The University of Scranton: Annual Conference on DISABILITY
Registration and Contact Information
Conference Mission
Session Information
Speakers
Tiffany Yu
Tiffany Yu is the CEO & Founder of Diversability, an award-winning social enterprise to elevate disability pride; the Founder of the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter, a monthly micro-grant that has awarded $92.5k to 93 disability projects in 11 countries; and the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World.
She serves on the NIH National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research and LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games Working Group. She was a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Summit. At the age of 9, Tiffany became disabled as a result of a car accident that also took the life of her father.
She started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and has also worked at Bloomberg and startups in media and real estate. Her TED Talk, How to Help Employees with Disabilities Thrive, has over one million views. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, Marie Claire, and Forbes.
Laurie Allen
Laurie Allen is a seasoned technology veteran with over 25 years of experience driving innovation across diverse domains. As the leader of the Global Commercial Accessibility Program at Microsoft, Laurie partners with organizations to embed accessibility into the fabric of their products, workplaces, and cultures—blending technical expertise with lived experience to drive innovation for people with disabilities.
Rory Cooper
Medal Laureate Rory A. Cooper, PhD, PLY is the founding director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, a joint center of the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He is a VA Senior Research Career Scientist and the FISA Foundation – Paralyzed Veterans of America Distinguished Professor at Pitt. Cooper has authored or co-authored over 400 peer-reviewed journal publications. He has over 30 patents awarded or pending. He is the author of two books: "Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation” and “Wheelchair Selection and Configuration”, and co-editor of “An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering”, “Warrior Transition Leader: Medical Rehabilitation Handbook” and the award winning book “Care of the Combat Amputee”. Cooper is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, as well as RESNA, IEEE, AIMBE and BMES. In October 2023, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by the President of the United States and he was inducted into the 50th class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. His students have won numerous awards and are leaders throughout the world.
Kathy West-Evans and John P. Evans
Kathy West-Evans is the Director of Business Relations for the national organization of the 78 public VR agencies in every state, the territories and D.C. She has her Bachelor of Science and MA in Public Administration; she is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) who is fluent in American Sign Language. Kathy started in the field of rehabilitation in 1978 working at a community agency managing a Projects with Industry program, then for the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation as a VRC, Assistant Regional Administrator and Statewide Program Manager in Business Relations and Marketing. She moved from DVR to the federal level with the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and now leads the National Employment Team (NET) at CSAVR (Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation). The NET is a cross state team of VR business specialists working through a dual customer approach to develop strategies with business (private, public, and non-profit) to employ and retain the talents of individuals with disabilities across the company or organization.
Kathy is a past Chair of the Veterans Advisory Council on Rehabilitation and a former Commissioner on the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification. In addition to impacting legislation focused on VR’s work with business, she is a frequent speaker and has co-authored articles focused on working with business to employ the talents of individuals with disabilities.
John Evans recently retired from the State of Washington – Department Social Health Services – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, where he was the agency’s statewide VR Program Administrator for Employer Relations.
A 1983 graduate of Seattle University in Public Administration and Human Resource Development, John spent 31 years of public service in the fields of vocational rehabilitation; labor relations; human resource development; disability integration; and the employment of people with disabilities in the workplace.
Born with profound congenital deafness, John is a former beneficiary of the public Vocational Rehabilitation system, first becoming a VR Counselor working with the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind in 1984. John’s career includes serving as a Lead VR Counselor, Regional Business Relations Specialist, Affirmative Action Officer, SR Human Resource Consultant, Statewide Reasonable Accommodation Specialist, State Personnel ADA Manager, VR Unit Supervisor, and Program Administrator. John is uniquely positioned to offer insights into the dynamics and benefits of “disability employment and business relations”.
Alison Levy
Alison Sutton Levy joined the U.S. Access Board in June 2022 as the Director of the Office of Information and Technical Services (OTIS). In this role, she leads a team of accessibility experts dedicated to enhancing both built and digital environments. Additionally, she serves on various international and interagency advisory groups and as the agency's primary representative for engaging with the public on the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence for Americans with disabilities.
The Access Board is an independent federal agency that promotes equality for people with disabilities through leadership in accessible design and the development of guidelines and standards. OTIS comprises staff members who write these guidelines, respond to technical inquiries via a hotline and email, and conduct training both in-person and virtually.
Prior to her role at the Access Board, Alison served as the Manager of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Disability Resource Center (DRC), a centrally funded office that supports supervisors, disabled applicants and employees in fostering an accessible and inclusive workplace through recruitment, hiring, outreach, education, and reasonable accommodations.
As a person with disabilities and with over 30 years of experience in the disability field, Alison has consistently worked to improve workplace attitudes, enhance accessibility, and ensure equal opportunities across post-secondary education, public, and private sectors. She is also fluent in American Sign Language.
Isaac Shapiro
Isaac Shapiro is a social entrepreneur and changemaker dedicated to building a more accessible world through business. He is the Co-CEO and President of Cleanlogic, a purpose-driven brand of bath and skincare accessories, and the Founder of the Inspiration Foundation, a nonprofit focused on increasing employment for individuals with disabilities by 10%.
Since launching Cleanlogic in 2006, Isaac has built the brand into the #1 bath accessory company in grocery retail, with national distribution across Walmart, Amazon, HEB, Nordstrom, and more. The company is known for its innovative exfoliating fabrics and commitment to accessibility—incorporating functional Braille on packaging and assembling products in the U.S. through a workforce that includes individuals with disabilities.
A portion of Cleanlogic's profits directly supports the Inspiration Foundation, whose mission is to help raise the employment rate of individuals with disabilities from 37% to 47%. That is 6 million jobs. Through its “Purchase to Employ” initiative, the company has already created 29 jobs for people with disabilities at its U.S. facility and continues to scale with a goal of growing that impact nationwide by inspiring other companies to enjoy the positive impact on culture when hiring individuals with disabilities.
Isaac’s passion for employment for individuals with disability is deeply personal. His mother, Bea, lost her vision at age 7 and went on to become a long-distance runner and a social entrepreneur. She founded a tech training center for the blind and visually impaired, teaching them adaptive technology for meaningful employment. Watching her build opportunities from the ground up inspired Isaac to dedicate his career to social impact through entrepreneurship.
Under Isaac’s leadership, Cleanlogic has not only redefined what it means to be a personal care brand—it’s normalized the conversation around hiring individuals with disabilities, proving disability talent strategies to hire individuals with disabilities are better for business and society.
His work has been featured on Good Morning America, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, NBC Nightly News, and more. With a mission to make “nice and clean” feel good for everyone, Isaac continues to lead with purpose, performance, and an unwavering commitment to creating jobs for individuals with disabilities.
