Anita Cameron and Samantha Crane Join Not Dead Yet Board
Rochester, NY (PRWEB) January 13, 2014 -- As the 2014 new year begins, Anita Cameron and Samantha Crane join the Not Dead Yet Board of Directors. The Board consists of ten members from across the United States and two from Canada.
Cameron is a long time disability rights activist who serves in the leadership of the direct action group ADAPT. She was invited to the White House on two occasions, has met three sitting U.S. Presidents and two Vice-Presidents, helped to organize a national disability rights march to Washington, D.C. Cameron became the first visually impaired instructor with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the State of Colorado in 2012, and in 2013, became a CERT Program Manager for the State.
Recently, Cameron commented on a public education initiative involving both ADAPT and Not Dead Yet. “I love the fact that ADAPT and NDY have collaborated on an ad on the CBS Super Screen in New York City’s Times Square,” Cameron said. “This ad could have a crucial part in changing the way people with severe disabilities are seen by the public. I'm excited that through it, millions of people will begin to learn that life with disabilities is wonderful, that we are better off and more productive and engaged when we are in our own homes rather than institutional settings, and that our community is fighting for liberty and justice for all and invites the broader public to join us in this fight.”
Crane is a 2009 graduate of Harvard Law School and currently works as Director of Public Policy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s national office. She previously served as staff attorney at the Bazelon Center of Mental Health Law, focusing on enforcing the right to community integration as established by the Supreme Court in Olmstead v. L.C., and as an associate at the litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, & Sullivan, L.L.P., where she focused on patent and securities litigation. From 2009 to 2010, Samantha served as law clerk to the Honorable Judge William H. Yohn at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
During law school Crane also interned at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she worked in the Disability Rights Section. She also interned at the American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability, the Disability Law Center of Massachusetts and Harvard Law School's clinical programs in special education and in disability and estate planning.
"Not Dead Yet and ASAN have, in the past, partnered together to fight the deadly perception that the lives of people with developmental disabilities are not worth living," said Crane. "In many cases, this has led to denial of lifesaving medical care and even murder by caregivers. By joining the Not Dead Yet Board, I hope to continue and strengthen Not Dead Yet's partnership with the developmental disability community to ensure that disabled people's lives are valued."
“Sam and Anita bring tremendous strengths as well as diverse backgrounds and skills to the NDY Board,” said Diane Coleman, founder and CEO of the organization. “I’m very excited about working with them more closely in the years ahead, and know that their fellow Board members share my enthusiasm as we pursue our goals in 2014.”
Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet, http://www.notdeadyet.org, +1 (708) 420-0539, [email protected]
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