Barbara L’Italian has been a leading advocate at the intersection between politics, law, health care and policy for twenty-five years. She served as both a State Representative and State Senator in the Massachusetts Legislature, focusing on the rights and needs of people with disabilities, seniors, people who are economically disadvantaged and the LGBTQ community. Her advocacy concerning Autism built the service delivery system for educational, social-emotional, and medical support and included establishing and chairing the first Autism Commission and passing comprehensive mandated medical insurance coverage. “I am honored to join the Disability Law Center in continuing to fulfill their mission,” Barbara remarks. “Working in concert with DLC’s dedicated Board and talented Staff, I look forward to building upon the existing coalition work, advocacy efforts, public profile and financial resources of the organization.”

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is an advocate, a policymaker, an activist, and a survivor. On November 6, 2018, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley was elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, making her the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  She is a dedicated activist who’s devoted to creating robust and informed policies that speak to the intersectionality of her district’s lived experiences. She believes that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power and that a diversity of voices in the political process is essential to making policies that benefit more Americans.

Charlie Carr is a disability rights pioneer who has been active in the independent living and disability rights community for over 40 years. He was institutionalized for seven years in his youth and fought his way out by laying the groundwork for the Boston Center for Independent Living in 1974. He went on to start his own Independent Living Center, the Northeast Independent Living Program in Lawrence, MA in 1980 and grew it to become a premier ILC nationally.

In 2007, he entered public service and was the commissioner of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission until 2015. Today, he is working as the Disability Policy Consortium Legislative Liaison working on state and federal legislative advocacy, policy and coalition building.

Nancy Brumback is vice-chair of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts’ legislation committee.  She is the League’s liaison to the coalition that drafted and advocated for the VOTES Act.  Nancy is a past director of the state League of Women Voters.

Tatum Pritchard joined the Disability Law Center as the Director of Litigation in May 2019. Since 2020, Tatum has engaged in systemic litigation and advocacy to make accessible electronic remote voting systems available to voters whose disabilities prevent them from privately and independently casting a standard print ballot. These efforts include DLC’s successful 2020 cases in the Supreme Judicial Court and federal district court, 2021 settlement with the City of Boston and advocacy efforts ensure the addition of accessible electronic voting language into the VOTES Act. Tatum has devoted her career to challenging systemic inequities and upholding the rights of people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations through litigation in a number of settings. Before coming to DLC, she did so as an attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services, Strategic Litigation Consultant for the International Justice Resource Center, a visiting attorney at the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa, and a Public Defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

Bridget Simmons Murphy is a Project Manager in the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Elections Division.  In January 2006 Bridget joined the Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin’s office with the primary focus to ensure the voting process is accessible to all voters in Massachusetts by providing training to local election officials, surveying polling locations, providing assistance with all aspects of the accessible voting units, and working on the Accessible Vote by Mail team.

Sarah Groh is Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.  In this role, Sarah leads policy, strategy and day to day management for the Office. and draws on her expertise in policy, communications, coalition building, and operations.  A longtime resident of the Massachusetts 7th Congressional district, Sarah is proud to serve her home Congressional district and work for Congresswoman Pressley, a seasoned policy maker and unapologetic advocate committed to advancing justice for all people.

Nancy Murphy is the Front Desk and Intake Unit Managing Attorney at the Disability Law Center. Attorney Murphy focuses on individual and systemic advocacy for individuals with disabilities living in the community and in facilities. Attorney Murphy specializes in investigating allegations of abuse and neglect, ensuring appropriate discharge planning from a facility, and protecting individuals’ human rights in any setting.

Amelia Fowler is the Voting Rights Advocate with Disability Law Center. She has several years of direct practice experience as a social worker. In the past few years, Amelia has been doing community organizing and voting rights work with diverse communities.

Amelia worked tirelessly to create and coordinate this 2022 REV UP MA Conference.

Rachel H. Tanenhaus, MPH is the ADA Coordinator/Executive Director of the Cambridge Commission for Persons with Disabilities. She has provided technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), accessible information technology and other access-related topics for over twenty years and has been participating in disability awareness panels since she was ten years old. Rachel is a current member of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind’s Regional Advisory Council for Region 3.

Michelle Bishop is the Voter Access and Engagement Manager at the National Disability Rights Network, where she leads a team to support the protection and advocacy network on voting rights and voter engagement for people with disabilities. Michelle also works in coalition with the civil rights community in Washington, DC to ensure strong federal policy regarding voting rights and election administration from a voter-centric and intersectional perspective.

Lilian Aluri is the REV UP Voting Campaign Coordinator at the American Association of People with Disabilities, also called AAPD.  She works together with REV UP organizers to advance the power of the disability vote, research voting accessibility issues, and support AAPD’s broader advocacy.  In this role, Lilian seeks to advance the rights and inclusion of the diverse disability community at AAPD and beyond. 

Tamara Huntley is a self-advocate and single mom of two thriving teenagers who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in social work from Bridgewater State University.  She is a licensed social worker who currently works as a Lead trainer for the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council. For over 10 years, Tamara has been training others to learn how to advocate for themselves and define their own future goals.  

Melissa Shang is a Disability Activist and a Student at Harvard College.

Julia Kupferman is the Communications and Civic Engagement Organizer at the Massachusetts Voter Table (MVT.)  She joined the MVT team as a Tisch Summer Fellow in June 2020 and has continued working with MVT ever since. Previously, Julia gained field experience through working on several campaigns as well as organizing with J Street U during college as the national president. Julia is excited to fight for racial justice and economic equality at MVT. 

Marlene Sallo serves as the Director for Preventing Targeted Violence at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University. Prior to joining the McCain Institute, Marlene served as the Executive Director of the Disability Law Center (DLC) of Massachusetts. Under her leadership, DLC secured a critical victory in federal court that ensured Massachusetts voters with print and visual disabilities could exercise their right to vote privately and independently in the 2020 general election.

Senator Barry Finegold

has served for over two decades in the State Legislature. He currently is the State Senator for the Second Essex and Middlesex District, which includes Andover, Dracut, Lawrence, and Tewksbury. He chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Election Laws and the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet, and Cybersecurity.

Senator Finegold also is a founding and managing partner of Dalton & Finegold, LLP, specializing in Residential Real Estate and Commercial Real Estate. He lives in Andover with his wife, Amy, and his three children, Ava, Ella and Max.

Senator Cynthia Creem, Majority Leader, has served in a public capacity for more than 30 years, first as a member and President of the Newton Board of Aldermen, and then as a member of the Governor’s Council prior to becoming a State Senator in 1999.