What Powers Us:

The AAPD Hearne Leadership Awards Program

Paul G. Hearne: A Legacy of Leadership

AAPD founder Paul G. Hearne was a passionate advocate for increased employment of people with disabilities. Paul opened doors for thousands through his leadership of Just One Break, an employment agency for people with disabilities in New York City, and The Dole Foundation for Employment of People with Disabilities in Washington, DC.

AAPD is the product of Paul’s vision: an organization that would promote economic power and public participation for people with disabilities, while cultivating the next generation of leaders. Hearne Award winners are his living legacy.

Each year, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) recognizes those outstanding emerging leaders with disabilities who exemplify leadership, advocacy, and commitment to the broader disability community. Two emerging as leaders in the cross-disability civil rights movement will each receive $10,000 to help them continue their progress and further connect their work with AAPD’s national outreach. The recipients of the 2012 Hearne Leadership Awards will also star in a short documentary film about their work and have an opportunity to join national disability leaders at the AAPD Leadership Gala in Washington, DC.

This year, AAPD will once again recognize outstanding individuals personifying leadership, advocacy, and dedication to and for the disability community at large. Two individuals, emerging as leaders in the cross-disability civil rights movement will each receive $10,000 to help them continue their progress as leaders and further connect their work with the national grassroots of AAPD. The recipients of the 2012 Hearne Leadership Awards will also have an opportunity to meet and network with national disability leaders at the AAPD Leadership Gala in Washington, DC in March 2012. U.S. residents with any type of disability are eligible to apply.

AAPD will be accepting applications for the 2013 Hearne Award in early October of 2012.

Meet the 2012 Hearne Award winners: Amber Smock and Mark Barlet

Amber Smock is the Director of Advocacy at Access Living, an organization that enables people with disabilities in Chicago to live fully-engaged and self-directed lives and promotes justice and independent living at the local, state, and national levels. Smock oversees public policy and organizing around housing, closing institutions, and other cross-disability issues. She is a nimble advocate, equally effective in grassroots organizing and lobbying the Illinois legislature. Amber is respected in the disability civil rights movement as a dedicated and talented agent of change.

Mark Barlet of Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia is the co-founder and President of the AbleGamers Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing greater accessibility to digital entertainment. Barlet, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force as a medical laboratory technologist, saw firsthand the value of digital entertainment technology. He has since worked to eliminate barriers to the digital revolution for people with disabilities.