elected office. With Elevate, I have managed all aspects of the program, including fundraising, hiring and supervising trainers, marketing and communications, curriculum development, and webinar facilitation. I have also created a guide to assist political campaigns with making their structure accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities. On a national level, I work with disability advocacy and civil rights advocates to make voting accessible and to encourage people with disabilities to vote, and I work with local centers for independent living (CILs) and statewide independent living councils (SILCs) to advocate for accessible elections and to mobilize the disability community to vote.

In this role, I facilitated the DNC’s disability engagement strategies by developing relationships within the disability community, staffing the DNC Disability Council, engaging state-level Democratic disability caucuses, and conducting community outreach. I developed “kitchen cabinets” of key disability community stakeholders in 17 battleground states, and engaged those kitchen cabinets and other key contacts through one-on-one meetings and organizing calls. Within the DNC, I worked to improve accessibility and increase disability representation for in-person events, online events, and digital organizing practices. In collaboration with Pennsylvania disability advocates, we worked to establish the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s Disability Caucus to organize and mobilize disabled Democrats in this key battleground state. Finally, I organized the DNC’s events, videos, and statements for the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and drafted other disability-related communications for the DNC Chair and DNC Disability Council Chair

New Leaders Council of Virginia is an organization working to train young, diverse change agents across the Commonwealth. Our flagship program is the six-month NLC Institute where we train a cohort of 20 Fellows on everything from communications and policy to fundraising. NLC Virginia launched in 2018, with our first Institute January to June 2019.

I have blogged for various publications, including Rooted in Rights, NOS Magazine, and Huffington Post on disability rights-related issues, especially voting rights and chronic illness advocacy. In the spring of 2015, I successfully petitioned Arianna Huffington via Change.org to add a curated disability content section, and serve as a volunteer Editor-at-Large of Huffington Post Accessibility through 2016. Through this role, I helped Huffington Post to bring greater visibility to disability bloggers by rearranging disability-related content and expanding the number of bloggers with disabilities, tipping off editors on newsworthy topics to cover related to disability, and facilitating content including videos and articles that feature members of the disability community.

In this position, I assisted the Voting Rights Subcommittee with communications related to the work of the committee and its members, including writing and editing voting-related content for submission to the NCIL Weekly Advocacy Monitor and attending official meetings as a representative of the Voting Rights Subcommittee. Major projects during my time with the committee included researching, drafting, and editing testimony on poll worker training on disability, which was officially presented to the Election Assistance Commission by the Executive Director of NCIL on May 25, 2016; planning and presenting during the NCIL Annual Conference 2016 Pre-Conference on Disability and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiatives; meeting with the Pew Research Center to advocate for greater recognition of and inclusion of disability as a demographic in their data collection.

Project: Project Support for Department of the Navy's Office of Financial Operations: Accounting and Financial Practices and Reporting Division (FMO-2)My responsibilities in this position included establishing and managing a variety of reporting mechanisms for a contracting/sub-contracting team serving Department of Navy's Financial Management Procedures and Practices Branch (FMO-22). These mechanisms included weekly reporting for both the branch and the FMO-2 division (FMO 21-24); Financial Management Regulation chapter comment tracking; FMO-22 issue tracking; and blue folder correspondence coordination for the entire FMO-2 division.

My responsibilities included performing a number of clerical tasks for the Portfolio Management and Integration staff of the National Capital Region, including maintaining office files and publications, composing correspondence, and performing specific assignments as requested by the staff. I provided direct support to the Deputy Executive Director of Portfolio Management and Integration, as well as to the Agency Director when she worked out of the Arlington office. On behalf of the Navy Division and Air Force Division, I distributed monthly Program Assessment Reports and tracked their upload changes. I also maintained and updated the status of the Portfolio Directors' Customer Engagement Plans and delivered updates to the Deputy Executive Director. Other responsibilities included supporting the Government Purchase Card Holder by maintaining the status of purchase orders, managing the office scheduler, and tracking office SmarTrip card usage status.

My responsibilities included supporting library staff in managing books and assisting patrons, and participating in library projects such as spine labeling, shelf-reading and inventory.

My responsibilities included reviewing and processing inquiries regarding constituent and congressional CBP matters, and communicating with congressional staff to assist with their CBP concerns. Furthermore, I contributed to materials and reports for the staff of the Office of Congressional Affairs to use in meetings and briefings.

My responsibilities included conducting research on issues of interest including border security initiatives, Canadian-Latin American relations, trade partnerships, and terrorism. Day-to-day duties included updating the Canada Institute’s social media accounts with news stories on border security, energy and the environment, and trade. Furthermore, I assisted with Canada Institute events and programming.

My responsibilities included preparing itineraries, travel arrangements, and paperwork for Wish children, and performing regular office duties including maintaining files and coordinating volunteers.