Yesterday Barack Obama nominated Jonathan M. Young, a former Messiah College history major, as the Chair of the National Council on Disability. Here is the press release:
December 16, 2009
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to
nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:
Jonathan M. Young, Chair, National Council on Disability
President Obama said, “I am grateful that these fine individuals have
chosen to serve in my administration. They will bring a depth of
experience and valued perspective to their roles, and I look forward to
working with them in the months and years ahead.”
Jonathan M. Young is Senior Counsel at FoxKiser LLP, and co-founder and
Vice Chair of the Committee on Disability Power & Pride. Before law
school he served in the Executive Office of the President (1998-2001),
where he led several disability policy initiatives, provided counsel on
disability policy, delivered numerous keynote addresses on behalf of the
White House, and founded Disability Mentoring Day. At the NRH Center for
Health and Disability Research (1996-1998), he authored Equality of
Opportunity, a 1997 NCD publication that became the foundation for his
2002 dissertation on the disability rights movement. Awards include the
1987 NRH Victory Award(r) and the 2000 USJC Ten Outstanding Young
Americans Award. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.D. and
M.A. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
and a B.A. from Messiah College. Mr. Young is partially paralyzed from
a spinal cord injury.
I am sure that the Public Relations folks at Messiah are keeping Dr. Young busy right now, but hopefully, somewhere down the road, we can interview him to see just how his training in history has made him a better lawyer and advocate for disability-related causes.
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