Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Rebecca Cokley breaks down the Americans with Disabilities Act, discusses its significance to the 20% of Americans who have disabilities, and illuminates the widespread prejudice and unequal playing field that disabled Americans face in all aspects of life to this day. Rebecca Cokley just joined the Center for American Progress as the Senior Fellow for Disability Policy after wrapping up 4 years as the Executive Director of the National Council on Disability, an independent agency charged with advising Congress and the White House on issues of national disability public policy. She joined NCD in 2013 after serving 4 years in the Obama Administration including time at the Departments of Education, Health & Human Services, and a successful stint at the White House where she oversaw diversity and inclusion efforts. Rebecca got her feet wet in advocacy while working at the Institute for Educational Leadership for five years (04-09), building a number of tools and resources designed to empower and educate youth with disabilities and their adult allies. She has spent the last 15 years helping make stronger and deeper connections across civil rights communities and continues to see cross-movement solidarity as the only means of surviving these next years. Rebecca serves on the board of directors for Common Cause and the ACLU of the National Capital Region. In 2017 she and her family were featured as part of CNN’s #ToBeMe series. In 2015 she was inducted into the inaugural class of the Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Frank Harkin Memorial Award by the National Council on Independent Living. She is a Rockwood Leading From the Inside Out Fellow (2016-17). In 2008 she served on the leadership of the first ever Presidential Campaign Disability Policy Advisory Board, for then-Senator Barack Obama. She has spoken at Netroots Nation, New York City Comic-Con, and the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights. Rebecca has a B.A in Politics from the University of California Santa Cruz, is the proud spouse of Patrick and mother of Jackson and Kaya. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx