Pac Rim 2009 Info
Keynote Speakers: Andrew J. Imparato
Johnny Crescendo | Andrew J. Imparato | Lee Grossman | Billy Kenoi | Amber Smock
Monday May 4th, 2009: 9:00 AM -10:00 AM in Room 304A,
on topic of Economic Downturn: Challenges and Possibilities
“Transforming American Disability Policy by Dismantling the Poverty Trap”
Washington-based disability rights lawyer Andrew Imparato, will discuss AAPD's agenda to improve the economic status of people with disabilities in the U.S. by transforming the largest federal programs that serve Americans with disabilities so that they are more consistent with the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act: equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. Imparato will also discuss efforts underway in Washington to advance the disability policy agenda in the context of the Obama Administration.
Biography: Andrew J. Imparato
Andrew J. Imparato is the first full-time President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a national non-profit membership organization for the political and economic empowerment of all people with disabilities in the U.S. With more than 100,000 members, AAPD is the largest cross-disability membership organization in the U.S. and is based in Washington, DC.
Imparato recently organized and led a coalition of more than 200 disability, civil rights and employer organizations to enact the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, which was signed into law by President Bush on September 25, 2008. Prior to joining AAPD, Imparato was general counsel and director of policy for the National Council on Disability, an attorney advisor with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy, and a staff attorney/Skadden Fellow with the Disability Law Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Imparato graduated with distinction from Stanford Law School and is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College. He lives in Baltimore with his wife and two sons, ages 15 and 10.
