Zero Project Conference 2016 Speakers’

biographies

Javed Abidi

He is the pioneer of the cross-disability movement in India. He has

successfully led several advocacy initiatives in India, including the

drafting and enactment of the Disability Act of 1995, India’s ratification

of CRPD in 2007, and setting up of a separate Department of Disability

Affairs by the Government of India. He strongly believes that the voice

of disability should always first focus on the global South where nearly

800 million of the world’s 1 billion people with disabilities live.

Shadi Abou-Zahra

Shadi Abou-Zahra works with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

(WAI) as Activity Lead of the WAI International Program Office. Shadi

coordinates WAI outreach in Europe, web accessibility evaluation

techniques, and international standards promotion and harmonization

activities. He is the scientific coordinator of the EC-funded projects WAI-

ACT and WAI-DEV, and editor and staff contact for the W3C/WAI

Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG).

Anjlee Agarwal

Anjlee Agarwal is accessibility consultant, researcher and author, well-

known in Asia Pacific. She is co-founder Samarthyam, a disabled persons

organization whose goal is to promote the understanding and

implementation of accessibility of the sustainable built, social and virtual

environments, using the guiding principles of Universal Design. As a

woman with disability herself and Post Graduation in Human Rights, she

has organized several mass awareness campaigns in India on social issues.

She has also authored more than 74 papers on universal design and accessibility, which are

published in international and national journals.

Constance Agyeman

With over 20 years of experience in the voluntary sector, Constance is a

Senior Programme Manager leading on International Development and

UK Prizes. Since joining the Centre in 2012, Constance has developed

and delivered a number of challenges. She provide a range of consultancy

services in strategic application of challenges, capacity development and

design and delivery of challenges.Constance previously managed a

£50million match fund programme at vinspired, worked with the Greater

London Authority and has headed up youth volunteering and grant management programmes.

She also spent a number of years working for TimeBank and Mind, the mental health charity.

Ghadeer Al Haris

Ghadeer Al Haris is a professional in inclusive education, with formal

training in Speech and Language Pathology at a master’s level. She

currently serves as Media Spokesperson and Director of the Educational

Programmes Department at Jordan’s Higher Council for Affairs of Persons

with Disabilities (HCD) , the country’s national policy think-tank on

disability issues, a position she has held since 2009. Prior to that, she has

assumed positions including Senior Speech Pathologist in the Disabled

Children’s Association of Saudi Arabia and as a teacher at the Ministry of Education in

Jordan. Al Hares was recently awarded as the Ideal Employee/leadership category from Civil

Services Bureau for the year 2014.

Silvia Balmas

Silvia has been working in European Foundation Centre EFC from May

2012 and since 2014 coordinating the Disability Thematic Network and

specifically the Consortium of Foundations in Human Rights and

Disability. She is appointed as head of the Zero Project Indicators research.

Besides she carries out other projects in the frame of the Disability

Thematic Network such as the League of Accessible and Historical Cities.

Vashkar Bhattacharjee

Vashkar Bhattacharjee is a person with visual disability currently working

as a Program Manager of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA). He

serves as a focal person for DAISY and TIGAR, and country representative

for GAATES in Bangladesh. He worked as a National Consultant web

accessibility with Access to Information (a2i) Program under Prime

Minister Office. He completed M.A from the University of Chittagong and

attended Duskin Leadership Training in Japan. He is the founder of

Chittagong Computerized Braille production Centre and ICT and Resource Centre on

Disability. He is actively involved with a number of local, national and international agencies

ranging from Bangladesh Visual Impaired Society to APCD Foundation in Thailand. He is

also a regular author of National ICT publications like The Monthly Computer Jagat etc.

Jamie Bolling

Mrs. Jamie Bolling living in the north of Sweden is the executive director

of ENIL – The European Network on Independent Living. She was a

member of the European Fundamental Rights Platform’s Advisory Panel

from 2010 – 2014. Jamie has a Masters degree in social anthropology and

work experience in disability research, international development

cooperation as well as other areas concerning disability issues. Combining

her experience in politics as a county counselor and from different appointments at local,

regional, national and EU level, with her vast knowledge of the international disability

movement Jamie works for progress in Independent Living issues and policy.

Daniela Boscolo

As a teacher she has realized some projects to support students with

disabilities in facing important steps such as social autonomy, training and

job placement. Her teaching method is based on the realization of an

inclusive learning environment which helps the “Performances” of

everybody. She has been included among the 50 best teachers in the world

by the Varkey Foundation in the competition “The Global Teacher Prize”

and received Civil Honour Award from the President of Italy.

Martha Jo Braycich

Martha Jo Braycich, Senior Director, Community Impact Initiatives,

Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia. Special Olympics is the world’s largest

sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities. The movement

serves more than 4.5 million athletes in 170 countries. Ms. Braycich, who

works for the Europe/Eurasia regional office and is based in Brussels,

Belgium, has been with Special Olympics for 18 years. In her position,

Ms. Braycich and her team work on the development of regional initiatives

related to youth and schools, inclusive sports, athlete leadership, health and research. She also

oversees program development, mainly in southeast Europe. Ms. Braycich serves as program

manager for several large grants that focus on youth and inclusion.

Robert Bu

Robert Bu studied Chemistry, Diaconia and Operational Management.

During nineties, he have been active in the music scene (as a singer in a

local punk/new wave band). Involved in the civil society scene

(FRY/Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia) from 1995. Started to work in the

Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization (EHO) in 1996. From 2011, was

EHO Deputy Director and from February 2015 is holding a position of

EHO Executive Director. Author and coordinator of more than 60 development projects; have

participated in more than 20 international conferences as a speaker; author of several

publications; several awards for the projects RB coordinated. Working experience:

empowerment of marginalized groups (including PWDs); community mobilization, advocacy

/lobbying and peace and reconciliation.

Miguel Angel Cabra de Luna

Dr. Cabra de Luna holds a Ph.D. in Law (1997). Positions: 1998- Member,

European Economic and Social Committee; 2001- Member, European

Platform Social Economy Europe; 1995- Member, Governing Body of the

Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy; 2003- Deputy

Member, Council for Promotion of Social Economy, Ministry of Labour &

Social Affairs. He has co-authored 34 books on Social Economy and Non-

Profit Organizations. Since 1994, he authored an annual book about disability law in

Spain/EU.

Lawrence Campbell

Lawrence Campbell, President Emeritus, International Council for

Education of People with Visual Impairment has worked in the field of

education and rehabilitation of blind and visually impaired persons since

1967. For the past thirty-eight years he has worked full-time at the

international level providing technical assistance to government and non-

government organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle

East.

David Capozzi

David Capozzi is the Executive Director of the U.S. Access Board. The

Access Board is the only federal agency whose mission is accessibility for

people with disabilities. David is responsible for $7.5 million in program

expenditures and manages a staff of 28 professionals and support staff who

develop accessibility guidelines and accessibility standards, training,

technical assistance, and research programs. He was previously Director of

Project ACTION, Vice President of Advocacy for Easter Seals and National Advocacy

Director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Caroline Casey

Caroline Casey is a social entrepreneur committed to the social and

economic inclusion of the 1 Billion people with a disability. Caroline works

to Globally transform our understanding of disability and make the basic

human right of inclusion a norm in a world where exclusion is a deeply

ingrained bad habit. Her vision – a world where no one is left, she believes,

will be achieved by inciting business leaders interest and accountability for

inclusion.

Tsitsi Chataika

Dr Tsitsi Chataika is a senior lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, where

she teaches inclusive education. She has monitored and evaluated inclusive

education programmes in Zimbabwe. Tsitsi is a disability mainstreaming

advocate and researcher with international reputation and she serves in

various international editorial boards. She has published several articles in

areas of her interest, including inclusive education, childhood disability

studies and inclusive development. Tsitsi has conducted work in several African countries,

Malaysia and the United Kingdom on disability awareness and inclusive sustainable

development. She has also developed the first gender and disability mainstreaming manual in

Africa.

Weiqin Chen

Weiqin Chen is a full professor in human computer interaction and

universal design of information and communication technology (ICT) at the

Department of Computer Science in Oslo and Akershus University College

of Applied Science (HiOA), Norway. She was the first academic

coordinator for the international master program in universal design of ICT

at HiOA. In the past Weiqin has led and participated in several national and

international projects in technology-enhanced learning and accessibility. Her current research

interests include universal design of learning management systems (LMS), MOOC

accessibility, and novel interaction techniques.

Raffaele Ciambrone

Raffaele Ciambrone works for the Italian Ministry of Education as Director

of the Office for disabled and foreign pupils of the Directorate for students.

The Office he is in charge of carries on policy for inclusion for compulsory

and not compulsory education.

Mathilde de Geus

Mathilde de Geus (1980) is owner/CEO of DGA; a small company for

coaching and materials in field of inclusive education to deaf/hard of

hearing children and youth. Before DGA she worked for 13 years in Deaf

Education as teacher, designer of learning materials and coordinator. At

DGA she focuses on: educational design/planning, allround development

within a child, 21 century skills, visual and self directed learning. She is a

partner for parents and parents associations worldwide. She is involved in

projects for CEFR parents courses Sign Language.

Tom De Moor

Tom De Moor has worked for more than 10 years in IT at VCLB Gent,

Belgium. VCLB Gent is a non-profit organisation that follows 40.000 pupils

(from 3-18y old). These pupils get a free medical checkup every two years.

But VCLB Ghent is also specialised in diagnosing and organising care for

pupils with learning/behaviour/mental disorders. Tom has experience writing

programs in PHP,JavaScript and Java and Python. He is also a member of

the Asterisk VOIP-community

Gregor Demblin

Gregor Demblin is a wheelchair user ever since he was involved in an

accident and is considered an international expert on people with disabilities

in society and the economy. He has won numerous national and international

awards for the construction job placement platform Career Moves. Since

2013 he is Ashoka Fellow. Demblin is Global Associate of the Business

Disability Forum in the UK and has advised the European Commission and

the Czech government on the topic of work and disability.

Koen Deweer

Koen Deweer is a Master in Special Education, he is founder and CEO of the

belgian networkorganization KONEKT that goes on till everyone finds

diversity evident. We do this by letting people with special needs shine in

their talent, by bringing people together and by focussing on growth.

KONEKT works on education, artistic work and sensitizing the society.

Sarah Driver-Jowitt

Sarah has 20 years of international NPO experience focusing on education

and public health. She joined Uhambo with a brief to facilitate the

development of holistic and inclusive programmes in less resourced

communities. Uhambo seeks ways to influence government policy and

practice enabling social inclusion through Empowerment Through Learning

programs, building capacity of stakeholders and ensuring appropriate

assistive device provision.

Brent C. Elder

Brent C. Elder is a doctoral candidate at Syracuse University in Special

Education with Certificates of Advanced Study in Disability Studies and

Leadership in International and Non-Governmental Organizations. He was a

special education teacher at a public elementary school in California from

2004 to 2012. While there, he created a successful inclusive education

program. He also taught courses from 2010 to 2012 in the Teacher

Education Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has collaborated with

the US Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, and the Ministry of Education in Kenya as an

education consultant. He is engaged in ongoing critical disability studies research focused on

the intersections of disability, poverty, and education in post-colonial Kenya.

Catherine Elliott

Catherine Elliott currently holds the position of The Chair of Allied Health

at Child and Adolescent Health Services and Curtin University. The

primary the role of Chair of Allied Health is to generate, apply, and

translate research findings into clinical settings in West Australia to

improve the health and wellbeing of children. Catherine Elliott also holds

the title of the Director of Research in the Department of Paediatric

Rehabilitation, Princess Margaret Hospital. Elliott facilitates strong active

collaboration amongst research, translation, patient care and education programs.

Martin Essl

Mr. Essl is co-owner and member of the board of bauMax Group, one of

Austria’s leading retail companies, which also has a long history of

employing persons with disabilities. In 2007 Martin and Gerda Essl and

their children launched the Essl Foundation, which focuses on social

innovation, social entrepreneurship and persons with disabilities. Its

outstanding projects are the Essl Social Prize and the Zero Project. He is

also engaged in other projects supporting social innovation, like Ashoka.

Joseph Evans

Joseph Evans is an Inclusive Education Advisor with the Swedish

Committee for Afghanistan since 2013. Having his professional training

first as a special needs educator and teacher trainer at Kenya Institute of

Special Education, he then moved to the County of Copenhaggen, and later

to the University of Manchester (UK). He worked for various

organizations: IRC, WIndle Trust (at Kakuma Refugee Camp) VSO (in

Namibia and Ethiopia) JRS (in Thailand), NRC (in Liberia) and now SCA (in Afghanistan).

Joseph Evans also gave lectures at the Africa Nazarene University (2010-2012). His researchs

particularly focus on inclusive education for vulnerable pastoralist children in remote areas.

Ugo Falace

Mr Ugo Falace is a co-founder and CEO of Centro Leonardo, a company

helping students to overcome learning disabilities.

Ugo is passionate about the role technology plays in education and

believes learning should be an amazing experience for all students. Mr.

Falace leads a creative team building interactive textbooks, designed to

include students with learning disabilities, specifically to engage,

challenge and help the way they learn.

Centro Leonardo is shaping a new concept of inclusive textbooks, one where scientific

research meets design.

Helga Fasching

Helga Fasching is Associate Professor at the Department of Education,

Section Education and Development, Research Unit Special Needs and

Inclusive Education at the University of Vienna. Her research topics are

Inclusive Education and Vocational Rehabilitation / Participation with

special focus on transition from education to working life for youths with

disabilities and/or from disadvantaged backgrounds. She has published

over 50 articles and is scientific reporter on disability for ANED

(Academic network of experts on Disability in Europe). Prior to her university career, she was

a vocational integration counsellor (Arbeitsassistenz) with young people with learning

difficulties.

Michael Fembek

After graduating from the Vienna University of Economics, Michael

Fembek (born 1961) joined GEWINN, an Austrian business magazine,

serving between 2000 and 2007 as editor-in-chief. In 2009 he initiated

“Sinnstifter”, a project by Austrian philanthropists, and started the Austrian

CSR-Yearbook. In 2010 he joined the Essl Foundation as programme

manager – with the Zero Project and the Essl Social Prize as its

outstanding projects – and the bauMax group as its head of social affairs.

Walburga Fröhlich

Walburga Fröhlich is co-founder and CEO of the social enterprise

„atempo“. atempo supports disabled people to live as self-determined

members of society with all rights of citizens. The offers of atempo are

disseminated throughout a social franchise network in Germany and

Austria. Walburga Fröhlich has a Master’s degree in social work and social

management and works with people with learning difficulties and

disabilities for more than 25 years.

Friederike Gadow

Friederike is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS).

She holds qualifications in Speech Pathology (Masters), Special Education

(Masters) and Project Management (Cert IV). She has over ten years of

experience in the disability sector providing clinical services, case

management, health promotion and advocacy for people with disability.

She is currently undertaking a PhD through the University of Sydney

entitled “Social Networks of people with intellectual disability in

individual supported living arrangements”.

Alejandra García-Frank

Alejandra García-Frank holds a PhD in Geology (2006) and is Assistant

Professor at the Department of Palaeontology (Universidad Complutense

de Madrid). Her research topics focus on applied palaeontology,

sedimentology and geochemistry. Parallel to research, Alejandra appraises

the educational aspects and disclosure and dissemination of palaeontology

(and geology in general) in society. She is vice-chair of the organization

“Ciencia sin Barreras” which aims to promote science communication among people with

functional diversity and without access to scientific knowledge.

Gopal Garg

Gopal is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Youth4Jobs

Foundation. He was part of the founding team of Employment Generation

Mission, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India where he initiated

innovative skilling programs for the bottom of the pyramid youth. He has a

Master’s degree in management. He build and managed partnerships with

multiple stakeholders, and developed and delivered more than 50

sensitization workshops for corporate to create employment opportunities

for persons with disability. He also published research papers on education, employability and

migrant labour.

Georgina Gaskell

Georgina Gaskell has worked within International Programme

Development for Leonard Cheshire Disability since 2012, developing

disability inclusive programmes across Africa and Asia within the

International Department, coordinating large scale inclusive education and

livelihoods projects and building on Leonard Cheshire Disability’s

inclusive models. Her experience lies in the rights of people with

disabilities, inclusive education of children with disabilities and child safeguarding, having

worked within the voluntary and health sectors for the past seven years.

Ingrid Heindorf

Ingrid is Human Rights Officer of the World Future Council and the

Coordinator of the WFC’s Geneva Liaison Office, from where she

coordinates the Zero Project’s policy research and conference organisation.

Previously, she worked at the UNESCO Chair for Religious Pluralism and

Peace, and collaborated with † Professor Pier Cesare Bori, Chair of Human

Rights and Moral Philosophy, both at the University of Bologna. She holds

a Master’s Degree (with honours) in International Relations.

Klaus Hoeckner

Klaus Hoeckner is working for the Austrian Association supporting the

Blind and Visually Impaired in Vienna as Head of IT and Accessiblity

Consultant. He has been working in the field of ICT-Accessiblity for more

then 10 years one. He is member of different working groups in Austria and

involved in diverse projects regarding ICT and persons with disabilities (i.e.

MathInBraille, Robobraille, AccessibeMaps) but also in mobility-oriented

projects in this field. On the European level he is engaged in the ICT working group of the

EDF.

David Hofer

David is General Manager of the NPO LIFEtool and as such responsible for

the development of Assistive Technologies and Special Education APPs.

He established a non-profit counselling network with centers in Austria,

Serbia and the Czech Republic and initiated 3 very well accepted

Symposiums. David has furthermore managed to draw up a worldwide sales

network for LIFEtool Solutions with about 100 partners in 40 countries. He

holds a degree in Business Education from the Vienna University of Economics.

Frank Hoffmann

He is the founder and CEO of discovering hands®, an innovative German

social business, which trains blind and visually impaired people as Medical

Tactile Examiners (MTEs). Hoffmann holds a medical degree from the

University of Düsseldorf and a degree in Business Administration for

practicing physicians from the Landshut University of Applied Sciences.

Frank Hoffmann has been awarded the “Ashoka-Fellowship” for creating the

discovering hands® system in 2010.

James Hubbard

As the Senior Design Advisor for Universal Design in Products and

Services at Ireland’s National Disability Authority’s, Centre for Excellence

in Universal Design, James works on national standards, policy and

education. He is an expert member of ISO standards committees for

accessibility and is the Convenor of Mandate M/473 JWG 5, and was Co-

chair of NSAI SWiFT 9: 2012 Universal Design for Energy Suppliers and

NSAI I.S. 373: 2013 Universal Design for Customer Engagement in Tourism Services.

Muhammad Monirul Islam

Mr. Islam is working with Plan International Bangladesh as Specialist-

Quality Primary Education for more than five years. He has more than ten

years of progressive experience in the field of Education.

Helene Jarmer

Since 2009: Member of Austrian Parliament. Management Service Center

ÖGS.barrierefrei (www.oegsbarrierefrei.at) since 2005, Gebärdenwelt

(www.gebaerdenwelt.tv) since 2008 and Austria’s first Relay Service since

2012. Since 2003: lectures on Political Education and Culture of the Deaf,

Deaf Education, Psychology and Sociology of the Deaf and Sign Language

Poetry at University of Vienna and PH Vienna. Since 2001: President of the

Austrian Deaf Association & Chief Editor of Austrian Deaf newspaper.

Eduardo Jauregui

Electronic Engineer (´96) and MBA (´04), Eduardo Jauregui started his

professional career in a small company. In 2006 he moved to a multinational

business leader on access control to manage the R&D department. In 2013

he decided to create his own company to make a global business from a

disruptive technology based on eye-tracking technology. Together with

Vicomtech-IK4 Research Laboratory, he founded IRISBOND, to provide an

alternative communication system based on technology with social innovation focus.

Karin Jestin

Karin Jestin holds an MA in International Management from HEC Paris.

Having started her career in 1993 as strategic management consultant at

McKinsey & Company in Paris, Ms Jestin joined the International

Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as special advisor to the

Secretary General. Following that, she worked as Director at FSG Social

Impact Advisors. Until 2015, Ms Jestin led the philanthropic activities of the

private bank Lombard Odier. She is a board member of SwissFoundations, the association of

grant-making foundations in Switzerland.

Svetlana Kekic

Svetlana Kekic is a graduated journalist and electronic engineer. She has

been in public relations business for more than 20 years now. Also, she

teaches English. ICT, and communication accessibility are her main fields of

interest, since she joined school for disabled children. She is an associate on

the project “School Portal Milance”.

Kadrin Kergand

Kadrin Kergand has been involved with student support and counselling

since 1999. She started her professional career as a Career Adviser and the

Head of Career Service at the University of Tartu. Since 2008 she has been

working for the Archimedes Foundation implementing Primus, a programme

for Higher Education Quality Enhancement. One of the six activity areas is

training of adjusting to studies for entrants by providing study and career

counselling services and support services for students with special needs.

Samuel Koch

Samuel Koch, born 1987 was a gym for more than 17 years before he had an

accident 2010. He was rehabilitated 13 month in Switzerland. Nevertheless

he finished his actor studies and is now member of the state Theatre

Darmstadt, Germany. He is author of two books.He supports the

international “wings for live” foundation of Austria and some other

charitable societies.

Rana Kotan

As the Director of Programs and International Relations at Sabancı

Foundation she oversees the Foundation’s programs promoting social

inclusion and equal participation for women, youth and persons with

disabilities. She sits on the Governing Council of the European Financial

Center (EFC) and the national advisory board of the Technical Assistance

for Civil Society Organizations (TACSO). She holds an MBA from Yale

School of Management and a BA in business administration from Bogazici University.

Elisabeth Krön

Elisabeth Krön serves as Project Manager for Specialisterne Austria and is a

trained actress having studied theatre and acting in Vienna. She studied

German and Romance Philology in Vienna and Milan. She is fluent in

German, English and Italian. She has long term experience working as an

instructor for executives and conducts team building workshops for

corporations and entrepreneurs. Elisabeth has worked over the years building

Specialisterne into the company it is today.

Vladimir Lazovski

Vladimir Lazovski worked in the civic sector since 1999, in Macedonia,

Kosovo and Sudan, for the Inclusion of marginalized groups, in particular of

persons with disabilities. He has managed the pioneering effort to introduce

assistive technology in the inclusive (mainstream) education in Macedonia.

The model of work has won several prestigious awards and recognition at

national and international level and is currently piloted in part of neighboring

Serbia. He is the author or co-author of several policy papers and research reports. Since

2009, Vladimir is the executive director of Open the Windows, the only organization in

Macedonia entirely focused on promotion of assistive technology and digital inclusion

Thi Van Nga Le

Sister Le Thi Van Nga, belong to the Thu Duc Congregation of Lovers of the

Holy Cross in Vietnam. She is the Director of the Nhat Hong Center for the

Blind & Visually Impaired. She has studied to get a Master on Special

Education and she has been worked for the blind for 20 years. The Nhat

Hong Center is providing service to more than 300 children with vision

impairment, with various programs including early intervention, inclusive

education, ICT, higher education, multiple disabilities education, career training and

employment.

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee, Ph.D. is the Director of AMAC Accessibility Solutions &

Research Center. He is the author of What About Me? Strategies for

Teaching Misunderstood Learners and Faking It: A Look Into the Mind of a

Creative Learner. Dr. Lee is a renowned speaker, author, researcher and

advocate in the field of learning disability. His work focuses on innovative

methods, including the use of adaptive technology for improving, promoting, and ensuring

accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

Janet Lord

Janet Lord is an international disability rights lawyer with more than 15 years

of experience working globally on advancing the rights of persons with

disabilities. She served as legal counsel to Disabled Peoples’ International

and lead governments during the drafting of the UN a Disability Convention.

She is senior fellow at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability.

Colin Low

Colin Low has been a lifelong campaigner for the rights of blind and disabled

people, especially in the field of education. Former Chair, now Vice

President of RNIB, and President of ICEVI (International Council for

Education of People with Visual Impairment), he taught Law and

Criminology at Leeds University, before becoming Director of the GLC’s

Disability Resource Team. He then carried out research into theories of disability as Senior

Research Fellow at City University, and was appointed to the House of Lords in 2006. He was

a member of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (1994-2007); the

Disability Rights Task Force (1997-1999); and the Disability Rights Commission (2000-

2002), and now chairs the Low Commission on the future of advice and legal support on

social welfare law.

Julia McGeown

Julia has been the lead Inclusive Education Technical Advisor for Handicap

International since 2013. She worked as Speech and Language Therapist for

12 years, mostly in schools, and also worked in Nigeria and Uganda as a

teacher trainer, and lecturer. After a MSC in International Child Health from

UCL, with a focus on disability in development, she developed an interest in

Inclusive Education and focuses on forging stronger links between education and

rehabilitation, in the IE sector.

John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin is the Deputy Minister for the Anglophone Sector of the

New Brunswick (Canada) Department of Education & Early Childhood

Development. His entire career has been spent in the field of public

education, first as a teacher, and subsequently as a Director of Education,

District Superintendent, Assistant Deputy Minister and Deputy Minister. He

is a strong champion for the rights of all students through the establishment of an inclusive

education environment, and was instrumental in the development of the province’s policy

which ensures all children and youth have a meaningful place in their neighborhood schools.

Amihai Miron

Amihai Miron is the co-founder and CEO of User1st, a cloud-based

accessibility compliance system. Miron was born in 1973 in Herzliya, Israel,

to Zvi Miron, a Holocaust survivor and an executive civilian in the Israeli

Defense Forces, and Ella Miron, an international artist. In 1995, Miron began

working with disabled school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. By

1996, Miron was managing over 40 students across 15 schools throughout Jerusalem. Prior to

co-founding User1st in 2012, Miron was employee #5 at SuperDerivatives (NYSE: ICE), a

financial services company acquired by the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. In 2014,

Miron was awarded the Prime Minister Prize for Entrepreneurship. Miron holds an MBA

from Ono Academy, and earned his BA in Design from Bezalel Art Design School.

Maria Liliana Mor

Mrs. Mor leads the implementation of the POETA Social Franchise Model

and multi-sector social development projects in Latin America for the Trust

for the Americas-OAS. She earned a B.A in Government and Foreign Affairs

from la Universidad Externado de Colombia, she holds a master degree in

Public Administration and International Development Management from

American University. Maria has ten years of experience in consulting and project

management on international development. She has worked for the Inter-American

Development Bank, the Pan-America Health Organization and the World Bank and in the

non-profit field. Her knowledge and experience in ICT for development focus on vulnerable

communities, community-based development, humanitarian assistance and workforce

development.

Mariagiulia Morlacchi

Mariagiulia is a primary school teacher, musician and expert in Information

& Communication Technology. In recent years, she has studied the issues

related to Autism Spectrum Disorders. The basic idea of her job is to enable

global educational initiatives by using music as part of inclusive education,

multichannel and multi-sensory practice. The music represents to her an

essential channel of communication and establishes a systematic approach

within each course, in order to truly inclusive teaching and motivating.

Georgette Mulheir

In 2007 she joined the Lumos Foundation. For more than two decades, in 23

countries, Georgette has led programmes to transform (and at times save) the

lives of thousands of disadvantaged and disabled children. She pioneered a

model of ‘deinstitutionalisation’ (DI) now followed by many governments,

preventing the separation of children from families; returning children from

so-called ‘orphanages’ to families; and shifting finances from harmful institutions to

community support for children and families.

Auberon Jeleel Odoom

Mr. Auberon Jeleel Odoom is a Registered Organisation Development

Practitioner with the International Society for Organisation Development

and Change (USA). He is also a trained development practitioner, working

as the National Co-ordinator of Inclusion Ghana. He is a webmaster and has

completed both his Postgraduate Diploma and a Master of Arts Degree in

Organisation Development from the University of Cape Coast/ OCIC, UK.

He is currently the board secretaries of the Autism Society of West Africa and the Ghana

Civil Society Platform for Social Protection. He is also a member of the board of directors for

Inclusion Africa, the Ghana Federation of the Disabled and an expert representing the Africa

Disability Alliance, and the secretary to Ghana’s Inclusive Education Technical Working

Group.

Sarel Oren Ohana

Founder and CEO of “Pay It Forward In Sign Language” at Access Israel.

Sarel was chosen to be Barak Obama’s personal sign language interpreter

during his first visit to Israel. The “Pay It Forward in Sign Language”

project has joined Access Israel, and Sarel is currently a member of the

management team.

Joni Oyserman

Joni Oyserman (MA) is owner and CEO of Signhands; a company for

teaching, training, developing educational materials and research. She also

works as a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and is Google for

Education Certified Innovator. Her work focuses on (sign) language

linguistic research, e-learning, education/curriculum and L1/L2 acquisition.

This connected with CEFR and International Sign. She is one of the authors

of the first CEFR descriptors for Sign Languages, published August 2013 in the Netherlands.

She is involved in various CEFR-projects for parent education.

Nevena Peneva

Nevena Peneva is member of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’

Equality Sector. Her areas of expertise with respect to the FRA’s work

include: rights of people with disabilities, children with disabilities and

issues of violence and abuse, fundamental rights indicators and socio-legal

research. Before joining the FRA, she managed projects related to diversity

and integration, human rights and youth participation in NGOs in Bulgaria

and Austria. She studied politics and sociology and holds a Master degree in international

relations and a postgraduate degree in European studies.

Jelena Perović

Jelena Perović has a PhD in Communications Science from the Sapienza

University of Rome, Italy. She has been working for UNICEF Montenegro

as the Communication Officer since 2007. Previously, she worked for Save

the Children.

Jyrki Pinomaa

Jyrki Pinomaa is nationally and internationally active on disability field

since 1986, being a father two sons with multiple disabilities. He was

president of Inclusion Finland for 5 years and is Board Member of Inclusion

Europe since 2011. He works as CEO in Aspa Foundation, founded by 13

Finnish disability organizations to provide housing services for people with

disabilities. Aspa owns 1.000 accessible apartments in Finland and gives

daily support to almost 2.000 persons with disabilities.

Birendra Raj Pokharel

As a founder chairperson of Action on Disability Rights and Development-

Nepal, Mr. Birendra Raj Pokharel has immense experiences of pushing

ratification of CRPD in Nepal and promoted disability inclusive

development. He has prepared Disability rights holistic monitoring report in

Nepal. He has adopted Accessible publishing platform through DAISY and

Epub and implemented the Capacity Building project of Accessible Books Consortium under

WIPO and launched the ELECTS campaign, Inclusive Education.

Jaco Rademeyer

Jaco Rademeyer obtained his BSc Computer Science degree in 2001 and later

became a director of ADJ Electronics. With a strong focus on inclusivity and

an inventive spirit Jaco and his colleagues develops solutions for, among

others, the National Institute for the Deaf and they were priviledged to meet

president Nelson Mandela and hand him one of their solutions. ADJ

Electronics is an Intel Education Alliance Partner and in 2014 Jaco was invited as a speaker at

the African Edu-Week.

Richard Rieser

A disabled teacher, author, filmmaker, trainer and consultant on inclusive

education and disability equality over 30 years. Represented the UK

Disability Movement at the UN and helped frame UNCRPD especially

Article 24. Provides training and consultancy in many countries including

India, Kenya, Uganda, Southern Africa, South Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Du Bai,

Argentina, across European Union and Russia. Authored Implementing Inclusive Education

for Commonwealth Secretariat (2012), Disability Equality in the Classroom (1990),

Altogether Better Comic Relief (1994) Disabling Imagery, British Film Institute (2004).

Activist involved in many advocacy and rights organisations.

Hervé Roqueplan

With a teacher background and 20 years of experience in education and

development, Hervé has worked with non-governmental organizations in

Cambodia since 2002. He has been first involved in the field of Community

Based Rehabilitation for Children with Intellectual Disabilities. Since 2012,

he is collaborating with Krousar Thmey, the first Cambodian foundation for

underprivileged children and the only organization in the country providing

a comprehensive education (from kindergarten to high school) for Blind or Deaf children.

Birgit Rothenberg

Dr. Birgit Rothenberg is an activist of the German independent living

movement and member of “disability studies in Deutschland”. She started in

1982 to build up a counseling service for students with disabilities at the

University of Dortmund. Over the years the counseling service is completed

to a resource center for both students with disabilities in higher education and

the academic staff of the TU Dortmund University and she is working now as department

head of this department disability and studies (DoBuS) at the Center for Higher Education at

TU Dortmund University.

Wilson Ruvere

Wilson Ruvere is currently the National Executive Director of Jairos Jiri

Association responsible for managing all the operations of the organisation in

Zimbabwe. He holds a Diploma in Business Studies (UZ) and a Bachelor of

Education Special Education (UZ). His innovative practices improved the

service delivery to people with disabilities.

Artemi Sakellariadisr

Artemi is Director of the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE), a

UK charity that works to promote equality and eliminate discrimination in

education. She began her career as a special educator and taught in special

schools for many years, before focusing on the development of more

inclusive education. Artemi has also worked in local authority support

services and in further and higher education. She has presented at conferences and published

widely, mostly on disability equality.

Bernhard Schmid

Bernhard Schmid is Secretary General of Lebenshilfe Vienna, Vice President

of Lebenshilfe Austria, Head of Family member Council of Lebenshilfe

Austria. He is also an advocate for people with intellectual disabilities and

their families, and an expert for inclusive education. Born in 1963, married, 3

children, one of them a son with Down-Syndrome.

Susan Scott-Parker

Susan Scott-Parker is the Founder and Chief Executive of Business Disability

Forum. It is the world’s leading employers’ organisation working to the

mutual benefit of business and people with disabilities. Susan has an

international reputation as an authoritative advocate for the business

advantages of disability confidence. She is on the Expert Advisory Panels of

the Essl Foundation in Vienna, and Work Focus Australia.

Umesh Sharma

Umesh Sharma is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash

University, Australia. He is the chief co-editor of the Australasian Journal of

Special Education. He is the author of about 100 academic articles, book

chapters and edited books on inclusive education. Umesh has written policy

documents for Ministries of Education in Australia, Bangladesh, India,

Solomon Islands, and New Zealand on education of children with disabilities. He is leading a

large international project aimed at developing a set of inclusive education indicators. He was

the recipient of Dean’s award for Excellence in Innovation and External Collaboration.

Martha Stickings

Martha Stickings works as a researcher managing projects in the Equality

Sector of FRA’s Equality and Citizens’ Rights Department. Her areas of

expertise include: the rights of persons with disabilities, discrimination on the

grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity and social research and

analysis. Prior to joining FRA, she held a number of research-related roles in

international organisations and NGOs. She studied politics and sociology and holds an MA in

international studies.

Jennifer Stonemeier

Jenny has spent her career working with and on behalf of children and adults

with disabilities; first as a music therapist with children and adults with

disabilities in educational and community settings, then as an advocate and

organizer. She currently serves as the Director of Education Policy with

TASH—a national disability advocacy organization advocating for the human

rights and inclusion for people with significant disabilities and support needs—where her

work focuses primarily on TASH’s partnership to support the policy alignment work with the

SWIFT Center, the national technical assistance center to build school wide inclusive

practices that improve the academic and behavioral outcomes for all children.

Isabelle Turmaine

Isabelle Turmaine is the Director of Information Projects and Services of the

International Association of Universities (IAU), a Non-Governmental

Organization, located in Paris, France representing higher education

institutions and organizations from 120 countries. She was in charge of

different projects which revolve around digital literacy, e-accessibility, Open

Educational Resources (OER), and higher education for the United Nations’ Education For

All (EFA) initiative. She is now in the process of developing the new IAU ICT strategy and

activities. Prior to joining IAU, she was in charge of the implementation, in Africa, of e-

campuses for the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF). She holds a post-graduate

diploma in information technologies.

Agnes van Wijnen

Agnes van Wijnen is projectleader of In1school since the project started in

2014. Educated as a social worker and political scientist, living with chronic

pain, she works with her company Visie in Uitvoering as an independent

strategic advisor, researcher and developer of projects, policy and practical

instruments in the disability human rights field. Besides being an active member of the

Coalition for Inclusion network and the core Group of the Dutch Alliance for Ratification and

Implementation of the CRPD, she is currently the chair of DCDD, the Dutch Coalition on

Disability and Development.

Yves Veulliet

Yves started his career in IBM in 1992, and was successivly appointed as

Information Officer for IBM Governmental Programs Europe in 1997, EU

projects coordinator in 2003, Program Manager for Persons with Disabilities

with the IBM Europe Middle East Africa Diversity team in 2005, Cross

Generational Program Manager in 2007, Diversity leader of IBM Canada in

2011 and Global Disability & Inclusion Program Manager in 2014. He is also the author of a

book “Les Roues de l’Infortune” in which he explains, through his own experience, what it

means to become disabled after an accident and how to make other people, including

employers, disability confident.

Jakob Von Uexkull

Jakob von Uexkull is the founder of the World Future Council (2007), which is

a operating partner of the Zero Project since 2010. Jakob also founded the

Right Livelihood Award (1980), often referred to as the ‘Alternative Nobel

Prize’. As a past Member of the European Parliament (1987-89) he served on

the Political Affairs Committee and later on the UNESCO Commission on

Human Duties and Responsibilities (1998-2000). Jakob has also served on the Board of

Greenpeace, Germany, as well as the Council of Governance of Transparency International.

He lectures widely on environment, justice and peace issues, and received numerous awards.

Jan Wulf-Schnabel

Jan Wulf-Schnabel (PhD) is Head of Project „Inklusive Bildung” (Inclusion

Education) at the Drachensee Foundation in Kiel (North Germany). Within a

three-year qualification the project enable six people with so-called

„intellectual disabilities” to convey their own expertise in universities. As

qualified people they teach competently about their daily lives with disabilities

to future professional and managerial staff. Students jointly learn about the lives, needs and

subjective perceptions by people with disabilities.

Luk Zelderloo

Luk Zelderloo has been professionally active in the disability sector for more

than 30 years. For the last 13 years, Mr Zelderloo has been active on the

European level as well. He is one of the founding fathers of EASPD. He is the

President of Cebob – De Link- a service providing organization & training

centre in Flanders providing vocational training and job coaching for persons

with disabilities, and a Board member of the Global Partnership for Disability and

Development (GPDD).