2011 - 12 Annual American Sign Language / Deaf Culture Lecture Series

Date: Thursday January 26, 2012
Where: Minor Hall auditorium (Room 125)
Time: 6:00 p.m.

You are cordially invited to a special presentation at UVA in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.!

Click Picture: Claudia L Gordon Esq.
"Justice Everywhere: Civil Rights and the Disability Community"

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, "Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come." For people with disabilities, the urge for freedom led to the historic passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. This presentation will review the ADA, including what led to its passage, its effects, and what remains to be done. 

Originally from Jamaica, Claudia L. Gordon is one of the first deaf black women attorneys in the nation.  She became deaf at age eight and attended the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York City.  She then earned her B.A. from Howard University and her J.D. from the American University School of Law.  Gordon was a senior policy advisor with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Now she serves as Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

Event link: http://www.virginia.edu/mlk/claudia_gordon.html