June
25, 2008
About the Presenters
Jeff Sheen, MSW is a Project
Director at the Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD), at
Utah State University. For the past seven years he has been involved
in directing and evaluating a number of projects designed to improve
community resources for individuals with disabilities and their
families. These projects include working with IL-NET to provide
on-line courses to staff of Centers for Independent Living and
Statewide Independent Living Councils, implementing improved care
coordination for children with special health care needs, and developing
improved Social Security and Medicaid work incentives for individuals
with disabilities. Additionally, Mr. Sheen had been participating
in Emergency Preparedness activities involving disability issues
for the past four years. He attended the first ever National
Organization on Disabilities Conference on
Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities in
2004 and participated in the National Consortium on Disaster
Preparedness and Emergency Response for People with Disabilities
Second Working Meeting in 2005. Mr. Sheen along with colleagues
at the CPD, has presented on emergency preparedness for people
with disabilities at the annual Utah Bioterrorism/Emergency Preparedness
Conferences for the past four years. Mr.
Sheen was also a part of the ILRU training development team that
developed the training curriculum on Emergency Preparedness for
Centers of Independent Living that is the basis for this webcast.
Most recently Mr. Sheen has been directing the Emergency
Preparedness for All Utahns project that provides
training on emergency preparedness issues for people with disabilities
for a variety of audiences including: individuals with disabilities,
families of children with special health care needs, and community
provider and state agency staff.
Christy Dunaway was born and raised in Jackson,
MS. She is a person who was born with congenital amputations, both
arms below the elbow and the left leg below the knee. She began
working in the Independent Living Movement in 1983 at the age of
19 to provide peer support to others people with amputations and
continues to this day. Christy has worked in all aspects of the
independent living field from acting as a peer counselor to currently
serving as the Executive Director of the Title VII, Part C centers
for independent living, known as LIFE. Christy remains active on
numerous Boards and Committees in an effort to ensure freedom of
choice for all individuals with disabilities. Under her supervision,
LIFE has doubled in staff size and funding. Currently LIFE has
twelve sources of funding, including but not limited to: Title
VII, Part C funding from RSA, peer support from the Mississippi
Paralysis Association, an AmeriCorps project sponsored by the Mississippi
Commission for Volunteer Service, the Americans with Disabilities
Act Network in Mississippi, a project sponsored by the Southeastern
Disability and Technical Assistance Center, five United Way grants
and more. LIFE is required by law to have at least 51% of their
staff and Board members who are people with disabilities, in Mississippi,
that number is closer to 70%. Christy has expertise in all issues
pertaining to independent living, including the four core services
of information and referral, skills training, advocacy and peer
support, as well as all laws and regulations regarding disability
rights, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individual
with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504.
|
