Board President/Secretary: Laurie Gilmer
Title / Position: Oregon Principal Broker with Living Realty
Bio: Ms. Gilmer is currently a licensed Oregon Principal Broker with Living Realty. 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. She was the program supervisor for In a Different Light Theatre
(IDLT), 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.
Board At Large: Cheryl Green
Title / Position: Filmmaker, Blogger, Podcaster
Bio: Ms. Green began working in disability arts in 2001 with VSA Texas and has
performed and worked backstage for both DACP and Impetus Arts since 2003. She has
an M.F.A. in Performance as Public Practice and an M.S. in speech-language
pathology. Pulling together these two disciplines, Ms. Green has taught drama for social
skills and comedy improvisation to youth with autism spectrum disorders and mental
illness, and she lectures on using personal narrative to create more person-centered
rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury. She is a filmmaker, blogger, and podcaster,
and her work can be found at http://www.storyminders.com.
Board At Large: Phyllis Petteys
Title / Position: Accessibility Specialist for Disability Services at Portland Community
College
Bio: Phyllis Petteys has been involved in the disability community since 1988. She
coordinated the Assistive Technology Center at Portland State University for 17 years
and is currently an Accessibility Specialist at Portland Community College. Phyllis was
appointed to the Portland Commission on Disability in 2009 and served until 2015.
Staff and Board Member:
Artistic Director and Board Treasurer: Kathy Coleman, MSW
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 has 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 has presented on “The Right to Dance” at the
Society for Disability Studies Conference and University of Washington Integrated
Dance round table.
Ms. Coleman has 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.