Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health

Joyce welcomes Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health back to the show.  Since 1972, the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has advocated for the civil rights, full inclusion and equality of adults and children with mental disabilities.  Ms. Mathis will share how the Center was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990) and played a key role in the historic case of Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), in which the Supreme Court found that needless segregation of people with psychiatric disabilities violated the ADA.  

Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights

• Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and Board Chair and Founder of Bender Leadership Academy, a non-profit organization focused on addressing the transition to work for youth and young adults with disabilities.
• Founding partner of iDisability, an eLearning solution.
• Named a 2024 Woman of Influence by The Pittsburgh Business Times and 2024 Henry Viscardi Achievement Award Recipient from the Viscardi Center.
• Recipient of the 2024 Visionary Award from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, DC.
  Lives with epilepsy and hard of hearing.
• Advocates for competitive employment for people with disabilities.
• Serves as vice-chair of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and former chair of the board. 
• Represented the State Department in programming with Panama, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, and Tunisia.
• Serves as chair of Epilepsy Association of Western and Central PA.
• Received the 2003 New Freedom Initiative Award from the Bush Administration.
• Recognized with the 1999 President’s Award from President Clinton.
• Board member of Pittsburgh’s Civic Light Opera, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and World Institute on Disability (WID).