National Activist Talila Lewis is .Keynote Speaker for 5th Annual African American Conference on Disabilities
Reprint from ARIZONA INFORMANT. Edited by Alvin Galloway
- Continuing Legal Education
Credits for Attorneys - Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
“About the African American Conference on Disabilites”
“Moving On Before and After Quadriplegia: A Personal Journey”
The African American Conference on Disabilities takes place on Friday February 12th, 2016 at the Desert Willow Conference Center at 4340 E. Cotton Center Blvd. Now in its 5th year, the conference continues to break new ground and remains the only comprehensive conference in the United States that intersects disability and race, focusing on issues related to African Americans with disabilities, their families, advocates, and professionals.
This year’s conference will feature keynote speaker, Talila A. Lewis, a nationally recognized activist-attorney. Lewis is a prominent leader in criminal justice reform, specifically working on issues that affect people who are deaf in the prison system. Lewis is the creator of the only deaf prisoner database in the nation, advocating for the rights of deaf prisoners around the world. In partnership with Al Jazeera America, Lewis created the documentary “Deaf in Prison.” In 2015 Lewis was named White House Champion of Change and has received numerous of other awards. Currently, Lewis is a visiting professor at Rochester Institute of Technology /National Technical lnstitute for the Deaf and a recent graduate of American University Washington College of Law and directs Helping Educate co Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD) an all-volunteer nonprofit organization.
The one day conference will focus on legal and education issues. Specific sessions will cover social security benefits, mental health, special education, and employment laws. This conference targets people with disabilities, families, parents, teachers, educators, policymakers, lawyers, doctors, social workers, community activists and advocates.
Scholarships to attend the conference are available for parents, guardians and individuals with developmental disabilities through the Pilot Parents of Southern Arizona’s Leadership Education Advocacy Partnership program. For additional information about the Conference visit: www. aacod.eventbrite.com
The conference was founded by two dedicated leaders in the disability community m the Phoenix area.
David Carey, advocacy specialist with Ability360 who is NMCP Humanitarian Award Recipient and 2009 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader; Renaldo Fowler, Senior Scaff Advocate with the Arizona Center for Disability Law who is also a NAACP Humanitarian Award Recipient, is a part of the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Council.