Los Altos Town Crier » Resident named to president’s committee on disabled

By Town Crier Report

$Image from article Resident named to president\'s committee on disabled$
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Claudia Coleman with U. S. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Claude Allen.

President George W. Bush has reappointed Los Altos resident Claudia Coleman to be a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities for the remainder of a two-year term expiring May 11, 2006. The reappointment took place last week at a swearing-in ceremony at Administration for Children and Families (ACF) headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“Every day, the lives of people with intellectual disabilities are enriched by the work of this committee,” said Health and Human Services Secretary, Tommy G. Thompson. “Claudia Coleman is a leader who is helping to strengthen those lives.”

“I am pleased by the reappointment of Mrs. Coleman,” said Dr. Wade F. Horn, assistant secretary for children and families. “The work that we do on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities will be strengthened by her continued involvement.”

The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) is a federal advisory committee, established by executive order to advise the President of the United States and the Secretary of The Department of Health and Human Services on issues concerning citizens with intellectual disabilities. The committee coordinates activities between different federal agencies and assesses the impact of its policies upon the lives of citizens with intellectual disabilities and their families. President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative is designed to help Americans with disabilities by increasing access to assistive technologies, expanding educational opportunities, increasing the ability of Americans with disabilities to integrate into the workforce and promoting increased access into daily community life.

Coleman’s career has spanned three decades. Following a 20-year tenure with Hewlett-Packard (HP) that began as an administrative assistant and ended as a highly regarded marketing manager, Coleman has devoted herself to an extensive range of volunteer, charitable and philanthropic activities, including the newly established Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities at the University of Colorado.

Coleman and her husband, William T. Coleman, III, have received numerous citations for their work and contributions in support of developing technologies to expand the abilities of those with cognitive disabilities to learn, understand and communicate.

For more information on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, logon to: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/pcpid/index.html. For information about President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative, logon to www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/.