Claudia Gordon
By Tom Calarco
Claudia Gordon, whose advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities has been recognized with several public service awards, was growing up as a normal, healthy kid in rural Jamaica when a profound event changed her life.
“I was eight years old, out playing one day during the summer, when I suddenly felt this pain in my middle ear,” she recalls. “I thought nothing of it but it became more severe as the day went by.” Access to healthcare was limited where she was living; at the clinic to which her aunt took her, only nurse was available to diagnose her problem. Th e nurse couldn’t determine what or why it happened–only that Gordon was going deaf.
“My world changed overnight,” she shares. “In Jamaica, there was a lot of stigma attached to any disability, and it was associated with superstitious beliefs.”
When the school year started, she was kept at home, and what followed was a period of rejection and discrimination. “It was very isolating,” she explains. “I had been the brightest and most outgoing kid in my class, and now I was spending hours away from school all by myself.”
Three years later, her mother brought her to New York City, where public school officials sent her to the Lexington School for the Deaf–a move, she asserts, that “was a blessing in disguise.” For the first time, she was with others like herself, and she found it very nurturing. She believes she was fortunate that her deafness occurred at an early age. “It shaped who I am,” she notes, “and I believe my life would’ve taken a different direction–and I would not have achieved what I have–if I had not become deaf.”
Success soon followed for Gordon. She was valedictorian of both her junior and senior high school classes. She also was a three-year member of the only deaf mock-trial team in the state of New York at the time. Sponsored by the New York Bar Association, these competitions allow participating students to play the roles of attorneys in hypothetical court cases.
As a result of that – and her experiences of discrimination because of her deafness–Gordon decided in her junior year to pursue a career in law in order “to be an advocate for those whose voices that are not often heard.” She studied political science at Howard University, and earned her law degree from the Washington College of Law in 2000.
After law school, she earned a Skadden Fellowship, a two-year award given to deserving law school graduates who “wish to devote their professional lives to providing legal services to the poor, the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights.”1 The program requires each fellow to create their own public interest project with a sponsoring organization. Gordon’s sponsor was the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center, where she worked as staff attorney/Skadden Fellow.
Her leadership in the field of disability rights included active participation in organizations such as the National Council on Disability, the National Association of the Deaf Law Center, and the National Black Deaf Advocates Association (which she served as vice president). In 2003, she was chosen by the American Association of People with Disabilities as one of its annual Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award recipients (five emerging leaders were so recognized that year), which “recognizes and honors emerging leaders within the national cross-disability civil rights movement.”2
In 2003, Gordon was appointed as an attorney advisor for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and was promoted to senior policy advisor in the following year. She was instrumental in making sure the Executive Order for Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness was properly implemented so that those with disabilities are not neglected during times of crisis, such as an earthquake, tornado, fire, flood, hurricane, or act of terrorism.
After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, Gordon was deployed to Baton Rouge to serve as a subject matter expert on disability issues. In that capacity, she trained staff members on awareness issues, met with disability advocates and service providers to document and respond to issues and concerns, and resolved accessible shelter and transitional housing issues in coordination with federal and state officials. Her tireless efforts earned her the Gold Medal Award in 2006 from Michael Chertoff , then Secretary of DHS.
Gordon recently left DHS to work for the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP). It administers and enforces three legal authorities that ban discrimination and require federal contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to ensure that all individuals have an equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or status as a Vietnam-era or disabled veteran. She will serve as special assistant to Patricia A. Shiu, OFCCP’s deputy assistant secretary.
“I always tell people,” she concludes, “[that] regardless of your circumstances, your life is what you make of it; don’t become a victim, and don’t let [your circumstances] define you. There will always be obstacles and roadblocks, but none of them are insurmountable. Through hard work and faith, and by surrounding yourself with positive people and mentors, anything is possible.”DB
Notes
1 See Skadden Fellowship Foundation, available online at www.skaddenfellowships.org/.
2 See American Association of People with Disabilities, Paul G. Hearne Awards, available online at www.aapd.com/DMD/PaulHearneAward. html.
Tom Calarco is a freelance writer and historian of the Underground Railroad. He lives in Orlando, Fla.
From the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Diversity & The Bar®