Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards | |
---|---|
Awarded for | "To recognize exemplary leaders within the global disability community and their extraordinary societal contributions" |
Country | United States |
Presented by | The Viscardi center |
First awarded | 2013 |
Website | www |
The Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards were established to honor the legacy of the founder of the Viscardi Center, Dr. Henry Viscardi, Jr., a leading disability rights advocate who wore prosthetic limbs. These international Awards, first conferred in 2013, recognize exemplary leaders in the disability sector around the globe who have had a profound impact on changing the lives of people with disabilities and championing their rights. [1] Considered as most prestigious, these global awards honor champions of disability activism.
Year | Awardee | Country |
---|---|---|
2021 [2] | ||
Lalit Kumar - Evara Foundation | ![]() | |
Rebecca Cokley - Ford Foundation | ![]() | |
Paul W. Schroeder - American Printing House for the Blind | ![]() | |
Dani Bowman - DaniMation Entertainment | ![]() | |
Deepak KC - World Bank Group Nepal/National Paralympic Committee of Nepal | ![]() | |
Miguel Tomasín - Reynols | ![]() | |
Scott Michael Robertson - ODEP | ![]() | |
2020 [3] | ||
Nguyen Thi Lan Anh - Action to the Community Development Institute | ![]() | |
Caroline Casey (activist) - The Valuable 500 | ![]() | |
James R. “JR” Harding - Florida State University | ![]() | |
Judith Heumann - The Heumann Connection | ![]() | |
Andrew J. Imparato - Disability Rights California | ![]() | |
Braam Jordaan - Convo Communications | ![]() | |
Jaime Huerta Peralta - Universidad Privada del Norte | ![]() | |
Edmund “EQ” Sylvester - United States Adaptive Golf Alliance | ![]() | |
Faʻatino Masunu Utumapu - Nuanua O Le Alofa | ![]() | |
Duong Thi Van - Hanoi Association of People with Disabilities | ![]() | |
James J. Weisman - United Spinal Association | ![]() | |
2019 [4] | ||
Major Jas Boothe - Final Salute Inc | ![]() | |
SFC Joseph Bowser - U.S. Army | ![]() | |
Virginia A. Jacko - Miami Lighthouse for the Blind | ![]() | |
Kamran Khan - Saaya Association of Persons with Disabilities | ![]() | |
Abha Khetarpal - Cross the Hurdles | ![]() | |
Dinesh Palipana - Gold Coast Health | ![]() | |
Chano Park - Seoul Center for Independent Living | ![]() | |
Ali Stroker - Tony Award-Winning Actress | ![]() | |
Yves Veulliet - IBM | ![]() | |
Dr. Hoang-Yen Thi Vo - Disability Research and Capacity Development | ![]() | |
2018 [5] | ||
Maria Town - Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, Texas | ![]() | |
Alireza Darvishy - Zurich University of Applied Sciences | ![]() | |
Ilan Gilon - The Knesset | ![]() | |
Frederick M. Franks, Jr. - Retired Four-Star General of the U.S. Army, Florida | ![]() | |
Prudence Mabhena - Prudence Mabhena Music, Zimbabwe | ![]() | |
Thomas A. Hoffer - Regional Health Command – Pacific, Washington | ![]() | |
Bonface Ophiyah Massah, Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi | ![]() | |
Jawaid Rais - Disabled Welfare Association, Pakistan | ![]() | |
Glen W. White - Delta Air Lines Advisory Board on Disability, Kansas | ![]() | |
Mohammed Yousuf - EquallyAble Foundation, Washington | ![]() | |
2017 [6] | ||
Gregory D. Gadson - U.S. Army Veteran, Patriot Strategies, VA | ![]() | |
Dr Satendra Singh – Disability Rights Activist, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi | ![]() | |
Justin Constantine- Inspirational speaker, Constantine Group, New York | ![]() | |
Yuval Wagner – founder Access Israel | ![]() | |
Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu- Deputy Minister, Department of Social Development | ![]() | |
Matt King – Facebook, CA | ![]() | |
Vashkar Bhattachearjee – Young Power in Social Action | ![]() | |
Thomas J. Wlodkowski – ComCast, PA | ![]() | |
Asim Zafar – Saaya Association | ![]() | |
2016 | ||
Jim Mayer - U.S. Army/Vietnam Veteran (ret.), Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, DC | ![]() | |
Hiroyasu Itoh - Chairman, Japan Abilities, Tokyo [7] | ![]() | |
Dr. Louise Sinden-Carroll - International Federation of Hard of Hearing People, Auckland | ![]() | |
Juan Pablo Salazar Salamanca, President, National Council on Disability and Presidential Advisor, Bogotá | ![]() | |
PJ Edington - IBM Government & Regulatory Affairs Executive, Washington, D.C. | ![]() | |
Dave McGill - VP, Reimbursement & Compliance, Ossur, Centerport, NY | ![]() | |
Saima Aslam - National Forum of Women with Disabilities | ![]() | |
Senarath Attanayake, Uva Provincial Council, Colombo [8] | ![]() | |
Peggy Chenoweth, Author/Advocate/Blogger, Gainesville, Virginia | ![]() | |
Curtis Pride, former Major League Baseball player, MLB’s Ambassador for Disability Inclusion, New York City | ![]() | |
2015 | ||
Jim Gibbons President & CEO, Goodwill Industries International | ![]() | |
Mark Johnson Chair, ADA Legacy Project and Director of Advocacy at Shepherd Center | ![]() | |
Mark Wafer President, Megleen, operating as Tim Hortons | ![]() | |
David Krupa CEO, The Range of Motion Project | ![]() | |
Ed Lucas – Founder, The Ed Lucas Foundation; Sports Journalist | ![]() | |
Winfred G. Mugure – University of Nairobi | ![]() | |
Toby Olson – Executive Secretary to the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment for the State of Washington | ![]() | |
Lonnie C. Moore – U.S. Army Warrior Transition Command | ![]() | |
Marilyn E. Saviola – Senior Vice President for Advocacy and the Women’s Health Program | ![]() | |
2014 | ||
Marlee Matlin – Academy Award & Golden Globe Award-winning Actress | ![]() | |
Yevgeniy Tetyukhin – Professor at the Petropavlovsk North Kazakhstan State University | ![]() | |
Jim Abbott – Former MLB Pitcher & Gold Medal Olympian [9] | ![]() | |
Maryanne Diamond – General Manager Advocacy and Engagement at Vision Australia [10] | ![]() | |
Marca Bristo – President & CEO of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago [11] | ![]() | |
Ron McCallum – Emeritus Professor at The University of Sydney [12] | ![]() | |
Rory A. Cooper – Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh [13] | ![]() | |
Neil Jacobson – Founder & CEO of Abilicorp | ![]() | |
Arlene Mayerson – Attorney at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund | ![]() | |
Thomas Porter – Volunteer at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center | ![]() | |
Susan Sygall – Co-founder & CEO of Mobility International USA (MIUSA) | ![]() | |
Mary Verdi-Fletcher – President & Founding Artistic Director of Dancing Wheels | ![]() | |
2013 | ||
Laurie Ahern – President, Disability Rights International | ![]() | |
Tony Coelho – Primary Sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 | ![]() | |
Rosangela Berman Bieler – Senior Advisor on Children with Disabilities, UNICEF | ![]() | |
Michael Ashley Stein – Executive Director, Harvard Law School Project on Disability | ![]() | |
Kathleen Martinez – Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor | ![]() | |
Patrick D. Rummerfield – Community Liaison, International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, Kennedy-Krieger Institute | ![]() | |
Yoav Kraiem – Chairman, National Council for Community Relations – Mental Health | ![]() | |
Lex Frieden – Director, Independent Living Research Utilization program at TIRR Memorial Hermann | ![]() | |
U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin – Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District | ![]() | |
Marlee Matlin is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for a BAFTA Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards.
John Robert Lewis was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where, in an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
Lex Frieden is an American educator, researcher, disability policy expert and disability rights activist. Frieden has been called "a chief architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act." He is also regarded as a founder and leader of the independent living movement by people with disabilities in the U.S.
Judith Ellen "Judy" Heumann was an American disability rights activist, known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement". She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and various other disability interest groups significantly contributed to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development. Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.
Disability Rights International (DRI), formerly Mental Disability Rights International, is a Washington, DC–based human rights advocacy organization dedicated to promoting the human rights and full participation in society of persons with disabilities worldwide. DRI documents conditions, publishes reports, and promotes international oversight of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Henry Viscardi School is a state supported special school operated by the Viscardi Center in New York for severely disabled students requiring a specialized educational setting with medical supports. The location is in Albertson, New York. The school enrolls students in grades pre-K through 12. The school was originally called The Human Resources School. Founded by Henry Viscardi Jr. and supported by public and private initiatives, the tuition-free school was the only one of its kind in the world. It was renamed in honor of its founder.
Attanayake Mudiyanselage Kithsiri Senarath Bandara Attanayake known as Senarath Attanayake was a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer.
Dr Satendra Singh is a medical doctor at the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Delhi. A physiologist by profession, Singh contracted poliomyelitis at the age of nine months but went on to complete a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, Kanpur and later on Doctor of Medicine in Physiology. He is the first-ever Indian to win the prestigious Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards given to extraordinary leaders in the global disability community.
Susan E. Sygall is an American disability rights advocate and civil rights leader. She is the CEO of Mobility International USA (MIUSA), which she co-founded in 1981.
Caroline Casey is an Irish activist and management consultant. She is legally blind due to ocular albinism. In 2000, aged 28, she left her job in Accenture to launch the Aisling Foundation, with an aim to improve how disability is treated. In 2001, she trekked across India, solo, on elephant back for c.1,000 km, raising €250k for The National Council for the Blind of Ireland and Sightsavers. Casey became the first female mahout from the west. The journey was the subject of a National Geographic documentary Elephant Vision and a TED Talk.
Henry Viscardi Jr. (1912-2004) was an American disability rights advocate who championed the cause of equality and employment of disabled people in workforce. In 1952, on Eleanor Roosevelt's advice, he founded Abilities, Inc. which has now expanded to the Viscardi Center - a non-profit organization and global leader advocating for the empowerment of people with disabilities. To provide equal educational opportunities to children with disabilities of all ages, he founded the Human Resources School in Albertson, New York in 1952, which was later renamed the Henry Viscardi School in his honor. He served as advisor to several US presidents bringing many policy changes in the disability sector. He is also the author of the book Give Us The Tools. In his honour, the Viscardi Center in 2013 started the Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards to identify and recognize exemplary leaders from the disability community.
John D. Kemp is an American disability rights leader who co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities and is currently the president and chief executive of the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Viscardi Center is a non-profit organization in Albertson, New York, dedicated to educating, empowering and employing people with disabilities. It was founded in 1952 by Henry Viscardi, Jr., a noted disability activist, who was also advisor to eight US Presidents on matters pertaining to disability policies. John D. Kemp is the current President of the Viscardi Center.
Marilyn E. Saviola was an American disability rights activist, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York from 1983 to 1999, and vice president of Independence Care System after 2000. Saviola, a polio survivor from Manhattan, New York, is known nationally within the disability rights movement for her advocacy for people with disabilities and had accepted many awards and honors for her work.
Abha Khetarpal is an Indian disability rights activist and counsellor based in New Delhi, India. She is the founder of Cross The Hurdles – a counselling/educational resource website and mobile application designed for people with disabilities.
John Lee Cronin is an American entrepreneur and advocate who has Down syndrome. He is the co-founder of John's Crazy Socks, a social enterprise with a mission to spread happiness. Cronin is the first entrepreneur with Down syndrome to win the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and is also the recipient of the Henry Viscardi Achievement Award. He was named an alternate to the U.S. National Snowshoe Team for the Special Olympics World Games in March 2017.