Commissioner Chai R. Feldblum, of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, will receive the American Bar Association's Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights. The ABA Commission on Disability Rights selected Feldblum for her commitment and service as a disability rights advocate.
Created in 1999, the award honors the work of Paul G. Hearne, a lawyer born with connective tissue disorder who became a leader in the disability rights movement. The award, co-sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Co., will be presented at the commission's Reception for Lawyers with Disabilities during the 2015 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The reception, sponsored by Wal-Mart, will take place Monday, Aug.3, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
Feldblum has served on the EEOC since 2010, having been nominated by President Barack Obama for a term that ended in July 1, 2013. She was nominated and confirmed for a second term ending July 1, 2018.
Prior to her EEOC appointment, Feldblum was a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where she has taught since 1991. At Georgetown, she founded the Law Center's Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, which represented clients such as Catholic Charities USA, the National Disability Rights Network, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. She also founded and co-directed Workplace Flexibility 2010, a policy enterprise focused on finding common ground between employers and employees on workplace flexibility issues.
As Legislative Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union from 1988-9191, Feldblum played a leading role in helping to draft and negotiate the ground-breaking Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. She was also instrumental in drafting and negotiating the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.
Feldblum has also worked to advance lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and was one of the drafters of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.
Published: Tue, Jun 30, 2015
