Advisory Board

Jan Garrett

Ms. Garrett is the Program Manager for the Pacific ADA Center. She previously served as Executive Director for the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley, CA. CIL was the very first independent living center established in the 1960’s by pioneer Ed Roberts. From 1998 to 1999, she was a disability contract manager for the non-profit Progressive Research and Training for Action, and from 1995 to 1998, Ms. Garrett was a staff attorney for the law and policy non-profit Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. Prior to that, she served was at the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney specializing in immigration and naturalization services. She is a member of the California State Bar and the Ed Roberts Campus Board of Directors.

Norman Mineta

Secretary Norman Y. Mineta is vice chairman of Hill & Knowlton in Washington, DC. Secretary Mineta served in Congress for over twenty years. He became the first Asian American Cabinet Secretary when President Clinton appointed him in 2000 as Secretary of Commerce. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Secretary Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. For almost thirty years, Mineta represented San Jose, California, first on the City Council, then as Mayor, and then from 1975 to 1995 as a Member of Congress. As a Member of Congress, Mineta developed the transportation portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). His interest in disabilities issues began during his campaign for Mayor of San Jose. One of his friends, who had been in a wheelchair all his life asked Mineta to spend the first week as mayor in a wheelchair. Mineta won the position of Mayor and in that first week he put a wheelchair in his car each morning, and quickly realized how difficult things were for people with disabilities. He couldn't get up the stairs to City Hall, go to the bathroom or get a drink from the public fountain. As a result, San Jose was one of the first cities to have curb cuts -- in 1971.

"That's what this [ADA] legislation is all about: creating a society where everyone is a participant, a society where people are brought together -- not set apart."

--Norman Y. Mineta, Rep. from California, U.S. House Subcommittee on Surface Transportation.