Andrew J. Imparato

Andrew J. Imparato is a disability rights lawyer and policy expert who moved to California in January to lead Disability Rights California (DRC) after a high-impact 26-year career in Washington, D.C.

While in D.C., Imparato served as Disability Policy Director for Chairman Tom Harkin on the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and as President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, among other roles. He helped lead coalition efforts to pass the ADA Amendments Act in 2008 and helped negotiate the disability provisions in the bipartisan 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Since joining DRC, one of the largest disability rights organizations in the world with almost 300 employees, Imparato has worked to protect vital programs and services for people with disabilities and to prevent discrimination on the basis of disability and age as the state responds to the pandemic.

Imparato is known for mentoring younger leaders with disabilities and cultivating activism in the U.S. and globally on social media. He grew up in Los Angeles and is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Yale College. His perspective is informed by his lived experience with bipolar disorder.