Rate this article:
Average rating:
Total votes: 1
Knoxville native Rebecca Leigh Ogle turned her own fight for accessibility into a career helping others. Ogle was the executive director of the Presidential Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities (1998 to 2001), which was established to create a national policy to integrate adults with disabilities into the general workforce. Now she is a disability policy consultant for groups like United Cerebral Palsy, the Democratic National Committee and the National Telecommuting Institute.
She talks about her longtime career as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Monster: How did you become involved in advocacy work?
Rebecca Leigh Ogle: Being a person with a disability, it's been a lifelong job. I was born with spina bifida in 1956. There were no laws on the books that said [the schools] had to provide an appropriate education. My mom was constantly at the school advocating for me. Then when you add the medical community into the mix, they [too] require a whole set of advocacy skills. By 18, my mom said, "Here, you learn to deal with the system."
I came to Washington in the late '80s and found work with the Spina Bifida Association. I turned my lifelong skills that I had utilized to advocate for myself into skills that could make me an income.
M: What career accomplishments are you most proud of?
RLO: I have been involved in a unique time in our history. I was there when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed [in 1990]. For me, this was the first time to be around others with disabilities. To come to Washington when so many people with disabilities who were successful and doing things with their lives and forged together for common goals was one of the most fantastic times of my life.
After the ADA passed, I worked on the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991. In 1993, I found myself working on the 1993 Clinton-Gore presidential inauguration -- the most inclusive ceremonies to date. I am extremely proud of the work that the disability community did around the debate on healthcare reform in the mid-'90s.
I cannot begin to express my pride for the work the Presidential Taskforce on Employment of Adults with Disabilities was able to accomplish. Our mandate was broad, and every year we produced a report for the president outlining the findings and recommendations on how to eliminate the barriers to employment for adults with disabilities.
One highlight of the task force work was bringing parity to people with physical and psychiatric disabilities in hiring practices in the federal government. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 was a major accomplishment. Probably most critical was the inclusion of youth with disabilities into the mandate of the work we did and the work the government continues to do.
M: Where are people with disabilities making the biggest strides in the workplace?
RLO: The technological advances in wheelchairs, computers and adaptive technologies are amazing.
M: What's the key to being a successful advocate?
RLO: Sheer and unequivocal determination and persistence, no tolerance for the word “no” and pushing the envelope. I'm never afraid to buck the system.
