I would like to introduce myself. I am Dennis Boyd, the newest member of the Advocacy Team at CDR and an attorney.

I started working on accessibility issues more than twelve years ago and disability benefits almost twenty years ago. This has had me in court, at administrative hearings, training consumers and providers, and thinking of ways to improve the way the laws protect the rights of people with disabilities.

Beyond lawyering, the most important thing that I bring to CDR is that I have many years of experience bringing people together, from independent living centers, legislatures, community organizations, government enforcement agencies, private law firms and non-profit law firms – all for the purpose of working to improve disability rights. Some of this has been for developing cases in court. Some of it has been to share information and identify ways to improve access to government services and to businesses.

Now that I am on the staff in the Advocacy Team at CDR, I feel that I have come full circle. I now get to bring lawyering skills and resources directly inside CDR to continue its important local, state-wide and national work.

Please stay tuned. I will have more to say on CDR’s blog in the months ahead about how the law affects you and the disability community and how we can work together to bring about changes we need.