Richard Devylder, Co-Chair
Mr. Devylder is the co-chair of our Community Advisory. Deputy Director, Independent Living and External Affairs for the California Department of Rehabilitation; former Chairman of the State Independent Living Council (SILC) and Executive Director of Dayle McIntosh Center (DMC) based in Garden Grove, Mr. Devylder has extensive experience advocating for people with disabilities at the local, statewide and federal level.

As Deputy Director for the California Department of Rehabilitation since August 2003, he is responsible for all funded programs related to Independent Living and oversees business related to external communication. As Executive Director of the DMC from 2000-2003, Mr. Devylder was responsible for the day-to-day management of a large staff and budget of over $3 million. He oversaw a broad range of services offered by the Center, which include benefits counseling, assistive technology acquisition, housing and transportation, independent living skills training, interpreter services, self advocacy, personal assistance services and job placement. Mr. Devylder also manages the Center's grant-writing and fundraising and testifies regularly at hearings before the county, state and federal representatives on disability-related forums.

Mr. Devylder has also developed and implemented public relations plans to raise public awareness to disability issues, and put out a quarterly newsletter, press releases, public service announcements for radio and television and informative materials.

Previously, Mr. Devylder served as a coordinator & consultant for the Disabled Student Services with California State University, Long Beach from 1998-2000 and was also a consultant for the University of Southern California University Affiliated Program. He held several positions with Southern California Rehabilitation Services, Inc. from 1992 to 1998, including program director, ADA specialist, benefits coordinator, peer counselor and public relations coordinator.

Mr. Devylder has served on the Board of Directors of the California Foundation of Independent Living Centers (CFILC), where he was chairman, vice-chairman and secretary from 1992-1998 and vice-chairman 2000-2003. Served as chairman of the In-Home Supportive Services Advisory Committee of Orange County. He was chairman/CEO of the Personal Assistance Services Council (PASC) of the County of Los Angeles from 1998-2000 and served on the RESNA Standards Subcommittee on Wheelchairs in 1999. Mr. Devylder also served on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Long Range Transportation Plan, and Access Services, Inc. (ASI), which was responsible for the development of policy and oversight of ADA mandated paratransit services in the County of Los Angeles, with an annual operating budget of $50 million.

Mr. Devylder earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication from California State University, Long Beach in 1992 and has completed training on the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as participating in conferences with the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) and the Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund (DREDF).

Mr. Devylder represents programs and networks associated with the independent living movement in California. As a quadriplegic amputee (no arms or legs), Mr. Devylder brings the unique perspective of having successfully negotiated systems throughout his life, and applying his experience and training to benefit the lives of others.

 Patty Moore, CCAB Co-Chair, Parent

Almost 18 years ago our third son was born completing our family. Soon after his birth we learned that he was born with Down syndrome. We named him Robert (for dad) Patrick (for mom), but today his is known as Robby Moore.

Prior to our leaving the hospital, our pediatrician asked if we would like to meet another family who too had a child with Down syndrome. We agreed. Little did we know that this unique arrangement, created by our wise pediatrician, would have lifelong impact in both our personal and professional lives. We experienced “parent to parent support” before we even knew what it was. Meeting another family provided for us a feeling a strength, security, and the knowledge that while our family would be impacted by disability, we would still be family. And, that we were not alone.

For over twelve years now I have been facilitating parent to parent support in our local communities and advocating with fellow parents and partners for family centered, coordinated, and inclusive comprehensive services for children and adults, of all ages, and their families. From the earliest of intervention through the transitions to adult living, we know that parent to parent support is a valuable component in daily living, the thread of knowledge and understanding that ties us all together.

Through these years I have witnessed the joys of birth, the celebrations of appreciation, and the overwhelming resiliency of families. Why do I stay? Because I know, one kind and knowledgeable gift of parent support, as was so readily shared with my family within days of our son’s birth, can make positive lifelong impact. How can I not stay?

Patty and her husband Bob have been married for 27 years and live in Santa Barbara. Robby enjoys two older brothers, Shaun and Kevin, his grandparents, pals at Santa Barbara High School, and his two golden retrievers, Gravelly and Roxy. He also loves video games, pizza, and Teen Extreme.

Ms. Moore represents one of the 53 family resource centers (Alpha Family Resource Center, Santa Barbara) in California.

Brigitte Ammons has special education credentials and many years of teaching experience in special education, working with a wide range of children with severe and multiple disabilities. She was lead teacher and program coordinator for Centro de Niños y Padres early intervention program at California State University, Los Angeles for five years. Throughout her career she has been a strong child advocate and has particularly focused on parent training in the area of special education. For the past twelve years Brigitte has held a position as an advocate with the Los Angeles Office of Protection and Advocacy. In this capacity she works closely with families of children with disabilities and participates in activities related to special education and least restrictive environment.

Rachel Chen, Parent

My name is Rachel Chen. My son, Joshua Chen, is diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. He is nineteen years old and just finished his junior year in high school. He is fully included in the regular classroom with RSP support. When he was in junior high, I was a school site council member for three years. I also was SELPA CAC member represent our school district. I joined the Chinese Parents Association for the Disabled in 1993 and served as chair of the board since 1997. I am also a member of Regional Coordinating Council representing CPAD. Now I am a co-chair of governing board of CPRC (Reaching out to Latino and Chinese Families.)

Theresa A. Cooper is the parent of a child with a learning disability and a sibling of an adult person with a developmental disability. She is executive director of Loving Your Disabled Child (LYDC), one of 55 family resource centers statewide, located in south central Los Angeles. She is co-chair of the Family Resource Center Network of Los Angeles County (11 of the 55 family resource centers in the state), and is a founding member of the Grassroots Consortium on Disability. She is known for her frankness on disability awareness in the inner-city. Ms. Cooper and the work she does with LYDC have been featured in Families, Professionals, and Exceptionalities, (a textbook used in many colleges and universities nationwide by Ann and Rudd Turnbull, noted special education and disability experts), Exceptional Parent Magazine, and Tapestry Journal.

Before Ms. Cooper became the executive director of LYDC, she volunteered for 5 years as a childcare provider during LYDC's parent support group meetings, provided transportation for parents to attend the meetings and provided general support the LYDC office. As a result of her volunteer work and working with parents, she has developed an eye for identifying strengths in families, and has become an advocate for families of children with disabilities who live in underserved minority communities. Like many family members who work in the system, she has attended numerous training and seminars on a variety of topics, including special education law, how to operate a state-of-the-art family resource center, and disability awareness. Ms. Cooper resa lives with her husband Lionel and her three teenage children Krysten, Ashley and Eric in Hawthorne, CA.

As one of the few executive directors of color in the Family Resource Center network statewide, Ms. Cooper provides consultation to the Center on identifying the needs of minority families of children with disabilities, culturally appropriate community outreach, education, and service modalities. She also assists the Center in providing consultation to other family support programs on topics ranging from grantwriting, cultural competence, and faith-based service delivery.

Like many people with disabilities, Stephen’s been an advocate for his peers most of his adult life. He spent 13 years in a skilled nursing facility (CP home) in Santa Barbara. He moved into his own apartment in 1982, after receiving Independent Living Skills training from the local Independent Living Resource Center (a member of the California Foundation of Independent Living Centers, and the ‘Independent Living movement’, started in Berkley in the 70’s.) He later volunteered there as an ILS trainer, and served on their Board of Directors.

In 1973, Stephen joined ToastMasters Inc. Three years later, he was successful in getting an ‘official’ chapter chartered at the facility where he was residing.

After 18 years in college, Stephen graduated from Santa Barbara City College in 1993, with an Associate of Science degree in Computer Information Systems. He has extensive experience tutoring individuals with developmental disabilities in computers.

His formal work as an advocate within the DD system began in 1983 as a Governor’s appointee and primary consumer on Area Board IX, where he served for 6 years. During this time, Stephen worked with the local chapter of the United Cerebral Palsy Association to start up 3 local Self-Advocacy groups. He has served on many consumer conference planning committees, including being the MC at a conference in 1993. He served on the panel that interviewed and hired their current Executive Director, and was the first local consumer to serve on a joint Area Board/Regional Canter “Request For Proposal” selection committee. Stephen was also involved at the State Level by being appointed to the first State Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC), a sub-committee of the State Council. He was also on the State level Quality Assurance Advisory Group (QAAG), a group of professionals, parents, vendors and consumers who looked at developing a statewide quality assurance system, part of which includes the 'Looking At Life Quality' (LQA) handbook. Stephen is also on the State’s LA training video, illustrating ‘How to have conversation with a non-verbal consumer.”

In 1992, he became a member of the Tri-Counties Regional Center Board of Directors where during his 17-month tenure; he was on the Executive Director interview panel, chaired the Governmental Affairs Committee and was the Board’s Vice-President for a brief time. It was here that Stephen began to advocate that a Consumer Advocate position be created and funded at TCRC. It was met with some initial resistance but Stephen persisted and when the new and current Executive Director was hired, he too realized the potential of this position.

Stephen left the State CAC in January 1994 to accept the new full-time position of TCRC's consumer advocate. Several innovations that Stephen has brought to the Self-Advocacy portion of the job includes having each CC or SAG choose a consumer laison to keep Stephen informed on what their group is doing and having group officers choose an 'Officer's Assistant' or 'Co-Officer' with different skills and abilities then what they have. In conjunction with TCRC, started a Consumer Leadership Council; a group of consumers who receive professional training on a variety of Leadership topics. Then in turn, they provide trainings to other consumers. CLC members and other consumers are paid when presenting at a conference or training.

 Jean Hansen, Parent

I've been married to my husband Hans for 32 years. We have two children, a daughter who is 27, lives, works and goes to school in San Diego and a son who is 25, has autism, still lives at home and works part-time at a wholesale flower nursery. Our son is a shining example of what can happen when no barriers are set. This past summer he worked very hard and got his drivers license and just before Thanksgiving we purchased a small used truck for him! We are as proud of him as he is of his truck!

Ms. Hansen represents one of the 53 family resource centers in California (Executive Director of the Carolyn Kordich Family Resource Center, South Bay, Los Angeles) and special education access issues (she is a subcommittee chair of the Chanda Smith Consent Decree, which is bringing the Los Angeles Unified School District into compliance with special education law).

 Linda Landry, Parent

Linda Joy Landry is a native Los Angelino. Linda has been married to Pierre 23 years, they have 1 child: 21-year-old son, Pete, an Eagle Scout, Junior in Mechanical Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona and works at JPL, she is also the proud Grandmother of 8-year-old Ashley.

Linda and Pierre's 13-year-old daughter, Eveline, had a constellation of challenges: severe physical, medical and cognitive disabilities. Eveline was enrolled at the neighborhood school in a special day program, a consumer at Lanterman Regional Center and received her medical services at USC Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Eveline passed away in her sleep December 26, 1999, she now watches over her family and guides them.

Linda is committed to families being acknowledged as equal partners and supported by "the system" in having their concerns and needs addressed. She participates on several advisory, policy and program development committees, including those at: Children's Hospital of Los Angeles' University Affiliated Program; Lanterman Regional Center's Koch-Young Family Resource Center; Los Angeles Unified School District's Modified Consent; and the Family Resource Center Network of California.

Cathay Liu has a B.S. from the University of California Los Angeles, and received her Master’s degree in cross cultural mental health counseling from the University of Western Washington in 1991. Prior to joining parents and professionals in the field of developmental disabilities, Ms. Liu was in the field of mental health counseling. She worked as a crisis counselor in Sacramento County from 1991 to 1993.

A mother of two children with developmental disabilities, Ms. Liu has worked at the Family Resource Center in the East Los Angeles area (one of 55 statewide), since September, 1999. As the Outreach and Training coordinator, she is a parent mentor to the Peer Support Staff, develops parent training materials, and conducts staff and parent training and development activities. Ms. Liu leads the FRC's efforts to conduct meaningful outreach to one of the largest Chinese constituencies of the 21 regional centers statewide.

In 1998, Cathay became a member of the Chinese Parents Association for the Disabled (CPAD), when her first child was diagnosed with developmental disabilities. A firm believer in supporting individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, Ms. Liu focuses her work on community awareness and family-centered care. It is her life long goal to see that the systems and policies grow and reflect the needs of the diverse communities they serve.

Ms. Liu comes from a long line of educators and social activists dedicated to serving the underserved. Her father was a Professor in Linguistics at Taiwan’s Teachers’ Academy. Her paternal grandmother started the first school in her village to offer a literacy program for young women; her maternal grandfather, a journalist and the publisher of Tsingtao Daily at the turn of the century, was committed to the independent reporting of news.

Ms. Liu provides consultation to the Center on assuring access to services for families of Chinese origin. She is an active member of one of the largest Chinese parent associations in the state and over the years, has been a key liaison between CPAD and the USC UAP to expand the capacity of CPAD to meet the needs of its members and to assure that the disability and generic service systems understand and provide an appropriate continuum of services for Chinese families of children with disabilities across the lifespan.

Irene I. Martinez is the Executive Director and co-founder of Fiesta Educativa, Inc., and Chairperson of the National Fiesta Educativa. Fiesta Educativa is a nationally recognized community-based approach to parent training in developmental disabilities for Latino families. Ms. Martinez has twenty-five years experience in the field of disabilities, specifically in the development of educational, training and advocacy programs for families of children and adults with disabilities. A focus has been working with Latino families of person with disabilities and special needs. Particular areas of expertise and interest are working with families in multicultural settings, models of collaboration, and leadership development.

Ms. Martinez received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California, and currently serves on the Board of Councilors of the USC Department of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy and on the Advisory Committees of the Self-Determination Project of the Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center (one of three self-determination projects of the California Developmental Disabilities Services System) and the California First 5 Commission (A program which gives ~$700 million per year to local county and state programs to develop and implement comprehensive, integrated systems of support and services to promote, support, and improve early childhood development for children, zero to five years of age). Ms. Martinez represents the needs of Latino families and individuals with developmental disabilities and assures the cultural appropriateness of the work of the USC UCE.

 Lillibeth Navarro, Consumer

Lillibeth E. Navarro is a nationally recognized disability rights advocate and activist. An immigrant from the Philippines in 1982 she completed a journalism degree from USC as an Ambassador of Goodwill for Rotary International Foundation. Her leadership as a member and grassroots organizer of ADAPT Southern California resulted in wheelchair access in public transportation. She also led the local ADAPT campaign for the ADA and the fight for in-home attendant services vs. institutionalization.

Ms. Navarro is co-founder and Project Director of the IHSS Recipients and Providers Sharing (IRAPS), a grassroots organization committed to pursuit of human development and senior citizens living in HUD and Section 8 government subsidized housing. In 1997, IRAPS won approval from the LA County Board of Supervisors to create a Personal Assistance Services Council. She now sits as a Commissioner on the Personal Assistance Services Council.

She worked part time for the CA Foundation for Independent Living Centers as an Empowerment Team Leader and was inspired to found an independent living center for her community. In September 2001, she then founded CALIF (Communities Actively living independent & Free) in south central Los Angeles, and is now the Executive Director. CALIF is one of the few independent living centers statewide which has a strong minority focus (the majority of their board and staff are people of color and have disabilities).

Ms. Navarro continues to work with other groups in the struggle against the State budget cuts for the poor, the fight against euthanasia and eugenics abortion, and the preservation of health insurance, benefits, and services for people with disabilities. In April 2001, she was one of five women honored for their community service by KCET’s “Her Story is Our Story” Award,during their celebration of Women's History Month. n October 20, 1999, she was an Awardee of the LA County Commission on Disability. Guided by a belief in “Peace through Social Justice,” Ms. Navarro received the“Woman of the Year” Award from Senator David Roberti.

Ms. Navarro represents the independent living movement on our advisory board and issues faced by minorities with disabilities.

 Roberta Newton, Area Board X

Roberta Newton has been the Executive Director of Developmental Disabilities Area Board 10 for the past nine years. During the previous 28 years she worked in a number of different capacities in the field of developmental disabilities in both California and Pennsylvania. She has experience as a behavioral psychologist, service coordinator, family therapist, regional center quality assurance specialist, sex educator and early intervention specialist.

Among her areas of expertise, Ms. Newton cites a strong interest in providing parent and consumer education; in advocating for a consumer- and family-friendly service system and development of public policy initiatives that will increase the integration and productivity of persons with developmental disabilities in their communities.

Ms. Newton represents one of the 13 Developmental Disabilities Boards in the state, monitoring agencies established under state law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, and administered by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

 Brenda Premo, Consumer

Brenda Premo, MBA, a long-time champion for disability rights, is founding director of Western University’s Center for Disability Issues and the Health Professions. Ms. Premo came to Western University in 1998, after four years of service as Director of the California State Department of Rehabilitation under Governor Pete Wilson's administration, and three years as deputy director of the department’s Independent Living Section.

As a woman with a disability, her advocacy work began in earnest when she was director of the Dayle McIntosh Center, the Independent Living Center in Orange County, California from 1977 to 1991. Her leadership in the disability field has been recognized in many sectors. In 1986, President Ronald Regan named her to serve on the National Council on Disability, where she helped develop language for legislation which evolved into the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed by Congress in 1990.

She continued her ADA work while with the State Department of Rehabilitation, serving as a senior management lead in the public and private sectors on the ADA and its implications. The California State Senate honored here as “Woman of the Year” in 1988 and in 1998 she received the National Rehabilitation Awareness Foundation’s “Special Achievement Award.”

Ms. Premo graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from California State University at Long Beach and earned her MBA from Pepperdine University. She provides consultation to the Center on adult healthcare access and training issues and in bringing the experience and expertise of the independent living movement to the Center's work with individuals with developmental disabilities. Our partnership with the Center for Disability Issues and Health Professions is at the core of our efforts to bring strength to our mission by building cross-disability coalitions.

Debbie Sarmento, Parent

Debbie Sarmento entered the world of children with special health care needs when her twin daughters were born 11 weeks prematurely in 1983. She learned then of the incredible value of being able to talk with another parent who had experienced similar circumstances. The dedication to helping other parents led to her becoming a founding officer in Special Care Parents, an organization based in Sacramento that exists to help new parents with the social and emotional concerns that may exist when their babies are hospitalized at birth. In this capacity she was has the opportunity to assist hundreds of parents since 1985. Special Care Parents was featured in The Parent to Parent Handbook: Connecting Families of Children with Special Needs.

In 1993, she began working for the Warm Line Family Resource Center, which serves six counties in the greater Sacramento area. In addition to acting as Co-Director for three years, she has worked as a Resource Specialist, assisting families and professionals with questions relating to children with disabilities and special health care needs, and as a coordinator for a multi-agency team that assisted parents as they developed Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP) to get services for their young children (0 –3 years) through the Regional Center. Currently, she represents the WarmLine on the Family Voices of California Council. As an original member of the Family Voices of California Council, she has worked on many statewide projects aimed at improving the lives of families of children with special health care needs.

Sharing her expertise in the formation and running of support groups, the experience of being a parent in a neonatal intensive care unit, and other topics, she has presented to parents and professionals at conferences and workshops across the state.

Ms. Sarmento provides consultation to the Center as the Northern California representative of the Family Resource Centers Network of California. She has acted as a Regional Representative for the Network since 1999 and is the current Vice Chair of the organization which is made up of Family Resource Centers from throughout the state that receive early intervention funding to serve families of children with developmental disabilities.

Ms. Sarmento has a BS degree from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and has worked previously in the Stanislaus County Office of Consumer Affairs as a Consumer Protection Specialist.

 Lilliana Ulmer, Parent

I am the parent of two beautiful teenagers. Emilia is 16, she has Rett Syndrome and Olivia is 14. I often cry because Emilia doesn’t talk and at the same time I cry because Olivia talks too much.

Emilia has given us a different perspectives of life. She only communicates with her eyes, gestures and screams. She never cries unless the pain is unbearable. She always has a smile to indicate problems that exists on a daily basis have a solution, it doesn’t matter how simple or how difficult the problem may be, there is a light at the other side of the tunnel and according to her life we all can get to it if we only have time, love and patience.

Emilia has set the true pattern of how to raise children. A disabled child teaches the parent, while the parent teaches a regular or so called normal child. Both my daughters are a blessing and I learn a lot from them at two different speeds.