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Nancy Ward
Information Coordinator
Medicaid Reference Desk
Nancy Ward is the Information Coordinator for the Medicaid Reference Desk, which is the first accessible website for people with cognitive disabilities. Ms. Ward is a tireless advocate and has many causes, and works with numerous organizations that allow people with disabilities to expand their rights and become active participants in the community.

Jim Dickson
Vice President of Governmental Affairs
American Association of People with Disabilities
Jim Dickson, AAPD’s Vice President of Governmental Affairs, and who leads AAPD’s Disability Vote Project, was recently appointed by Senator Chris Dodd to the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) Advisory Board. Dickson, who is blind, is a nationally recognized advocate and veteran disability organizer who has worked on elections for more than thirty years. He was previously Vice President of the National Organization on Disability, where his get-out-the-vote efforts resulted in an increase in turnout of voters with disabilities by 3.5 million. Jim has strong working relationships with members of the election community, including the Federal Election Commission (FEC), National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Election Reform Task Force, which played a major role in the drafting and passage in October 2002 of the “Help America Vote Act” (HAVA).


James deBoer
Project Organizer
Rhode Island Disability Vote Project
James deBoer is the lead organizer of the Rhode Island Disability Vote Project. He has worked in the field of civic involvement for several years, and has served in his current position since the beginning of 2006. During his time with the Rhode Island Disability Vote Project, the organization has grown from 10 to 26 member organizations encompassing a broad range of disability groups and established a Steering Committee where the majority of members have a disability.