The Viscardi Center has announced an official call for nominations for the 2018 Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards, an international award series recognizing exemplary men and women with disabilities. Recipients will be honored at a ceremony at the Mutual of America Building in New York City on December 4.
The Henry Viscardi Achievements Awards commemorate the vision of The Viscardi Center’s founder, Dr. Henry Viscardi, Jr., who himself wore prosthetic legs. A premier disability advocate, Dr. Viscardi served as a disability advisor to eight U.S. presidents and implemented groundbreaking employment and education programs that continue to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.
Launched in 2013, the Awards are bestowed upon leaders in the global disability community who carry on Dr. Viscardi’s legacy through the example of their professional accomplishments and advocacy efforts. Individuals of any age, with any type of disability, are eligible. Past recipients have been men and women from around the world with diverse and distinguished backgrounds in academia, health care, sports, entertainment, government, law, non-profit, and corporate sectors.
“Each year, The Viscardi Center shines the spotlight on professionals who are driving innovation in their chosen fields and reshaping the global landscape of disability,” says John D. Kemp, President and CEO of The Viscardi Center. “The Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards serve as an opportunity to recognize a select group of trailblazers who set the bar higher for people with — and without — disabilities in the U.S. and abroad.”
The 2018 Henry Viscardi Awards Selection Committee is once again co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Robert Dole and Sherwood “Woody” Goldberg, Esq., retired U.S. Army Colonel and current Senior Advisor for Asian Affairs at the Center for Naval Analysis.
New to the Selection Committee are two 2017 Award recipients: Dr. Satendra Singh, physician and professor at the University College of Medical Sciences in Delhi, India, and Justin Constantine, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of The Constantine Group. Also joining the Committee are co-founders of the Helm Foundation in Egypt: Amena El-Saie, President & CEO, and Ramez Maher, Vice President & Project Manager.
Returning Committee members are Saima Aslam, Project Director, Saaya Association of Persons with Disabilities; Ricardo Garcia Bahamonde, Strategic Development Director of AMAC Accessibilities Solutions & Research Center at Georgia Institute of Technology; Rosangela Berman Bieler, Chief of the Disability Section at UNICEF; Cari M. Dominguez, Corporate Director & Former Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; David Krupa, Executive Director, Range of Motion Project; Lonnie Moore, Program Analyst at the Career and Education Readiness Branch, WTC G-1 Army Warrior Transition Command*; Mark Wafer, MSC OMC, President of Megleen Treadstone; and James Sinocchi, Managing Director of the Office of Disability Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2018. To submit a nomination or learn more about the selection process, please visit: https://www.viscardicenter.org/about/hvaa/
*Does not imply official endorsement of The Viscardi Center by the Department of Defense.
About The Viscardi Center
Founded by Dr. Henry Viscardi, Jr., who served as disability advisor to eight U.S. Presidents and became one of the world’s leading advocates, The Viscardi Center educates, employs and empowers people with disabilities. It provides K-12 education, school-to-work youth transition services, vocational training, career counseling and employment placement, assistive technology, and adapted driver education to children, adolescents, and adults with a wide variety of disabilities. The Viscardi Center also assists businesses in diversifying their workforces, and developing and advancing disability inclusive cultures in their workplaces.
