Voorde recently returned to her hometown of South Bend, Indiana. In an interview she makes a point that there was a deaf intern working in the White House before her, and that there are currently other deaf people working in less prestigious positions in the White House, Claudia Gordon has been active in both the black deaf community and the broader disability community. Also, mentoring youth and young adults with disabilities keeps me motivated. I did not realize until years later that a woman who everyone in my town knew as dummy, and who children my age would incessantly harass with stone throwing, was deaf. Princess (she/her-bisexual) is a Brooklyn born Megan Fox truther, who loves Sailor Moon, mythology, and diversity within sci-fi/fantasy. $140 per post at $7/CPM. Deseo toda la felicidad del mundo para ti , alegrias , risas y mucha" Her mother immigrated to the South Bronx, in New York, so that she could earn a better living, and planned to reunite with her children as soon as she could. Leave a comment 17 Likes, 1 Comments - Virna L Torres (@torresvirnal) on Instagram: "Happy Birthday Claudia!!! Looking back, I wish I knew her real name. She provides advice and technical assistance to the leadership and components of DHS that are geared towards implementation and enforcement of disability civil rights laws, regulations, and Executive Orders. Being around other deaf children, and being embraced by a community taught Gordon that her disability was not the end of the road. [18], Gordon has been active in both the black deaf community and the cross disability community. She was one of the only approximately fifty qualified deaf lawyers in the U.S. and Canada back then. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. #ESQ @tmobile DEI #Obama44 Alum @Howard1867 Alum #AlphaMadeDST #ProudJamaican #Fashionista #TEDx A colleague of Katz-Hernandez is Claudia Gordon, the first deaf African-American female attorney in the United States. What inspired you to pursue your field of interest? Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South by Mary Herring Wright The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure by Carolyn McCaskill, (via DeafPeople, image: Exchange Photos via Flikr). The information provided by WeCo (The Wehrman Collaborative, LLC) is not intended or designed to be used as, or take the place of, legal advice. View the profiles of people named Claudia Kordon. She'll tell you she's the first Black, deaf woman attorney in the United States. It opened up a new world for her. August 30, 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/meet-women-administration-claudia-gordon, Copyright 1995-2023 Jolanta Lapiak. Many shrugged off my grand intention as wishful thinking. Not being around or in a community that supported deafness became a problem: I thought I was the only deaf person in the world. In Jamaica, deaf and disabled persons are stigmatized and Gordon remembered that a deaf woman who lived in the area was called dummy, by local children who threw rocks at her. She was also active in sports, student organizations, and community activities. [10] While at WCL, she bagged the Myers Law Scholarship twice as well as the J. Franklin Bourne Scholarship. At the age of 74, she is still teaching today. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. He is currently employed with the Native American Disability Law Center as the Community and Government Liaison engaged in Disability Systems Advocacy with the Navajo Nation and other Native American Tribes. Secretary Hilda Solis has laid out a pretty straightforward mission for our department: Good Jobs for Everyone. My work at Labor is with an agency called the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. [28], Gordon is a member of organizations, such as the Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority[34], Gordon is a public speaker on a broad range of topics primarily pertaining to disability civil rights law, non-discrimination and equal access; grassroots leadership and advocacy; and disability, youth and women empowerment. Claudia Gordon a trailblazer who reminds us that immigrants, they get the job done. She was a woman of profound faith and perseverance up until the very day she lost her six year battle with ovarian cancer in 2000. Gordon shared her ongoing quest to create spaces in society for seldom-heard voices in her TEDx Talk: Owning Otherness.[35]. And I know they are proud, patient and ready to welcome me home when this tour of duty, in service of our country, is done. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy Kathleen Martinez. [6][7][5][8], When she was eleven, Gordon attended a public school before enrolling at the Lexington School and Center for the Deaf in New York. She is also the first deaf student to graduate in 2000, from the American University (AU) Washington College of Law, in Washington, DC. Her mother immigrated to the South Bronx so that she could earn Member of National Black Deaf Advocates. Its hard to pick a single moment that stands out in the eight months Ive been here.Every day I get to be a part of a team of nearly 750 dedicated public servants working in every part of the country who are responsible for holding those who do business with the Federal government contractors and subcontractors to the very reasonable standard that they cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Gordons efforts to ensure that the needs of disabled people were met in hurricane relief efforts earned her both the Gold Medal Award and the 2005 Hurricane Response Award from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Claudia Gordon has been active in both the black deaf community and the broader disability community. Gordon went on to earn adegree in Political Science at Howard University, then went on to study disability-rights law and policy at American Universitys Washington College of Law. Currently, Claudia is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Department of Homeland Security, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Benally is also involved with the National Congress of American Indians, Disability Sub-Committee. By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. In 1995, she graduated form Howard University with a Bachelors in . [16], Before joining T-Mobile to lead strategies for disability-inclusive culture and accessible work environment,[17] Gordon was a Senior Manager of Government and Compliance at Sprint. Texas Zero Property Tax Bill Has Extreme, Discriminatory Catches, Eurovision 2023 Tickets Announced on Ticketmaster, Celebrating Womens History With Qiu Jin, Chinese Revolutionary, The Penguin Tells a Batverse Scarface Story. Heres What We Know, INTERVIEW: Cary Elwes Understands the Assignment of Guy Ritchie Movies for Operation Fortune, Walgreens Caves to Republicans, Limits Sales of Another Reproductive Healthcare Item, Florida Man Fulfills His Destiny as a Netflix Crime Series, The 13 Best Ted Lasso Quotes to Read When the World Has Made You Feel Weary, Thank You to the FDA for Telling Elon Musk He Cant Put Chips in Our Brain. Read the latest blog posts from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Check out the most popular infographics and videos, View the photo of the day and other galleries, Tune in to White House events and statements as they happen, See the lineup of artists and performers at the White House, Eisenhower Executive Office Building Tour, Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs Rebecca Blank. For her unrelenting commitment to advocacy, compliance, civic engagement, and mentoring, Gordon has been recognized by the American Association of People with Disabilities, Google, AT&T Humanity of Connection, National Disability Mentoring Coalition, National Association of the Deaf, National Black Deaf Advocates, and The Root 100. This political appointment made Gordon the first deaf person to work at the White House in a detailee capacity. Now she is able to correct these misperceptions, and ensure that the needs of the disability community are considered when government entities create their emergency preparedness plans. She assisted in the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness, monitoring how Federal agencies worked together to ensure that deaf and disabled persons were included in emergency-preparedness plans. To get to know aboutClaudia, her career, and her inspirations read the following Q and A with her. People named Claudia L Gordon. The OFCCP has powerful investigative and regulatory authorities for protecting workers, promoting diversity, and enforcing the law. She is a former staff attorney with the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center and have also worked as a consulting attorney with the National Council on Disability. One problem we still find is that those who create emergency preparedness plans need to realize that the disability community is not homogeneous. There were also those long road trips on the bumpy Jamaican roads to distant towns where healers would perform rituals in attempts to cure me. Claudia was appointed as the Public Engagement Advisor for the Disability Community in the Office of Public Engagement at the White House in 2013. Claudia was a member of the Obama Administration from December 2009 to January 2017 initially . I dealt with discrimination and oppression on a daily basis. Claudia Gordon is the third featured guest in the Council on Women and Girls: Meet the Women of the Administration series. [1] She currently works as a Senior Accessibility Strategy Partner at T-Mobile within its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team. After two years of no education, Claudia and her mother immigrated to New York. A. degree from Howard University . While working with impoverished and minority deaf people, she became attracted to the prospect of working in a Federal office. Disability is something that often gets overlooked when we talk about the spectrum of representation, so it was very important to me to make sure we do not ignore them in our celebration of black women. American University Washington College of Law, American University, Washington College of Law, United States Department of Homeland Security, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, American Association of People with Disabilities, United States Secretary of Homeland Security, List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States, "Employee Spotlight: Disability Awareness Starts with All of Us and Benefits All of Us TMobile Newsroom", "Meet the Women of the Administration: Claudia Gordon", "Claudia Gordon: America's First Deaf Black Woman Lawyer is Jamaican Born", "Claudia Gordon: 1st African American Female Deaf Lawyer", "NCD Applauds Appointment of Claudia Gordon as Public Engagement Advisor at the White House", "Skadden Fellows | Skadden Fellowship Foundation", "Disability Rights Campaigner, Claudia Gordon, joins DeafKidz International as Global Ambassador", "Trustee Appointed to White House Office of Public Engagement", "President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to Attend the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Paralympic Summer Games", "Previous AAPD Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award Recipients", "| U.S. Your government can only do so much, so it is important to make sure you have a personalized plan and know how to initially proceed during an emergency. A resource blog for SLIP students by SLIP students. Which is exactly the type of work Gordon was driven to do: I am motivated by knowing that although progress is being made towards inclusion and access, there is still a great deal more work to be done. After leaving the OFCCP U.S. Department of Labors Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. kkitt1, Your email address will not be published. The discrimination, that she experienced in Jamaica and in general, inspired her to become a lawyer. In Jamaica, Gordon could not get an education, so she moved to the United States where she attended first a public school, then the Lexington School and Center for the Deaf in New York. [15], Gordon was part of the Presidential Delegation of Barack Obama sent to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Gordon received the Skadden Fellowship (for law graduates working with disabled people) that helped her pay to work at the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center. Foreign-born deaf lawyer uses opportunity in America to help those with disabilities during emergencies. Facebook gives people the power. Claudia Gordon was born in rural Jamaica. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW I want to take the opportunity to remind you all; just in case some" See Claudia L Gordon's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. [5] She suddenly lost her sense of hearing at the age of eight. But I am blessed with supportive family and friends who know that the long hours I spend at work are spent doing something important. When my service to the President is over and I have to face my family, my friends and my communities as an African American, as a woman and as a deaf person what I hope to look back on is not a single moment, but rather a series of opportunities where I used my seat at the table and my voice in the decision-making process to improve the lives of those who seek to redeem the promise of America, the promise that brought my mother here all those years ago. What I do know is that the life of this woman ostracized as dummy almost became my own but for my mothers triumph in successfully bringing me to America by the time I was eleven years old. While in her eldest sisters care, Claudia suddenly developed severe pain in her middle ears and was taken to a small clinic. How to say Claudia L. Gordon in English? Claudia is a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). She later went to the American University Washington College of Law. It's time to renew your membership and keep access to free CLE, valuable publications and more. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/30/president-biden-announces-key-appointments-to-boards-and-commissions-9/?utm_source=link, Office of the United States Trade Representative. [2] Prior to joining the telecom industry, Gordon held various roles in the public sector from 2002 to 2017most notably as the associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement, where she advised White House offices and senior officials including former President Barack Obama on disability issues. $200 per post at $10/CPM. Born in Jamaica, Gordon became deaf at the 8 years old after having sharp pains in her ears. She was the vice president of the National Black Deaf Advocates. I want to contribute to a better society where there is more understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities and where the same opportunities are provided for all." She taught me about the unbelievable power of faith and love. YOU HAVE 20,000 FOLLOWERS: $100 per post at a $5/CPM. Dec 3, 2022 As we mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities today, let's double down on our commitment to making sure people with disabilities are included in every single policy decision we make so we are always working towards building a more inclusive country. Pat spent 26 years as a public interest attorney fighting on behalf of the victims of employment discrimination. Daily Practice Claudia L Gordon is Trustee at Gallaudet University. Shortly thereafter, Claudias mother brought her to the United States in search of opportunities for her daughter. Claudia L. Gordonwas born in Jamaica. My mother was my most influential role model. At the time, she was in the care of her elder sister Mildred Taylor, a teacher. Typically, policy changes like this are submitted for public comment after theyve been formulated. She wanted to have direct involvement in the enforcement of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, combating in order to make sure that the laws were really being utilized to help those who needed it the most. . November 1st, 2016 None of the doctors did anything to really help or make clear what. Rifkind is passionate about the arts and serves as Treasurer for the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium. She most recently served as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement as the Biden-Harris Administrations liaison to Disabled Americans and K-12 educators.Voordes personal passions and professional expertise center on justice for individuals with disabilities and equitable access to education. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Claudia L Gordon and is located at 108 W James Street, Blue Ridge, TX 75424. Many shrugged off my grand intention as wishful thinking. Her family was then forced to take her out of primary school for almost two years since her school couldn't accommodate her needs as a deaf student.