Session Details
Ann Turnbull will use Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, as the context to share her experiences of being part of the disability-services evolution. She will highlight starting one of the first N.C. group homes in the mid-1970’s and then realizing 20 years later that it was not a group home but a home of his own that her son, Jay, wanted for his adult life. Ann will share the approaches that she, her family, and friends used to create opportunities for Jay to truly belong and experience dignity in his own home and community.
Dr. Ann Turnbull was on the special education faculty at UNC-CH and University of Kansas. Now retired, she has authored 35 books and over 275 articles and chapters. In 1999, she was selected by the National Disability Historic Trust as one of 36 individuals who have “changed the course of history for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the 20th Century.” She is a proud member of the HOPE Board of Directors.
Ann Turnbull
Professor Emerita for the Department of Special Education at Kansas University
Rebecca Cokley will share about the Ford Foundation's strategy to scale up the disability rights movement and the key role that housing plays in creating a more just world for people with disabilities and their families.
Rebecca Cokley is the program officer for the foundation’s first-ever U.S. Disability Rights program, which is focused on strengthening the field, building a pipeline of diverse leadership, promoting disability pride, and mobilizing resources toward disability rights work. Prior to joining Ford, Rebecca was the co-founder and director of the Disability Justice initiative at the Center for American Progress, where she built out a progressive policy platform that protected the rights and services disabled people depend on for survival and also developed innovative solutions like a proposed disabled worker tax credit and increased access to capital for disability-owned small businesses. She also stewarded a campaign that resulted in an unprecedented 12 presidential candidates developing disability policy platforms.
Rebecca Cokley
Program Officer
US Disability Rights Portfolio, The Ford Foundation
Participants will hear about what the state Department of Health and Human Services is doing to further inclusive housing in NC and how Alliance used a successful approach for inclusive housing for people with severe and persistent mental health issues.
Kelly Crosbie
Director, Mental Health Developmental Disabilities, Substance Use Services in the NC Department of Health and Human Services
Ann Oshel
Senior VP of Wellness and Community Living, Alliance Health
Participants will hear about First Place Arizona’s two communities that integrate adults with I/DD into communities with older adults.
Maureen Casey
Director, The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Center for Public Policy Colonel Harland Sanders Center for Applied Research, Global Leadership Institute
Participants will hear from a panel with 3 non-profit professionals who lead organizations supporting people with I/DD to live in the community about their approaches that work. FirstWNC offers comprehensive services to children, youth and adults with disabilities or at risk of disabilities, young children with a variety of mental wellness and the people who love and support them. They connect the dots between families, schools, and government agencies to create a network of support around each of their clients. Liberty Corner Enterprises (LCE) is a private not-for-profit organization providing services and support to people experiencing intellectual and/or developmental disabilities throughout western North Carolina communities. DCCLP is a private nonprofit whose purpose is to help provide a comfortable, safe and normal living environment for persons with a developmental disability.
Janet Price-Ferrell
Executive Director, FirstWNC in Asheville, NC
Jen Waite
Executive Director, Liberty Corner Enterprises in Asheville, NC
Elizabeth Scott
Executive Director, Durham County Community Living Programs in Durham, NC
Participants will hear about two very different but successful models for inclusive housing in Maryland and Virginia. Main Street is a nonprofit that models inclusive practices, bringing people with and without disabilities together. We’re 3 things – affordable housing, a membership-based community center and a movement of inclusion. OSG’s mission is to build inclusive communities and strengthen neighborhoods through diverse programming, sustainable, affordable housing and social spaces for people of all abilities.
Jillian Copeland
Executive Director from Main Street Connect in Rockville, Maryland
Sharon Cichy
Chief Strategy Officer from Main Street Connect in Rockville, Maryland
Donna Budway
Founder and Director of Programming and Community Outreach from Our Stomping Ground in Fairfax Station, VA