The University of Scranton: Annual Conference on DISABILITY (2024)

James LeBrecht has over 40 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, filmmaker, author and disability rights activist. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced, with Nicole Newnham, the 2021 Oscar nominated feature length documentary, Crip Camp.

Crip Camp received the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for feature length documentary, the 2021 Independent Spirit award for Best Feature Documentary and a 2021 Peabody Award. Jim began his career in the theater in 1978, working as the resident sound designer at Berkeley Repertory Theatre for 10 years. In 1996, LeBrecht founded Berkeley Sound Artists, an audio postproduction house. His film credits include Minding the Gap, The Island President, The Waiting Room, Audrie and Daisy and, of course, Crip Camp. A complete list of his film credits (over 180) can be viewed at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0495898/

Jim’s work as an activist began in high school and continued at UC, San Diego, where he helped found the Disabled Students Union. Jim is a former board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. Some of LeBrecht’s additional accomplishments include co-founding FWD-Doc, an organization that supports documentary filmmakers with disabilities and being a character consultant for Pixar Animation Studios for 2 of their films. Jim is a member of the Disability Futures Fellowship, an initiative of the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Mason Ameri, PhD, studies disability employment and has developed evidence-based solutions to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities in organizations and society. He has published widely in high-impact journals and popular press, including several New York Times features and exclusives. His talks at TEDx, the World Bank Group, and other platforms have driven discussions on promoting accessibility. He has consulted with various public and private entities on policy reform, such as the US Election Assistance Commission. He has helped secure over $11 million in grants to operate a wave of innovative disability research from NSF, MIT, HHS, and EAC.

Kathy West-Evans is the Director of Business Relations for the national organization of the 78 public VR agencies in every state, the territories and D.C. She has her Bachelor of Science and MA in Public Administration; she is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) who is fluent in American Sign Language. Kathy started in the field of rehabilitation in 1978 working at a community agency managing a Projects with Industry program, then for the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation as a VRC, Assistant Regional Administrator and Statewide Program Manager in Business Relations and Marketing. She moved from DVR to the federal level with the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and now leads the National Employment Team (NET) at CSAVR (Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation). The NET is a cross state team of VR business specialists working through a dual customer approach to develop strategies with business (private, public, and non-profit) to employ and retain the talents of individuals with disabilities across the company or organization.

Kathy is a past Chair of the Veterans Advisory Council on Rehabilitation and a former Commissioner on the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification. In addition to impacting legislation focused on VR’s work with business, she is a frequent speaker and has co-authored articles focused on working with business to employ the talents of individuals with disabilities.

John Evans recently retired from the State of Washington – Department Social Health Services – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, where he was the agency’s statewide VR Program Administrator for Employer Relations.

A 1983 graduate of Seattle University in Public Administration and Human Resource Development, John spent 31 years of public service in the fields of vocational rehabilitation; labor relations; human resource development; disability integration; and the employment of people with disabilities in the workplace.

Born with profound congenital deafness, John is a former beneficiary of the public Vocational Rehabilitation system, first becoming a VR Counselor working with the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind in 1984. John’s career includes serving as a Lead VR Counselor, Regional Business Relations Specialist, Affirmative Action Officer, SR Human Resource Consultant, Statewide Reasonable Accommodation Specialist, State Personnel ADA Manager, VR Unit Supervisor, and Program Administrator. John is uniquely positioned to offer insights into the dynamics and benefits of “disability employment and business relations”.

Michele Bornman, M.Ed., CRC, has over 35 years of experience in the field of Vocational Rehabilitation and working with people with disabilities. She is currently working on special projects with the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) as an Annuitant and with the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania. Ms. Bornmanis a former recipient of the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Association, Charles L. Eby Rehabilitation Administration Award and is a former Governor-appointed member of the Pennsylvania Special Education Advisory Panel.She designed and implemented the OVR Early Reach Initiative that seeks to enhance OVR’s interaction with students with disabilities while they are still in school. Ms. Bornman has been a champion for the successful transition of students with disabilities from school to adult life and was instrumental in establishing the first Transition Coordinating Councils in Pennsylvania at the local and statewide levels. Ms. Bornman is a sought-after speaker and has made numerous local, statewide, and national presentations on disability-related topics and leadership.

Taryn Mackenzie Williams is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy. In this position, she advises the Secretary of Labor on how the Department’s policies and programs impact the employment of people with disabilities and leads the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), which works with employers and all levels of government to promote evidence-based policy that improves employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities. Previously, Williams was the managing director for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at American Progress, which works on progressive policies focused on a broad range of anti-poverty strategies.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brown University and a master’s degree in education with a concentration in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.