Balchander Jayaraman
Balchander Jayaraman is the project director at the Inclusive Preparedness Center (IPC), which is a part of Inclusion Research Institute (IRI). He directs IPC’s efforts to better prepare District residents and business in the event of a disaster. Under a just completed project he led the development and delivery of over 20 preparedness trainings and exercises targeting District of Columbia residents and businesses using multiple scenarios.
He is also as the principal developer of an innovative online training called “Developing a Disaster Ready Organization”. This national project, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), provides an online framework for organizations that provide services to persons with disabilities and other special needs to become better prepared for a major emergency or disaster. He is responsible for developing the curriculum, managing contractors to build the platform, pilot testing the content and interface, and gaining approval from subject matter experts and FEMA.
Previously, Mr. Jayaraman has spearheaded IRI’s efforts to build better coordination between and improve the capabilities of District agencies to increase employment opportunities and improve the delivery of employment related services to persons with disabilities. He has worked with both employment agencies that link people to jobs and health agencies that provide support services through his work on the Work Incentives Grant and the Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG). These project include conducting a needs assessment of persons with disabilities on their knowledge and use of the One Stop Career Centers, delivering staff training on best practices for serving persons with disabilities through the One Stops, creating a marketing campaign that will increase awareness and use of the One Stops by persons with disabilities and an outreach campaign to employers on the advantages of hiring persons with disabilities.
Mr. Jayaraman started his career in Washington, DC after completing his education at the University of Kansas in 1993. He joined the successful Senate campaign of Attorney General John Ashcroft. From 1995, he served the Senator on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Aide, covering Welfare reform with a focus on the Charitable Choice provision and other issues under the jurisdiction of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services Committee. In this position, his duties included reviewing existing law, researching policy initiatives, corresponding with citizens and state organizations, briefing and making recommendations to the Senator.
Lex Frieden
Lex Frieden is Professor of Health Informatics and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and he is Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and of Community and Family Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
Mr. Frieden is also Senior Vice President at MemorialHermann|TIRR Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he directs the ILRU Independent Living Research Utilization Program – a research, training and technical assistance program on independent living for people with disabilities and those who are aging.
Mr. Frieden has served as chairperson of the National Council on Disability, president of Rehabilitation International, and chairperson of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Credited with defining and pioneering the concept of "independent living" in the early 1970's, he has published many articles and papers and he speaks frequently on the subject.
From 1984 to 1988, Mr. Frieden served as Executive Director of the National Council on the Handicapped (now the National Council on Disability). In this capacity, he was instrumental in conceiving and drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He has received two Presidential Citations for his work in the field of disability. A graduate of Tulsa University, Mr. Frieden has been honored as a Distinguished Alumnus. He also holds a master's degree in social psychology from the University of Houston where he completed doctoral requirements in rehabilitation psychology. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in law (LL.D.) by the National University of Ireland.
