Chai Feldblum Commissioner of the EEOC to Deliver Keynote Advocating for People with Disabilities
Press Release .pdf (Advocacy, Employment, Children, Disability, Health)
Chai Feldblum Commissioner of the EEOC to Deliver Keynote Advocating for People with Disabilities
September 10, 2010 (National Distribution)- Community Options, Inc. a national nonprofit organization that has been developing homes and employment for people with disabilities since 1989, will be holding its 5th Annual iMatter Conference on September 27, 2010- September 30, 2010.
The “Advocacy – Connect. Share. Live,” national conference will be taking place at the W Hotel in Dallas. The conference will be the culmination of a years worth of work by parent groups the organization has assembled across the country to increase access and resources for children with disabilities.
On Wednesday evening at 6pm, Chai Feldblum, a Commissioner on the five-member United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will be delivering a keynote at the Ghost Bar event in the W Hotel in Dallas, Texas.
Chai R. Feldblum is a Commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Prior to joining the EEOC, Feldblum was a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. For almost two decades, she directed the law school’s Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic where her students worked on disability rights issues and social welfare issues. Her clients included Catholic Charities USA, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and Epilepsy Foundation. Feldblum has also taught, written and spoken extensively in the areas of statutory interpretation, administrative law, disability law, and sexuality and the law. While working as a lawyer for the ACLU’s AIDS Project, Feldblum served as one of the lead lawyers drafting and negotiating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Later, on behalf of the Epilepsy Foundation, Feldblum served the same role on the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. She has also been a leading scholar and advocate on LGBT issues, including working on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, testifying before Congress, and authoring amicus briefs. From 2003 to 2010, Feldblum engaged in workplace flexibility issues, including launching and co-directing Workplace Flexibility 2010, a project to advance a national policy on workplace flexibility that works for employees and employers. Feldblum is a graduate of Barnard College and Harvard Law School. She clerked for Judge Frank M. Coffin on the First Circuit Court of Appeals (1985-86) and for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court (1986-87).
“We need to find creative ways to open the doors of more workplaces to people with disabilities,” said Chai Feldblum, a commissioner on the five-member U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Work is essential not only to promote self-sufficiency, but also to nourish the soul and provide people with a sense of dignity and self-worth.”
For more information about Community Options and the conference, please visit them at www.comop.org or www.comop.org/conference. Follow the organization on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter at COINATIONAL.