Mary Harman

Mary Harman (she/her) is a Deaf Latina and passionate disability rights advocate.

About

Mary is currently a Senior Associate at Dendros Group, LLC and owns a consulting company, which provides expertise in areas including civil rights, communication access and equity, and intersectional advocacy. Her career includes experience in public service, legislative affairs, and the private and nonprofit sectors. Highlights include her work in the Hawaii State Senate to enact landmark legislation requiring open captioned showings at movie theaters in the state and serving on the Disability Policy Committee for the Biden-Harris Campaign.
Mary also creates accessible, educational content on social media (Instagram: @MaryHarman). She is involved in humanitarian work and currently serves as Vice President of Off-The-Grid Missions, a nonprofit dedicated to providing deaf people with access to lifesaving, sustainable resources in high-risk and remote regions across the globe. In her spare time, Mary enjoys taking scenic hikes, learning, spending time with loved ones, and riding horses.

Find her on LinkedIn

Agenda

Oct

Nothing about us without us: Community-building and bridging within and with the disabled community

The passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 ensured disabled people equal opportunity under the law, but, as disability advocates Judith Heumann and John Wodatch have written, “[L]aws can only do so much.” Indeed, although disabled people make up 20 percent of the US population—constituting the largest minority group in the country—they remain severely underrepresented in spaces of power and influence. In spite of increasing public awareness around disability issues, disabled people continue to remain largely locked outside our halls of power, with real...