Board President/Secretary: Laurie Gilmer (she/her)
Title / Position: Oregon Principal Broker with Think Real Estate
Bio: Ms. Gilmer is currently a licensed Oregon Principal Broker with Think Real Estate. She
also has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She has worked with the
homeless and people with mental illness providing crisis intervention, advocacy and
counseling as her first career. She then later changed careers to become a Realtor. She was the program supervisor for In a Different Light Theatre (IDLT) when it began in 2001, a volunteer theatre program for people with mental illness. IDLT has produced full-length plays along with using role plays to provide training for law enforcement in crisis intervention. Laurie has been serving on the board of Oregon Cultural Access since its inception in 2001 and then evolution to Disability Art and Culture Program. Laurie lives with her wife and cat in NE Portland.
Board At Large: Cheryl Green (she/her)
Title / Position: Cheryl Green, MFA, MS is a multi-media digital artist, captioner, audio describer, and Digital Operations Lead and a Member-Owner at New Day Films.
Bio: Cheryl Green, MFA, MS is a multi-media digital artist, captioner, audio describer, a 2017 AIR New Voices Scholar, 2020 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, and Digital Operations Lead and a Member-Owner at New Day Films. She brings her lived experience with multiple invisible disabilities to creating media that explores politically- and culturally-engaged stories from cross-disability communities. Her audio and written blog, transcribed podcast, and documentary films are at www.WhoAmIToStopIt.com. She reported and produced one episode for the Peabody-nominated Season 2 of 70 Million.
Board At Large: Phyllis Petteys (she/her)
Title / Position: Accessibility Specialist for Disability Services at Portland Community
College
Bio: Phyllis focuses on inclusive and equitable practices in education by collaborating with students and faculty to reduce barriers and promote access; further disability studies in curriculum and promote culturally responsive teaching, and facilitate conversations about and understanding of disability justice.
Staff and Board Member: Heather Minton (she/her)
Title/Position: Interim Director, Disability Arts and Culture Project
Bio: Ms. Minton served on DACP staff from Summer 2019 before stepping into the Interim Director role. Heather earned an MA from Multnomah University and has used her experience of lifelong physical disability to inform her writing practice and her advocacy work with DACP and other organizations. Her career and interests have spanned education, mentorship, abuse prevention and stand-up comedy, among other fields. She lives in east Multnomah County with her partner, Ben.
Founder: Kathy Coleman (she/her)
Title / Position: Artistic Director, Disability Art and Culture Project 2005-February 2020
Bio: Ms Coleman founded DACP with other Portland area disabled dancers due to the
difficulties finding accessible and welcoming places to dance. She trained with both
integrated and non integrated dance companies and teachers, including Axis Dance
Company, Light Motion Dance Company, Jurg Koch at the University of Washington,
Yukio Suzuki, Yumiko Yoshioka and has participated in the Anarcha Project and Tiresias
at the University of Michigan. She is a certified DanceAbility instructor and has
completed the Brain-Compatible Dance Education Institute. She is involved in the
Disability Arts movement nationally and presented on “The Right to Dance” at the
Society for Disability Studies Conference and University of Washington Integrated
Dance round table.
Ms. Coleman worked in the non-profit and social service area for over 20 years. This work includes Disability Rights Oregon, benefits planner; Multnomah County
Health Department Healthy Birth Initiative, community health worker; Director of
Community Works!, an HIV and substance abuse outreach program and Counseling
Coordinator at the Women’s Center of San Joaquin County. Ms. Coleman died in February 2020.