Name: Alison Hillman
Professional Title: Senior Program Officer
Affiliation: Open Society Foundations
Country: United States
Title of Presentation: Disability Clinics: Forging New Paths and Inclusive Education for Persons with Disabilities
Short Bio: Alison A. Hillman is Senior Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations where she manages a global grant making and advocacy program focused on implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. From 2002 to 2009, Alison was Director of the Americas Programs at Disability Rights International where she advocated for the rights of persons with disabilities, monitoring conditions and treatment in closed institutions and encouraging governments to develop community-based alternatives. She was the lead attorney in presenting the first petition in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights challenging on-going abuses in a psychiatric institution. Alison is primary author of Ruined Lives: Segregation in Argentina’s Psychiatric Asylums (2007) and Human Rights & Mental Health in Peru (2004). Since 2011, Alison has served as a Member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, as appointed by President Obama.
