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Conchita Hernández, Chair

Maria (Conchita) Hernandez Legorreta was born in Mexico and grew up in California. She advocates for the rights of blind children and their parents in the public-school setting in the United States and abroad through a lens of intersectionality focusing on social justice. Conchita received her Bachelor's degree from Saint Mary’s College of California, majoring in International Studies, Spanish, and History. She then went on to Louisiana Tech University where she received her Master’s in Teaching with a focus on teaching blind students. As well, Conchita earned a Masters certificate in working with Deaf-Blind students from Northern Illinois University. She is currently a Doctoral student at George Washington University pursuing a degree in Special Education. Conchita has been published in Future Reflections and Rooted in Rights. Conchita keeps up with research in special education and serves as a peer reviewer on the Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research. Conchita conducts workshops on best practices for educators and professionals in the field of disability and advocacy. Conchita worked in the rehabilitation field in Nebraska where she set up innovative programming for disabled adults. Conchita has been the director of the NFB BELL Academy in Washington DC for the past 5 years. This program mainly serves blind youth of color and empowers them to learn braille and foster a positive philosophy on blindness and disability. Conchita is the founder and Chair of METAS (Mentoring Engaging and Teaching All Students) a non-profit organization that trains educators in Latin America that work with blind/low vision students and other disabilities. In this role she engages lawmakers in policy discussions around people with disabilities and inclusion. Conchita is also a co-founder of the National Coalition of Latinx with Disabilities that seeks to amplify the voices of disabled Latinx in the disability rights movement. Currently, Conchita works at a public school in Washington DC as a teacher of blind students. Conchita strives to be a voice for change for educators, professionals and advocates to make full inclusion a reality for people with disabilities in Latin America. 

Garrick Scott, Vice Chair

Garrick Scott was born in Warner Robins, Georgia. He has a daughter, four brothers and five sisters. His vision loss is due to a hereditary eye disease, known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. Scott attended college at Gardener Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He graduated with a BA degree in Communication Studies. Scott says he pursued this degree because it had 90% of all the things he enjoyed such as radio and TV work, newspaper and drama classes. He is currently in his 5th year as the President of the NFB of GA. In 2002, he was nominated for membership to the advisory board for the Library for Accessible Services, formerly known as the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. In 2004, he received his state certification to be a peer counselor for people with disabilities. Garrick has continued to work diligently in the blind community. He currently serves as Chairman of the board for Disability Link, a Center for Independent Living. He is a recent graduate of the Leadership Dekalb class of 2011, a program designed to foster future leaders in the county. Garrick plans to continue promoting the mission and philosophy of the NFB and to encourage blind citizens of Georgia to live the life they want.

Sachin Pavithran, Treasurer

 

Sachin Pavithran was born in India, but grew up in Dubai which is in the United Arab Emirates. Sachin came to the US at the age of 17 to start his college career at Utah State University. He graduated from USU with a degree in Business Information Systems, and another degree in Marketing. Sachin received his Masters in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling and has a PhD in Disability Disciplines with an emphasis on disability policy. Sachin is currently the Program Director of the Utah Assistive Technology Program (UATP) and the Disability Policy Analyst for the Center for Persons with Disabilities. Sachin enjoys being an advocate for people with disabilities. He keeps up with the research and development of various assistive technologies, and is involved nationally in working with legislators in the Federal and State Government to bring change in Policies that have a direct impact on individuals with disabilities. He has reached out to the international community on Disability Policy and Infrastructure Development based on the requirements set forth by the UN CRPD. He has trained and presented in several countries such as the United Arab Emirates, India, Egypt, Syria, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Mexico. Sachin has over seventeen years of direct involvement in development, testing, and training for accessibility for assistive technology, extensive experience in lecturing and training others in accessible technology. Sachin provides technical assistance on accessible information technology for individuals and groups. He helps in the evaluation of products related to web accessibility and design. Sachin has had extensive experience working with the higher education community dealing with access to instructional materials and transition from K – 12 to post-secondary education and then to the workforce.  He is strongly engaged in the dialogue about cultural diversity, inclusion of people with disabilities and LGBTQ to promote equality on a state and national level.  He sits on various boards nationally such as, The Research and Development committee for the National Federation of the Blind, the Assistive Technology Act Programs national board, Association of University Centers on Disabilities national board, and Senator Hatch’s Advisory committee for disability policy. He was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Access Board where he chairs several rule making committees in this capacity.  He was appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights where he serves as a strong advocate for civil rights for all nationally.  Sachin aspires to be in the fore-front of establishing and implementing national and international policy that impacts people with disabilities around the world.

Richie Flores, Secretary

Richie Flores hails from the great state of Texas. Richie has dedicated much of his talents and abilities to improving the lives and impressions toward blindness in his work. As a graduate of Texas Tech University Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling Program, earning a degree in History from Texas A&M University, and a graduate of the Louisiana Center for the Blind, Flores enthusiastically seeks opportunity to increase the potential to engage youth to compete equally in the classroom and increase the blind’s role in the workforce. His experience in empowering advocacy group ranges from grassroots to state governed. In addition to his current work as Mentor Coordinator, Flores has five years’ experience as a teacher of life-skills for students with disabilities at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. As a project manager, Flores developed a scope of innovative and inclusive curriculum tools for engaging the print disabled population in exploring topics that range from navigating college to securing meaningful employment utilizing the NFB Newsline program---a multi-accessible electronic resource service for blind Americans.

Flores also serves as an Awareness Consultant for The Blind Café---a traveling pop-up event that empowers positive social-change by hosting the sighted community in a unique forum that allows for open dialogue regarding disability emphasized by the appreciation of the musical and culinary arts. He also is on the Board of Directors of the National Beep Baseball Association---an international adaptive sport for the blind. Flores won a World Series championship ring in this sport as a player for the Austin Blackhawks in 2014. Richie has been honored to take part-in and guide blind student’s paths toward vocational rehabilitative enrichment, higher education, internships, and employment. Richie is currenlty a career counselor at the University of California Berkeley.