Mary Lou Breslin

When Mary Lou Breslin agreed to join EBI’s Board of Directors in 2012, it was clear that her more than 35 years as a successful disability rights law and policy advocate would benefit the clients served by EBI. EBI appreciates the breadth of her contributions and the depth of her commitment to the EBI community.

The scope of her gifts? Beyond her generous financial support, she brings unique perspective, having personally been on the forefront of the independent living movement; her history as co-founder, in 1979, of Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), a leading national civil rights law and policy center; experience in the creation of the groundbreaking Americans with Disabilities Act; success as a researcher and trainer on disability and civil rights topics; and, her commitment, more recently, to the enactment of health care reform for individuals with disabilities. In Washington, Mary Lou’s research was key to the inclusion of accessibility requirements in the 2010 Affordable Care Act and in California, she has worked with managed care organizations to develop model disability policies. Mary Lou understands the long term process of legislative and policy change as well as the immediacy of the needs of individual EBI serves. A powerful advocate, her recommendations to EBI strategically address both.

Mary Lou supports EBI because she believes that “from supported living to employment to helping people move into the community from nursing facilities, EBI ensures that people with disabilities are regarded with respect and treated with dignity and that community integration, consumer choice and control, and accountability are embedded at the center of every program.”

Thank you, Mary Lou, for your ongoing confidence and many forms of generosity.