Former DD chief speaks at California conference

ANTIOCH, California—“Branch out and become one” was the conference theme that former resident of Saipan and CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities Executive Director Thomas J. Camacho recently made a presentation on as a panelist at the 3rd Regional Asian & Pacific Islanders Disabilities Conference held last Nov. 19-20 at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Garden Grove, California.

Camacho co-presented with two California-based attorneys on two separate sessions at the two-day conference.

“Knowing Your Legal Rights under the ADA” was the theme of the workshop session. However, Camacho’s main presentation focused on the ADA’s Reasonable Accommodation Process in the Workplace. His co-presenters, William Tamayo, Regional Attorney for the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission for the San Francisco District (which includes Northern and Central California, Hawaii, Guam, and the CNMI) and Patricia Kinaga, attorney and partner from the international law firm, Jonesday, (recipient of the International Law Firm of the Year at the 2005 Asian Legal Business China Law Awards), presented on their recent disability employment case law they’ve worked on.

Over 300 participants of Asian and Pacific Islanders descent attended the conference. More specifically, participants were Asians and Pacific Islanders with disabilities, advocates and service providers. Camacho currently is a resident of Antioch, California but works in the City of Oakland, CA for the Pacific ADA & IT Center (commonly known as the Pacific Disability & Business Technical Assistance Center (Pacific DBTAC)) and concurrently operates and owns Thomas J. Camacho & Associates, an ADA & Disability Consulting services based in Northern California.

The Pacific DBTAC (www.pacdbtac.org) assigned Camacho to represent the organization as well as to present in the workshop sessions. The Pacific DBTAC is a federal funded program responsible for providing technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Accessible Information Technology whose mission is to build a partnership with the disability community and the general public to promote full and unrestricted participation in society for people with disabilities through education and technical assistance.

Created after the passage of the ADA by the National Institute on Disability & Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education, the Pacific DBTAC is one of the 10 regional centers across the US with jurisdictions over the State of Arizona, Nevada, California, Hawaii and the Pacific Basin of American Samoa, CNMI, Guam & Palau. The CNMI community (people with disabilities, families, government and private entities) can avail of the toll free number by calling 1(800) 949-4232 Pacific Standard Time or write to adatech@pdbtac.com.