"Disability Rights Advocates" Announces New Executive Director: Ben Foss, May 11, 2011

Press Release Source: Disability Rights Advocates On Wednesday May 11, 2011

Disability Rights Advocates Announces New Executive Director, Ben Foss, a National Disability Leader and Former Head of Access Technology at Intel

Foss Brings High Tech and Business Experience to Enhance DRA’s Mission of Championing & Advancing the Civil Rights of People with Disabilities

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), a leading national non-profit legal center, announced today the appointment of a new Executive Director, Ben Foss. Foss takes the post at the 18-year-old organization after serving four years as Vice President on its Board of Directors. Foss, a nationally recognized civil rights advocate, is featured in the upcoming HBO Documentary Journey into Dyslexia (HBO2, May 11, 8 PM), a poignant film that explores his experience as a person with dyslexia and his success as an inventor of groundbreaking digital technology.

Foss, who holds a J.D./M.B.A. from Stanford University, is an expert in technology, entrepreneurship and disability issues, and has been sought after for his insights by the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, ABC News and the BBC. Before joining DRA, Foss spent seven years at Intel, most recently as Director of Access Technology. In this role, he received two U.S. patents and invented the Intel® Reader, a product CNN called “too groundbreaking to ignore.” This digital device can take a photo of any printed material and reads it aloud on the spot. It helps those with vision and learning disabilities.

Former Governor Mario Cuomo, Special Advisor to DRA, met with Foss in New York for the May 11th world premiere of Journey into Dyslexia. “The reality is that people with disabilities do not get equal access to work and school as they should,” said Cuomo. “Ben Foss and Disability Rights Advocates will help change that.”

“I am thrilled to have Ben take the reigns as Executive Director. He is a rock star for the disability community. His experience as a person with a disability and inventing tools for the blind and dyslexic make him an ideal leader to continue our growth as a national civil rights legal center,” said Larry Paradis, the former Executive Director. Paradis will stay actively involved in DRA as its President and Co-Director of Litigation. Sid Wolinsky, who co-founded DRA with Paradis, will stay on in the capacity of Director of Litigation. Foss will focus on administration, advocacy, strategic planning and development.

“DRA’s groundbreaking legal achievements have signaled that the inclusion of people with disabilities is not only the law, but a win-win situation for everyone,” said Foss. “DRA’s progress has paved the way for full participation of people with disabilities in the social fabric of life and opened up untapped markets. I am fired up about leading the fight for the removal of attitudinal and physical barriers that remain.”

Foss will split his time between DRA’s two offices in Berkeley and New York City. The DRA New York office, headed by attorney Julia Pinover, opened its doors in 2010. The New York office has already begun laying the groundwork for improving the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities by filing several lawsuits to ensure equal access to voting polling locations and public transportation.

“The New York legal community is lucky to have an advocate like Ben Foss looking out for the needs of people with disabilities, and I am delighted to be working with DRA,” noted Stephen Foresta, a partner at the New York Office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, and a DRA Advisory Board member.

Foss’s high-tech expertise, coupled with years of collaborating with the disability community, will be instrumental in enabling DRA to explore more areas such as access to the virtual world for people with disabilities. He also intends to redouble efforts to support veterans and seniors, two populations with many unmet disability needs.

DRA has had a number of landmark wins in the last year in the areas of education, emergency preparedness and transportation. DRA makes a point of working with businesses and governments to try to avoid litigation, offering free advice on accessibility laws to small businesses.

About Disability Rights Advocates (DRA)

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is a non-profit legal center which, for nearly twenty years, has specialized in high-impact class action litigation on behalf of people with all types of disabilities. DRA litigates nationally and has offices in Berkeley, California and New York City.

Contact:
Disability Rights AdvocatesAlicia Reyes, 510-665-8644Communications Coordinatorareyes@dralegal.orgorInfinite Public Relations, LLCNicholas Gaffney, 415-732-7801ngaffney@infinitepr.com