Officers
Kirt Toombs, President– Kirt Toombs is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eastern Oregon Center of Independent Living (EOCIL) and began his employment in January 2000. Kirt is a member of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. He is an alumnus of the University of San Francisco (USF), where he was awarded a Master of Management and Disability Services degree. Kirt has also studied at the University of Ireland-Galway, Department of International Disability Law & Policy, through its summer program. Kirt has extensive educational and professional experience in program design, implementation, and evaluation. Since 1986, Kirt has been a fierce advocate of the Independent Living Movement, participating at both the practitioner and researcher levels. Kirt has over two decades of public administration experience, all of which are in the service of the cross-disability community.
Janet Lord, Vice President – Janet Lord is the Executive Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Baltimore. She served as chief legal counsel to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She holds a senior research fellowship at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, where she works to address gaps in international law, policy, and practice on the rights of persons with disabilities and she teaches international disability law and international humanitarian law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.
She has spent her career as an international human rights lawyer working globally to advance the rights of persons with disabilities. A lead drafter of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she provided legal counsel during the treaty negotiations to governments, the United Nations and civil society organizations throughout the five-year drafting process. She continues to provide legal counsel on international human rights law and inclusive development to the World Bank, the United Nations Office of Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protection, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of State, organizations of persons with disabilities and numerous other stakeholders. She has published books, journal articles, book chapters and monographs on a variety of international public law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and disability law issues. Her recent scholarship appears in the American Journal of International Law, the Harvard Journal of International Law, the Virginia Journal of International Law, the International Review of the Red Cross, and the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law.
She holds degrees from Kenyon College, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and the George Washington University Law School. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Kenyon College for her work in advancing international disability rights and disability-inclusive development. She is a member of the New York Bar.
Dr. Patricia Morrissey, Vice President – Patricia Morrissey is chair of the Hawaii Statewide Elections Accessibility Needs Advisory Committee and immediate past chair of USICD. She also serves on the boards of two nonprofits, Learning and Achievement in Disabilities of Hawaii and Fuller Lives, and is a policy fellow with the Eastern Oregon Center for Independent Living. She is an active member of two groups promoting preservation of disability history and culture and the creation of a national museum devoted to disability history and culture. In 2018, she left her position as director of the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Before going to Hawaii in 2016, she served as Commissioner of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Over 20 years she served in senior staff positions in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government and in both Houses of Congress. She played a primary role in drafting federal disability legislation from 1981 through 2000. While serving in the George W. Bush Administration, she was part of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. when the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was being drafted. She has keen interest in working with others, especially those with disabilities, to promote meaningful engagement of people with disabilities in all aspects of society..
Andrew Gurza, Secretary – Andrew Gurza has an M.A. in Legal Studies from Carleton University. He has been working as a keynote speaker since 2012, championing the needs of queer disabled people to ensure they are appropriately represented. Andrew hosts an award-winning podcast, Disability After Dark, where he interviews disabled people. From 2020-2024, Andrew was the Chief Disability Officer and co-founder of a company created to bring sex toys to disabled people. He works closely with his non-disabled sister and learned how to build a bridge between disabled and non-disabled people.
Directors
Stephanie Ortoleva – Stephanie Ortoleva is an international human rights lawyer, researcher and consultant and Founder of Women Enabled, Inc., a NGO which educates and advocates for the rights of all women and persons with disabilities with a special focus on women and girls with disabilities through collaborations with organizations of women and girls with disabilities around the world.
Susan Parker – Susan Parker has more than 30 years of executive experience gained through appointments by state governors, U.S. presidents, local and international boards of directors to better help people with disabilities worldwide. The former Secretary-General of RI (1993-1998), Parker’s experiences as a New England ski racer and instructor pointed her toward a career in disability advocacy, which included assisting disabled soldiers from armed conflicts in Vietnam, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the early 1990s, Parker served as the Disability Commissioner of the U.S. Social Security Administration, opening up disability benefits to 465,000 U.S. children. From 2002-2011, she joined in the U.S. Department of Labor as the Disability Policy Director and helped create the national Disability Unemployment Statistic. Prior to the federal level, Parker held top leadership posts in two state governments: the State of Maine, Commissioner, Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation; and the State of New Hampshire, Executive Director of the Developmental Disabilities Council. From 1998 to 2001, Parker was the Senior Policy Officer, Disability at the International Labour Organization in Geneva. She holds the Master of Social Work and Master of Social Planning degrees from Boston College School of Social Work and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Steve Taylor – Steve Taylor is a person with a disability who has extensive knowledge of assistive technology, particularly in ensuring ADA compliance for businesses, government spaces, and Federal programs. His background aligns with USICD’s mission to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities and to contribute to efforts around helping to shape policies that impact disability inclusion on a global scale. He has demonstrated a solid commitment to USICD and inclusivity, particularly with his patented ADA-compliant Point-of-Sale solutions.
Jakeel Abdullah– Jakeel Abdullah is a seasoned advocate with a decade of experience in disability rights and a proven track record of working on pivotal legislative efforts that have become laws benefiting the disability community. Their advocacy spans not only the disability sector but also the Black and LGBTQ+ communities, with a deep commitment to advancing equity for all marginalized groups. Currently interning with the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Visitors, Jakeel is further honing their passion for international relations professionally, staying connected globally through their citizen diplomacy. Having spent their youth and early adulthood supporting the disabled and marginalized communities, Jakeel remains a leader with proven in-depth experience. Their work is powered by a vision and drive of inclusivity. Jakeel’s comprehensive background, from local leadership to international advocacy, positions them as an articulate and informed voice for change.