The following have become members of Access 4 All Spokane (as of August 4, 2017):
Alisa Padgett
Alisa is an original co-facilitator and 2016 Chair of Access 4 All Spokane. She recently served as an Independent Living Advocate at the Spokane Center for Independent Living (SCIL), and is a graduate of Eastern Washington University. At SCIL her work focused on removal of attitudinal, programmatic, communication, physical and technological barriers, while educating the community on issues that are important to people with disabilities. In 2011, she completed training provided by the Northwest ADA Center to identify and assess physical barriers to accessibility for a website of accessible places. This work is quite personal for Alisa because she experiences epilepsy, is legally blind, and uses a dog guide. She is working with her fourth dog from Leader Dog School for the Blind and is an ambassador for Leader Dog. Alisa has been a member of the Central Spokane Lions Club.
Bryan Branson
Bryan is a long-time leader of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the Spokane area. Bryan earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University), the first college in the U.S. to cater specifically to deaf students. Bryan is a member of the Washington State Association of the Deaf, and a past delegate to the National Association of the Deaf. He served as chairperson of the Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advisory Committee, which provided phone, American Sign Language interpreter, government, and communication equipment services. He has served on the board of the Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (now Nexus Inland NW). He served as President of Fones for the Deaf, which repaired and installed teletypewriters in the homes of deaf and hard of hearing people so that they could communicate with each other and the general population. Bryan served as Secretary of the Inland Empire Association of the Deaf, which later became the Spokane County Association of the Deaf.
He currently serves as chairperson for the Inclusivity Committee at Manito United Methodist Church, which has resulted in the church recently building a wheelchair ramp and installing an induction loop system for hearing aid users. Bryan is a Farmers Insurance Agent, who says that most of his clients are deaf or hard of hearing.
Kerry R. Brooks, Ph.D, GISP
Dr. Brooks conceived and managed the federal and locally funded Spokane Regional Pedestrian Network project, which mapped accessibility of all pedestrian features in the Spokane urban area, creating an accessibility assessment resource that is unique to our community. Brooks has served as principal investigator and consultant in land use planning and modeling, and GIS (Geographic Information System)/remote sensing for numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), firms, and state, local, and federal agencies. He is Associate Professor of Urban Planning, Public and Health Administration at Eastern Washington University.
Raychel Callary, M.S.Ed., COMS
Raychel serves as Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist at Lilac Services for the Blind, where she teaches independent travel techniques to people who are blind or have low vision, to help them regain freedom and independence that can otherwise be lost. She earned her Master’s in Education from Northern Illinois University. Raychel is assistant coach for the Spokane Spin, our local Goalball team, helping to provide athletic opportunities for local blind athletes. She collaborates with colleagues and local authorities to designate appropriate intersections for accessible pedestrian signals.
Jude Cormier, M.Ed.
Jude is a member of Little People of America. She has served on the Governor’s Committee for Disability Issues and Employment, and received the 1988 Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Service Award. She was Co-Chair for the Little People of America National Convention at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in 1990. Through her involvement with Little People of America, she received the 1988 Distinguished Service Award and the 1987 Outstanding Service Award for the Short Stature Medical Symposium and Clinic in Spokane, of which she was the Chairperson. Jude served as President and Secretary for the Evergems Chapter of Little People of America and Vice-President of the Coalition of Responsible Disabled (now Spokane Center for Independent Living). She has written articles about the issues that people with short stature face for the Spokane County Medical Society’s Medical Bulletin and the Junior League of Spokane “Spectrum“.
Jude travelled extensively in Europe for many years with crutches before she started using a scooter in 2001. She volunteered for the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees in Bosnia/Croatia. She worked with physicians from England, whose mission was to provide medical treatment for children that could not be met due to the war. She survived an attemped hijack.
Upon returning to Spokane, Jude started “Helping Hands of Spokane” to provide donated medical care from physicians, hospitals, physical therapists and other vendors to children and adults who were not able to get the medical care they needed in Croatia.
Jude received her Bachelor’s degree in Special Education and Master’s degree in Education from Eastern Washington University.
Jeffrey Crouch
Jeffrey has been a community volunteer for many years. He came to Access 4 All Spokane through volunteer work at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. He also has volunteered through the Spokane Police Department and Spokane Public Schools.
Larry Gorton
A strong advocate for deaf people in the Spokane area and beyond, Larry is the 2017 Chair of Access 4 All Spokane. Larry has served on the Deaf Advisory Committee for the Department of Social and Health Services; Fones for the Deaf; Spokane Service Center for the Deaf; and the Inland Empire Association of the Deaf. He served two terms as President of the board for the International Lutheran Deaf Association; and recently served at Faith Lutheran Deaf Church, teaching the last ten years without a dedicated signing pastor.
Larry graduated in 1972 from Washington State University with a degree in architecture. He recently retired after 39 years in the architectural engineering industry. Larry has enjoyed coaching/playing deaf softball and basketball in competitive city recreation leagues. He now volunteers in Friends of the Bluff; the Spokane Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA); and the Comstock Neighborhood Council, in which he successfully advocated for the City of Spokane to provide sign language interpreters.
Born deaf and raised in Spokane, Larry credits both the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with changing his life for the better. ”While there is more advocacy and work ahead, I strongly belief deaf as well as those with other disabilities can be positive contributors to society.”
Kevin Hills, MSW
Kevin is the Director of Disability Support Services at Eastern Washington University. He earned his Bachelors of Arts in Education, and his Masters of Social Work at EWU. He served as the accommodation specialist for the DSS office, where his job involved identifying and eliminating barriers that could prevent students with disabilities from having equal access to educational opportunities. This role involves a thorough understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, along with related state laws. Kevin went on to become the department’s director. He enjoys guest lecturing in classes across many disciplines and has taught courses in Counseling Education and Developmental Psychology. In addition, Kevin co-wrote Chapter 16 of Learning and Attention Disorders in Adolescence and Adulthood, 2nd edition, along with his friend, Ian Campbell, from Central Washington University.
Deborah Wolfer
Deborah served as Access 4 All Spokane’s 2015 Chair. She has served on the Washington Council of the Blind, including its Environmental Access Committee; United Blind of Spokane; and currently serves on the Patron Advisory Committee of the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library. Deborah has been a key player in developing Spokane’s first “beep baseball” team, for blind and vision-impaired athletes. She is also a member of Spokane Rotary Club and Lions Club. Working for Independent Living Centers in Alaska, Deborah taught Braille, and daily living skills to both blind and sighted people in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Deborah has daily experience dealing with barriers to accessibility, not only because of her blindness, but also because she uses a wheelchair due to contracting polio as a child. Deborah is currently the President of Spokane Shadle North Lions Club.
Amber Joplin, D. Des., M. A.
Dr. Joplin served as 2015 Chair of the Spokane County Accessible Communities Advisory Committee and is currently on Access 4 All Spokane’s Steering, Marketing and Technical subcommittees. She represents the Peace and Justice Committee of the Spokane Friends Church. Amber is a 2013 graduate of Washington State University’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute Doctor of Design program. Her primary expertise is the relationship of the community built environment with health and well-being. Her work applies Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to health research; planning for life-cycle sustainable communities; and recovery-oriented environments for special needs & aging adults. She is passionate about healthy, inclusive, and just communities.
During graduate school, Joplin worked in the WSU GIS and Simulation Lab on the Spokane Pedestrian Network Model (PNET). This work is important to Joplin, in part because of her personal, family, and professional experience with disabilities and the impact of disabilities on health, well-being, and access to meaningful places. Joplin has been diagnosed and treated for depression and anxiety since 1994, and has been mobility impaired since 2012 due to joint issues.
Lynn Kimball, MSW
Lynn is the Director of Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington (ALTCEW). Lynn received her MSW from Eastern Washington University in 2007, with an emphasis in Aging Studies. For the past four years, Lynn’s work has focused on encouraging the development of accessible “aging friendly” communities. ALTCEW has held two regional forums on Aging Readiness, participated in the Spokane City Pedestrian Plan process in 2011, and is currently working on ways to collaborate with communities to begin planning for the needs of aging baby boomers. She writes, “By 2030, one in four people will be over 60, making accessibility extremely important for communities that wish to keep all people active and involved as they age or encounter disability.”
David B. Reynolds
Dave is an original co-facilitator for Access 4 All Spokane, and currently A4A Coordinator at The Arc of Spokane. Since 1984, he has worked to break down barriers to inclusion for people with disabilities of all ages through employment, residential, community access, training, education, advocacy, planning, and positive behavior support services. In 1999, he launched Inclusion Daily Express, the world’s first international disability rights news service. As IDE editor and writer, Dave has become very knowledgeable in understanding architectural, attitudinal, programmatic, and communication barriers for people with all types of disabilities around the world — particularly ‘invisible’ disabilities. He has researched and written extensively on what is being done domestically and globally to eliminate those barriers, from individual actions, to group efforts, to national and multi-national collaborations. Dave has served on a number of advisory boards and assisted in the design and development of the annual HireAbilitySpokane.
Dave is a member of The Arc’s Inclusion Network; the Inclusivity Committee at Manito United Methodist Church; Spokane Central Lions Club; and West Central Neighborhood Council. He is a graduate of Liberty High School in Spangle, and Spokane Falls Community College, and earned his Bachelor’s in Management of Human Resources from George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. Dave has experienced a learning disability, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, since he was a child, and has been treated for chronic depression and anxiety for much of his adult life. He believes that celebrating those places that have made the commitment to be accessible and ‘disability friendly’, while providing support to those that want to improve accessibility, will be a win-win for everyone in the Spokane area.
Cathy Sacco
Cathy recently retired as Senior Program Manager for Washington Initiative for Supported Employment (WISE), a leader in developing employment awareness and prospects for people with disabilities. She has been a trainer for more than 25 years and a consultant focusing on outreach and partnerships with the business community for the past several years. Cathy has assisted in the design, development and implementation of innovative projects such as Hire Ability Day, Project MOVE (Mentoring Opportunity in Vocation and Education), Project SEARCH, Partners for Work with Rotarians, and a Corporate Speaker’s Bureau. She is a member of Greater Spokane Incorporated, the local chapter of American Society of Training and Development, Washington State Community Employment Alliance, “Leadership Connect”, Leadership Spokane, Community Indicators, Rotary, Kiwanis and serves on many boards and committees in the Spokane area.
Kathryne Shearer, M.A., C.R.C.
In her role as Director of Disability Resources and ADA Coordinator for Gonzaga University, Kathy’s interest in disability friendly and inclusive environments grew and developed. She has worked in the disability community as a sign language interpreter, vocational rehabilitation counselor, higher education access professional, and advocate over the course of the past 35 years. Kathy holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga, and is a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor. Her work experience and interest in this field have resulted in extensive knowledge of legal, best practice, and leading edge parameters in education, recreation, and employment settings. Kathy speaks up for people with hidden disabilities.
Lynn Swedberg, MS, OTR/L
Lynn has been an Occupational Therapist since 1976 with experience in home health, skilled nursing, and rural hospital inpatient and outpatient services. Lynn is Disability Consultant and Newsletter Editor for the United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries; member and past chairperson, vice-chairperson, and secretary, United Methodist Committee on Disability Ministries; and Accessibility Coordinator for the 2012 Summer Institute on Theology and Disability in Chicago.
Her recent continuing education has included courses on “Disability Awareness” through the United Theological Seminary; “ADA and Lodging: Customizing Customer Service” through the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center; “Accessible Pools” through the U.S. Department of Justice; and “Accessibility Management for Parks and Recreation” through the National Center on Accessibility. Lynn has authored many articles for “The Voice of the United Methodist Disability Connection” newsletter, The Fig Tree, and other publications, focusing on disability awareness and inclusion. She has traveled extensively, and has presented around the world on issues related to removing barriers to including people with disabilities in communities of faith. She is also a member of the Inclusivity Committee at Manito United Methodist Church.
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