View our 2024 DisAbility Impact Award Nominees!
Tomorrow Lofton-Pickens
A Special Education Teacher who serves on the Richmond Education Association Board of Directors and spearheaded the Inclusion Program Circle of Friends
Brittany Bourque
A Certified Peer Recovery Specialist working for I Choose Life, Inc, where she advocates for individuals with addiction and mental health disorders in rural Mathews, Virginia
Dustin Wade
A nurse and QMHP-A/C with over a decade of experience in Richmond′s Tri-City area, who currently serves as the Director of Clinical Operations at Abraxas Home Care
Wendy Bundy
A passionate Peer Recovery Specialist who has connected with individuals all across the Commonwealth through speaking engagements and as a Virtual Program Lead with Robin Hope
Lizzett D Uria
A Family Support Specialist at the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC), where she fills the gap in services for Latino families with students with disabilities
Jennifer Miller
Jennifer Miller: A Special Education at Glen Allen High School, where she acts a helpful colleague, advocate, coach, celebrator-of-people, and more
Teslyn Savage
A Program Manager at Beacon House, where she supports the members to lead lives that are fulfilling and of their choosing
Heather Dooley
A helpful advocate at the Lynchburg Area Center for Independent Living (LACIL) and member of several Special Education Advisory Committees across the Commonwealth
Frank Woodson
Image and bio coming soon.
On Our Own of the Roanoke Valley
An organization promoting recovery by providing a safe peer run alternative for the purposes of socialization, recreation, support and education
Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center
An organization dedicated to empowering families to become better advocates for their children with disabilities through advocacy and education and to help young people with disabilities take a more active role in decisions about their future
We are no longer accepting applications for the 2024 Impact Awards
dLCV (the disAbility Law Center of Virginia) seeks to award individuals or organizations from across the Commonwealth of Virginia who have risen to the challenge of supporting, advocating for and championing individuals with disabilities. If you know of a person or organization who has demonstrated the ability to adjust, adapt and excel in the areas of direct support services or disability advocacy, they are likely an excellent candidate for our impact awards! Keep reading for more information on the process, timeline, and eligibility of nominees. This year, we will also be honoring our legacy Darrel Tillar Mason Awardee during the Impact Awards!
2024 Impact Awards
Who is eligible? Individuals or organizations who:
- Provided direct services for individuals with disabilities
- Demonstrated skill and dedication in the realm of disability advocacy
- Used their lived experience to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities
- Conducted this work during 2023
- Are located within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Examples of individuals or organizations to consider:
- A special education professional who continually perseveres in their advocacy for students with disabilities
- An organization who provided cost-effective ways to serve people with disabilities, despite new and challenging accessibility issues present in our society
- An individual with lived experience with disability who creatively problem solved for themselves or others in a way that could serve as a model for other individuals with disabilities
- An organization that works to fill in gaps in services, supports or resources for people with disabilities
Nominations are due no later than December 31st, 2023 at 11:59pm.
Nominees will be informed of their nomination during the first week of January and asked to RSVP to the online Impact Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, January 25th at 6 p.m. The event will be held virtually, live on zoom, and streamed to our Facebook page. If you would like to register as an attendee, click here. All nominees will be recognized at the ceremony and given a brief opportunity to speak on their work. Award recipients will be selected by a committee of dLCV staff & board members, based on a developed rubric of criteria. Recipients will be chosen from each area of Virginia. Awardees will be notified in advance of their award.
2024 Darrel Tillar Mason Award
In 2023, the disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV) will honor an individual whose work has promoted equal rights and self-determination for Virginia’s disability community. Advocates, coaches, mentors, special education professionals, professors, direct service professionals and self-advocates are all worth contemplating for nomination.
The Darrel Tillar Mason Excellence in Advocacy Award is named in honor of a notable and longstanding advocate for people with disabilities. In past years we have been able to present this in recognition of the amazing advocacy work done with and on behalf of people with disabilities all across the Commonwealth. You can read more about the work of Darrel Tillar Mason here.
We especially seek a nominee whose efforts towards inclusion supports the principles embodied in the mission of the dLCV:
to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation.
A nominee for dLCV’s Darrel Tillar Mason Excellence in Advocacy Award should have demonstrated effective support of the principles embodied in the mission of the dLCV by their advocacy. The nominator should specify which aspects of the dLCV’s mission have been the focus of the nominee’s advocacy.
The selection committee recognizes the importance of a family member’s tireless advocacy for his or her family member with a disability. Likewise, we recognize the importance of dedicated workers employed by agencies, companies, or organizations who faithfully serve individuals with disabilities. We also recognize there are many people with disabilities who serve as mentors, coaches, and self-advocates. However, we are seeking to bestow this award on an individual who has gone beyond doing a great job for a family member or an employer. The committee is interested in honoring an individual whose advocacy or representation has had an impact on the larger disability community, which can include the nominated person.
Nominees could be advocates, coaches, mentors, special education professionals, professors, direct service professionals, nonprofit employees, lawyers, judges, legislators or self-advocates. Self-advocates are individuals with disabilities who use their own stories and lived experience to shape a larger part of the disability rights or pride movement. Alternatively, the desired impact could be related to local, state or national volunteer initiatives that provide services to individuals with disabilities or raise the public’s awareness of the need for new, additional, or improved services for the disability community.
There are those who make changes so people with disabilities have the independence to participate fully in their own communities. Another impact could be related to local, state, or national policies or regulation – support of, or opposition to. For example, an elected official who championed a policy or regulation benefitting the disability community or defeated one that did not may make an excellent nominee. A lobbyist who educated elected officials and motivated the introduction of the positive policy or regulation could be nominated, as well. A private citizen who utilized community organizing strategies to encourage public support for the policy or regulation would also be a worthy nominee.
- Volunteer, personal efforts, and paid work are all eligible endeavors.
- The selection committee will give favorable consideration to advocacy over a sustained period.
- We are looking to support individuals, not businesses, governments, or non-profits, for this particular award.
- Nominees must be nominated for their impact in Virginia.
Nominees will be informed of their nomination during the first week of January and asked to RSVP to the online Impact Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, January 25th at 6 p.m. The event will be held virtually, live on zoom, and streamed to our Facebook page. If you would like to register as an attendee, click here. All nominees will be recognized at the ceremony and given a brief opportunity to speak on their work. Award recipients will be selected by a committee of dLCV staff & board members, based on a developed rubric of criteria. Recipients will be chosen from each area of Virginia. Awardees will be notified in advance of their award.