Professional Training & Community Education

CJE SeniorLife holds frequent professional seminars and conferences (often with CE and CEU credits). In addition, we publish findings on innovative research studies and disseminate educational information.

 

Please join us for this event in recognition of Jewish Disability Awareness Acceptance and Inclusion Month. This year we have moved our event to an online platform that will be accessible by computer or telephone. The program will include four 1-hour information sessions on various policy issues that impact the disability and aging communities.

*Registrants will receive a confirmation email with zoom link and telephone number to dial into the event.

 

• February 17 at 11 am

Disability and Aging Activism in Illinois during COVID

Moderator: Jae Jin Pak, Community Education & Training Coordinator, Institute for Disability and Human Development, UIC

Panelists:

• Candace Coleman, Community Organizer, Access Living
• Therese Humphrey Ball, MS Activist
• Maribeth Stein, Coordinator/ Constituent Advocate, Congressman Jan Schakowsky office

Hear from Illinois aging and disability policy advocates as they recount how COVID-19 has impacted their advocacy. They will describe their experiences with remote advocacy and reflect on how policy advocacy looks different today from a year ago. Additionally, a staff person from US Representative Jan Schakowsky’s office will discuss ideas to get the attention of legislators in this unique and exciting time.

Register for  February 17 >>>

About moderator and presenters:

Jae Jin Pak is the Self Advocacy Training Coordinator for the IL LEND program working to empower self-advocates through leadership development. He has worked to build bridges between diverse communities and providers to foster collaborations and partnerships.  Jae Jin also serves as community education & training coordinator for IDHD, developing, coordinating and conducting presentations on disability related topics. For over 25 years, he has worked on issues of ending domestic and sexual violence, mental health, disability, anti-oppression and cultural competency. Jae Jin has received recognition for his work and leadership by the City of Chicago Commission Human Relations Advisory Council on Asian Affairs, Leadership Center for Asian Pacific Americans and the Jane Adams School of Social Work at University of IL at Chicago.

Candace Coleman is a black disabled woman from the South Side of Chicago. She works closely with disabled people affected by the justice system to organize around racial justice and disability. This work includes anti-bullying, the school-to-prison pipeline, restorative justice, police brutality, and deinstitutionalization. She is dedicated to teaching disabled youth of color to take pride in all aspects of their identities so they can become leaders themselves. She believes that young people will shape the future by creating a more inclusive world. Coleman has spoken around the country, and her pioneering work has been featured in news stories by the BBC, WBEZ, Newsy, and The Chicago Defender. She was named the ADAPT Woman of the Year in 2018, 35 Under 35 by Chicago Scholars in 2017, and received the Van Hecke award for outstanding leadership and service in the disability community. In 2019 Candace was appointed to the Illinois Council on Women and Girls. In 2020 she was appointed to the City of Chicago’s Racial Equity Advisory Committee.

Therese Humphrey Ball has been a Registered Nurse since 1987.  She is District Activist Leader and is the incoming Chair of the Government Relations Advisory Committee for the National Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) Society. She became involved with the M.S.  Society in 2004 and has been educating federal and state officials since then on policies that affect those living with M.S., including the high cost of prescription drugs.

Maribeth Stein has had the pleasure of working for Congresswoman Schakowsky since 2018, serving as the Outreach Coordinator and Constituent Advocate for older adult services. For seven years Maribeth served as the Community Engagement and Benefits Access Coordinator for AgeOptions, the suburban Cook County Area Agency on Aging. There, she was able to assist older adults and their families, caregivers, and professionals understand, access, and navigate the complex world of resources available to seniors. Next, Maribeth started her own business, Senior Life Consulting, where she coached older adults and their families in creating plans to prepare for aging the way they wished. Maribeth brought her expertise in Medicare, Social Security benefits, Medicaid, financial and food insecurity, housing, and public benefits to Team Schakowsky where she is able to advocate for the senior constituents of the 9th Congressional District of Illinois every day.

• March 18 at 11 am

What a New Congress and New Administration Means for US Disability Policy  

Speaker: Nicole Jorwic, Senior Director of Rights Policy, The ARC of the United State

The 117th Congress will have a lot to tackle in the face of the continuing pandemic and recovery issues.  All these policy discussions will have an impact on the lives of people with disabilities.  This program will identify the most relevant disability policy priorities for this Congress and the new administration  as they address  new and decades old issues.   

*This program may be of interest to participants outside of Illinois

Register for  March 18 >>>

About our speaker:

Nicole Jorwic is the Senior Director of Public Policy at The Arc, a national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Prior to joining The Arc policy team Nicole served as Senior Policy Advisor for the state of Illinois. Prior to that appointment, Nicole served as the CEO/President of the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities where she continued the Institute’s mission to improve the lives of people with disabilities and assisted the leadership of the state of Illinois in developing public policy driven best practices in serving individuals with disabilities.
Nicole is also an accomplished special education attorney and an advocate for students with disabilities, with a focus on transition-aged youth. Nicole received her JD and Child and Family Law Certificate, from Loyola University Chicago. She received her BS from the University of Illinois. Nicole is also a sibling. Her brother Chris is 31 and has autism.

• April 28 at 11 am

Building Back Better: US Disability Policy

Moderator: Justin Cooper, Filmaker, Artist, Disabilty Advocate

Speakers:

• Liz Weintraub, Senior Advocacy Specialist, AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disabilities)
• Andrew J. Weintraub, Executive Director, Disability Rights California

A local advocate will host a conversation with two national disability advocates on potentially hopeful solutions that are anticipated following the first 100 days of the new Biden Administration in Washington DC.

Register for April  28 >>>

*This program may be of interest to participants outside of Illinois

About our moderator and  speakers:

Justin Cooper is a black filmmaker, artist, and disability advocate who has been working in art and film professionally since 2012. The lack of media representation amongst people with disabilities motivated him to work on his own documentary film called The Wheelchair Chronicles. Justin is currently the president of Access Living’s Young Professionals Council, the Head Marshal of the annual Chicago Disability Pride Parade. Justin does advocacy work for Advance Your Leadership Power (racial/social justice advocacy group at Access Living), and the Chicago Disability Activism Collective (CDAC) and as a board member for the Illinois Partners for Human Service. Justin founded his own media company called Cooper Industries in 2018. This company focuses on his filmmaking, film production, and photography work.

Liz Weintraub has a long history of leadership in self advocacy and has held many board and advisory positions at state and national organizations. She is a full time member of the AUCD's policy team and also the host of Tuesdays With Liz: Disability Policy For All, where she attempts to make polices in accessible language so policy is accessible to all.

In the Spring of 2018, Liz served as a Fellow for Senator Casey of Pennsylvania, working in his DC Office where she helped lead the way on disability policy by helping the Senator hold the administration accountable for disability stakeholder input into key programs; calling attention to the need for accessible supports and services for students and employees with disabilities on college campuses who have been sexually assaulted, which resulted in a S.2530; and helped organize a first of its kind Pennsylvania Disability Employment Summit with over 250 participants. Said Senator Casey, "Liz has shown the Senate how important it is to have staff members who have developmental and intellectual disabilities. She's helped reshape the culture of the Senate."

In the fall of 2018, Liz told the story of her personal experience as a woman with disabilities as she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the potential implications of a Kavanaugh confirmation to the civil rights of people with disabilities. Read her submitted written testimony and watch her oral testimony on AUCD's website.

Prior to coming to AUCD, Liz worked for the Council on Quality & Leadership (CQL). Liz is an alumni of the LEND training program at the Center for Leadership in Disability at Georgia State University. Liz was a past chair of the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council. Liz is rejoining the Council for another term. Liz has received numerous awards, recognition, and commendations for her work. Liz enjoys mentoring people with disabilities.

Andrew J. Imparato is a disability rights lawyer and policy expert who moved to California in January to lead Disability Rights California (DRC) after a high-impact 26-year career in Washington, DC. While in DC, Imparato served as Disability Policy Director for Chairman Tom Harkin on the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and as President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, among other roles. Imparato helped lead coalition efforts to pass the ADA Amendments Act in 2008 and helped negotiate the disability provisions in the bipartisan 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Since joining DRC, one of the largest disability rights organizations in the world with almost 300 employees, Imparato has worked to protect vital programs and services for people with disabilities and to prevent discrimination on the basis of disability and age as the state responds to the pandemic.  Imparato is known for mentoring younger leaders with disabilities and cultivating activism in the U.S. and globally on social media. He grew up in Los Angeles and is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Yale College.  His perspective is informed by his lived experience with bipolar disorder.

• May 27 at 11 am

Bringing it Home: Community Integration in Illinois

Speaker:

• Barry Taylor, VP for Civil Rights and Systemic Litigation, Equip for Equality

This program will focus on the current Illinois response to community integration and the importance of continued advocacy efforts to enlist necessary changes. A local disability advocate will share their personal experience of community integration policy in Illinois and Equip for Equality attorney, Barry Taylor, will reflect on potential directions for continued work to be done by advocates.

Register for May 27  >>>

About our speaker:

Barry Taylor is the Vice President for Civil Rights and Systemic Litigation at Equip for Equality, where has worked since 1996.  At Equip for Equality, he has overseen many individual and systemic disability discrimination cases including successful federal ADA suits against the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Chicago Police Department, and the Chicago Transit Authority.  He is currently co-counsel in five ADA class actions, including lead counsel in Ligas v. Norwood, a class action on behalf of people with developmental disabilities who are seeking community services.  Barry has given numerous presentations on the ADA across the country to people with disabilities, family members, attorneys, employers, businesses, service providers and advocacy organizations.

Barry has served as the Chairperson of the Disability Rights Consortium, Chairperson of the Regional Transit Authority’s ADA Advisory Committee; Chairperson of Season of Concern, Chairperson of the Legal Committee for the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems, Chairperson of the Chicago Bar Association’s Legal Aid Committee, Chairperson of the Chicago Bar Association’s Mental Health and Disability Law Committee, and Co-Chairperson of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Pro Bono Week.  He has been an Adjunct Professor at John Marshall Law School, and in 2001, Chicago Lawyer Magazine named him one of “40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch.”  He has served on Senator Dick Durbin’s Federal Judicial Screening Committee and currently serves on the Governor’s Task Force on the Employment and Economic Opportunity for Persons with Disabilities.

Time: All programs will be at 11am -12noon Central Time
Cost: There is no charge for this series.

Accommodations:
Closed captioning of this program will be provided by CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) services. To request additional accommodations or ask any other questions about this program, contact us at 773.508.1106 or Linkages@cje.net.

Registration:
Please register for each program individually, either by phone (773.508.1106) at links provided above.  
Each program will provide 1 free CEU for Illinois professionals with the following licenses: LSW, LCSW, LPC, LCPC, QIDP

Audience:
This program is intended for all community members but especially adults with disabilities, older adults, family members, personal attendants, and the students and professionals working with them.