Kathleen Bates

Kathy Bates is a teacher, advocate, and writer. She envisions a future where disability is seen as just another form of diversity. She works for the Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) as a Disability Policy and Training Specialist, working on the Disability Health Project grant. She is also a 2014 graduate and current faculty member for NH-ME LEND (Leadership Education and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities) and has been serving on the New Hampshire (?) Medicaid Advisory Committee (MAC) for over five years. In addition to LEND, Kathy co-taught a graduate-level class at UNH called Contemporary Issues and Developmental Disabilities and a class for Direct Support Professionals at Great Bay Community College called Supporting People into Community Life." She is a member of ABLE NH’s Oral Health and Transportation Task Forces and enjoys writing a blog called From Where I Sit for UNH’s IOD. She uses this platform to discuss issues from a disability perspective. Kathy is a facilitator and member of SALT (Self Advocacy Leadership Team). She is a 1998 graduate of the NH Leadership series and became a group leader for the program soon thereafter. Since then, she has spent over 20 years teaching advocacy skills to people with disabilities and their families.  

Kathy has her own business called Wings and Wheels Consulting Services and has been a featured speaker at numerous conferences and workshops around New England including the NH Transition Community of Practice 2014 Summit. On the national level, she was a co-presenter for Why Advocacy Matters 2015 at the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities Conference, a panelist for a discussion entitled An Inclusive Community Starts with Us at the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Conference 2018, and a co-presenter with a panel on Forging Strategic Alliances with Disability Advocates at the National Adult Protective Services Conference 2019. Kathy loves using her life experiences and sense of humor to educate and engage audiences. Kathy has cerebral palsy.  

Education

•  BA, Elementary Education, Saint Andrews Presbyterian University (Formerly Saint Andrews Presbyterian College), Laurinburg, North Carolina, 1984.