Marcie Roth

You’ll see in the corner the record button

So you should see that it’s recording now,

And I’m going to mute myself

And you’ll go ahead and do your intro.

Thank you Marcie.

Hi there, I’m Marcie Roth

And I have been working in disability rights

For my whole adult life,

And actually, since I was a freshman in high school.

I am currently the executive director and CEO of the World Institute on Disability

And I have been working over the years in services

for people living in residential programs early in my career

with people in,

children in school settings,

people in vocational rehabilitation,

and then people in community living environments,

that along the way, I became very involved in disability rights

and very involved in the early days of advocacy

before the ADA was introduced.

And then I worked for disability advocacy organizations almost ever since.

In addition to my own disability,

I’m also the parent of two

now adults with disabilities.

My husband also has a disability,

and much of my family also happen to be people with disabilities

so disability rights is just part of

everything I am and most everything I do.

I did spend from 2001 and onward

focusing very much on what happens for people with disabilities

before, during, and after disasters.

And that’s been a real particular laser focus of mine ever since,

and in fact, I’ve had the opportunity

as an appointee in the Obama administration

to spend just about 8 years at FEMA,

establishing FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration Coordination,

and building a cadre of disability experts

of the same pond, supporting governors

and emergency managers and most particularly

engaging people with disabilities and disability organizations

in emergency preparedness

and throughout disaster response recovery and mitigation.

So one last piece since I’ve been with

the World Institute on Disability since last September,

my ongoing focus on global disability rights has really been

something that I’ve had much more opportunity to e actively involved in

and I have spent the time since joining

WID building a strategic planning process

and supporting the organizations to establish new priorities,

taking a look at the organization’s mission