Disability/Population Represented: Visually impaired (low vision) and mobility impaired (below the knee amputee)

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: Sarah has personally experienced barriers to accessibility and employment and she wants to make Knoxville a more disability-inclusive place.

Disability/Population Represented: People who use wheelchairs

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: Shazi has a spinal cord injury as the result of a car crash which has left her as a T-3 paraplegic since the age of 18. She often comes across instances where it looks like someone has tried to make an accommodation for those with disabilities, but the actual execution of the accommodation was lacking. She thinks she can provide some insight on issues in our community that can be easily corrected, as well as those that may need a little more planning.

Disability/Population Represented: All disability groups and all ages

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: Anna is the Program and Quality Director for Disability Rights Tennessee (DRT) and the Director of Advocacy for the East Tennessee Regional Office. Currently, DRT is focused on efforts within the areas of employment, education, programmatic access, physical access, voting, as well as investigation and response to abuse and neglect of individuals with disabilities in facilities and community settings. She is nationally certified as an interpreter by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Anna welcomes the opportunity to work with Knox County as it begins new initiatives within the disability community.

Disability/Population Represented: All of Sandra’s professional career has been working with persons with disabilities – persons who are blind or visually impaired, senior citizens, persons with mental illness. She has recently acquired a traumatic brain injury.

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: The two greatest barriers to inclusion for persons who are blind or visually impaired are access to the written word and transportation. These are two of her greatest passions.

Disability/Population Represented: Veterans, traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, spinal cord injury and PTSD

Why he wants to serve on DAGWould?: Mark would be honored to serve as a member and could offer insight into navigating with multiple disabilities at once.

Disability/Population Represented: Multiple Sclerosis

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: Nancy is retired and has spent her career in planning and workforce development, and has served on many professional committees at the local, state and national level. She feels that we are missing the benefits of an important human resource when accessibility is limited to healthy people. There are many access challenges that are difficult to overcome, and priorities have to be set to address most of them, but she believes we can make progress towards more access for all.

Disability/Population Represented: Rare genetic disease (AR Syndrome) and visually impaired/blind community

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: Katherine is the Interim Director of disABILITY Resource Center. She has worked there for over 18 years providing assistance to individual clients to reach their personal and profession goals and dreams. In addition, she has developed and facilitated disability etiquette, awareness and ADA trainings for businesses, universities, school systems, and other professional entities. She knows that barrier issues, whether attitudinal or physical, cannot be resolved quickly. Katherine has the passion to make our community disability friendly and to collaborate with county officials, departments, and others to make Knox County one of the most desirable locations for all people to live, work and play.

Disability/Population Represented: Everyone with adaptive technology needs

Why he wants to serve on DAGWould?: Stanley wants to represent individuals with disabilities as their neighbor and to be in a learning community with the mission of giving voice to everyone.

Disability/Population Represented: Senior citizens

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: April is around and interacts with seniors on a daily basis at the Senior Centers and she works with various community organizations and businesses. April sees firsthand and listens to what senior issues and needs are in the community.

Disability/Population Represented: Everyone in Knox County with a disability

Why she wants to serve on DAGWould?: Carly is passionate about improving access and inclusion within all areas of Knox County. As an outdoor enthusiast, Carly, holds a special interest in creating outdoor spaces and recreation opportunities for people with mobility impairments. Carly would like to help remove barriers and inequalities across the board for people with disabilities.