Rebecca Cokley

Rebecca Hare Cokley
Born Rebecca A. Hare
(1978-12-04)December 4, 1978
California, U.S.
Residence Washington, District of Columbia
Nationality American
Education University of California Santa Cruz
Spouse(s)
Patrick Cokley (m. 2008)
Children Jackson Cokley
Kaya Cokley
Rebecca Cokley (A woman with red hair and freckles standing against a red brick wall.)

Rebecca Hare Cokley (born December 4, 1978) is an American disability rights activist and public speaker who is currently the Senior Fellow for the Center for American Progress working on disability policy.[1] She previously served as the Executive Director of the National Council on Disability.[2]

Early life

Rebecca Hare was born in California. She was born with achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism.[3] Both of her parents were born with the same kind of dwarfism and met at a Little People of America convention in the 1970s.[4] Her father was William T. Hare, son of James Hare, a segregationist judge from Alabama.

She was educated at the University of California Santa Cruz, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science in 2001.[5]

Advocacy career

Cokley began her career at the Institute for Educational Leadership where she worked for five years building tools and resources to empower and educate youth with disabilities and their adult allies.[6] Cokley participated in the Education Policy Fellowship Program in 2006.[7]

From 2009 to 2013, Cokley served as an appointee in the administration of President Barack Obama after being recruited by her life-long friend and mentor Paul Steven Miller.[8] She first served as Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. She then served as Director of Priority Placement for Public Engagement in the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House where she was responsible for outreach to diversity and minority organizations to recruit professionals to the administration. She last served as Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy at the Administration for Community Living at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[9]

On April 16, 2013, she became the Executive Director of the National Council on Disability by appointment of NCD Chairperson Jeff Rosen.[9][10] Under her tenure, NCD focused on major civil rights issues of the day including police violence,[11] mental health services for students in postsecondary education,[12] and disproportionality of students of color with disabilities in identification and discipline in education.

Awards and recognition

In 2015, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the National Disability Mentoring Coalition named Cokley into the inaugural Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.[13] She was also a recipient of the Frank Harkin Memorial Award by the National Council on Independent Living.[14]

Cokley has consulted or given expert testimony to the National Council on Independent Living, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the World Bank, the Social Security Administration's Ticket to Work Advisory panel, the President's Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disability, and the committee for the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization.[5]

Her publications include "Youth Development and Youth Leadership: A Background Paper" from the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, articles on civic engagement for the newsletter Impact, "the 411 on Disability Disclosure," "Paving the Way to Work: A Guide to Career-Focused Mentoring," and various policy agendas for the National Youth Leadership Network.[5]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ "Rebecca Cokley Archives - Center for American Progress". Center for American Progress. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  2. ↑ "NCD Welcomes Rebecca Cokley as Executive Director | NCD.gov". www.ncd.gov. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  3. ↑ Travis, Amber. "A Mom with a Disability Advocates for Others". Easterseals. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "My Family Cokley". UNDERSTANDING DWARFISM. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  5. 1 2 3 "About Rebecca Hare Cokley". IT'S OUR STORY Answers from America's Disability Activists. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "People We Love: Rebecca Cokley". Disability Visibility Project. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Organizer's Forum: Tuesday, March 15th – Topic: Women, Gender and the Disability Rights Movement". National Disability Leadership Alliance. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  8. ↑ Cokley, Rebecca. "Together we make a family". CNN. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  9. 1 2 "National Council on Disability Welcomes Rebecca Cokley as Executive Director". PR Newswire. National Council on Disability. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "D.C. appointments for the week of April 29". Washington Post. 28 April 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  11. ↑ Carter-Long, David M. Perry and Lawrence. "How Misunderstanding Disability Leads to Police Violence". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  12. ↑ (PDF) https://ncd.gov/sites/default/files/NCD_Mental_Health_Report_508_0.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ "Rebecca Cokley, National Council on Disability". Partners for Youth with Disabilities. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "Wrap Up: NCIL 2015 Annual Conference on Independent Living". the advocacy monitor. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2017.


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