Oct. 17, 2005

Disability Advocate John D. Kemp Speaks at CUA

Kemp?s Address One of Several Disabilities Awareness Month Events on Campus

John Kemp spoke on the Americans with Disabilities Act at CUA Oct. 13.

John D. Kemp, an attorney and renowned disability advocate, spoke on campus Thursday, Oct. 13, about the Americans with Disabilities Act and new developments related to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Kemp, who was born without arms below the elbows or legs below the knees, uses four prostheses to live an independent life.

?I?ve had the privilege of growing up at a time when there?s been an incredible transformation in the potential of living with a disability,? said Kemp, a former National Easter Seal Child.

Kemp?s speech was one of several CUA activities organized to raise awareness of issues facing those with disabilities during Disability Awareness Month. For a listing of other events, visit http://disabilityservices.cua.edu/specialevents.cfm. For a link to a video stream recording of Kemp?s speech, visit http://digitalmedia.cua.edu/calendar/event_dsp.cfm?event=2610.

A principal attorney in the D.C. law firm of Powers, Pyles, Sutter and Verville, P. C., Kemp is the CEO of three national non-profit organizations and also advises the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development on disability issues. He delivers 20 to 30 keynote addresses a year.

Almost 50 people attended the speech, which was by turns humorous (when Kemp addressed ?people of hair and the differently coiffed?), poignant (when Kemp described his 87-year-old father?s struggle with Parkinson?s disease) and passionate (when he discussed the problems still facing people with disabilities).

Co-sponsored by CUA?s Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Disability Support Services, Kemp?s talk was part of a class called The Politics of Disability, taught by Leszek Sibilksi, an adjunct professor of sociology at CUA and a consultant on disability issues for the World Bank and the U.N.

?Whoever listens to John's lectures is immediately engaged and consumed by his passion to build societal bridges, and his devotion to make full social inclusion a reality, not a science fiction,? Sibilski says.

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Revised: 10/17/2005

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