New National Council on Disability Board Members Confirmed

Independent Federal Agency Welcomes Clyde Terry and Janice Lehrer-Stein

May 31, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC– The National Council on Disability (NCD) – an independent federal agency which advises the President, Congress, and other federal agencies on the policies and programs which affect the lives of people with disabilities – is honored to introduce two new Board Members nominated by President Barack Obama in 2010, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and duly appointed on May 26, 2011.  

In welcoming the two new members to NCD’s board, NCD’s Chairman Jonathan Young said, “One of the Council’s greatest strengths has always been the diversity of our outstanding Board, which is now even stronger with the addition of Clyde Terry and Janice Lehrer-Stein. They bring energy, ideas and a broad range of experience that enhance NCD’s goals of ensuring equal opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for all Americans with disabilities.” 

With the addition of Clyde Terry and Janice Lehrer-Stein, the NCD Board now consists of: Jonathan Young, Ph.D., Gary Blumenthal, Chester Finn, Sara Gelser, Marylyn Howe, Janice Lehrer-Stein, Lonnie Moore, Ari Ne’eman, Joe Pak, Carol Reynolds, Clyde Terry, Dr. Fernando Torres-Gill, Linda Wetters and Pam Young-Holmes.

Biographies of new Council Members:

• Clyde E. Terry is the Chief Executive Officer of Granite State Independent Living in Concord, NH. Previously, Terry was the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council. His work has included spearheading a national coalition of disability organizations on election reform and election accessibility. In this role, he co-authored “Voters Denied Equal Access at the Polls; A Status Report of the Accessibility of Polling Places in the United States” in 2001. Terry received his B.S. from Emerson College and his J.D. from the Franklin Pierce Law Center, now the University Of New Hampshire School of Law.
• Janice Lehrer-Stein is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Medical Research Charities – a national federation of research focused non-profits, which solicits and directs employee donations to the Combined Federal and State Campaigns. She is a National Trustee of the Foundation Fighting Blindness and was Chair of the 2010 Dining in the Dark dinner in San Francisco, which increased awareness about people with blindness and low vision. A board member of Disability Rights Advocates, a non-profit law firm working to improve access and secure the civil rights of individuals with disabilities, Lehrer-Stein holds a Juris Doctor degree from University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale. She was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in 1982 and is legally blind.