Staff

Judy Mark has an adult son with autism, which led her to become co-founder and President of Disability Voices United. Judy leads DVU’s advocacy and programmatic efforts. Judy was instrumental in the passage of the Self-Determination Law and has been active in its implementation. Judy has written and edited two books on the Self-Determination Program and has spoken extensively throughout California and trained thousands of individuals and families. Judy also leads DVU’s legislative and advocacy efforts and has frequently testified before California’s legislature. Judy has appeared frequently in the media advocating for people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and on other major issues such as police violence, access to voting, and the problems with conservatorship.

Judy also serves as a faculty member at UCLA, teaching undergraduate courses on autism in the Disability Studies Program. She led the Autism Media Lab, which produced seven short documentaries on the inclusion of people with non-speaking autism. Her past professional experience includes over 30 years leading communication and development efforts for national policy organizations, most extensively focusing on immigrant and refugee rights.

Judy has a BA from UCLA in Communications Studies and a Masters in Politics and Public Policy from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University with coursework at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. Judy lives in Los Angeles with her husband, attorney Allen Erenbaum, and son, Joshua, and she visits her daughter, Emma, often wherever she may be across the globe. 

Nina leads DVU’s policy and legislative efforts and assists with DVU programs.

Nina has an adult son with autism and is an active participant in parent advocacy efforts on behalf of the East Bay autism and developmental disability communities. She has played a key role in developing the East Bay Parents Housing Network into an effective family support and education group. She is currently working to focus attention of local agencies on the urgent need to improve crisis prevention and intervention services.

Nina retired in 2018 as an Associate Regional Counsel in the Office of Regional Counsel at the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office based in San Francisco. For over 30 years she supervised attorneys providing legal support for the agency’s implementation and enforcement of federal environmental statutes.

Kristianna Moralls (she/her) is the Director of the Self-Determination Program Projects.  As the director, Kristianna leads the SDP trainings and conferences.  She supports the regional center’s local advisory committee contracts for training and resource fairs. Kristianna implements the competitive integrated employment project research and training.

Sharing a deep commitment to advocating for the civil rights of people with disabilities and a passion for person-centered planning, Kristianna brings dedication and thoughtfulness to her role. She has firsthand knowledge of the challenges of this community and has many years of experience navigating these systems with life experience both advocating for her Autistic son as well as supporting foster youth with disabilities.

Kristianna has almost two decades of professional experience with Special Education Advocacy and Regional Center Advocacy through private and non-profit organizations. She supported disabled foster youth as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and as an Educational Rights Holder through Children’s Law Center Los Angeles.

Kristianna completed training for Independent Facilitation with State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) and The Guidelight Group. She has a certificate from Helen Sanderson and Associates in Person-Centered Thinking. She earned a certificate and continues to work with the Disability Voices United (DVU) Emerging Leaders Program. Kristianna completed her COPAA/USC UCEDD Special Education Advocacy Training (SEAT) and is a member of the Council of Parents, Attorneys & Advocates. Kristianna has Dispute Resolution Program Act (DRPA) certification from Loyola Law School.  She is a certified Olweus Bully Prevention trainer and QPR Gatekeeper Instructor.

Born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange County, Kristianna obtained a Bachelor of Science in Applied Social Science, a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, and is a Doctoral student in Public Administration.

Gilda Giron is the Director of Outreach and Leadership Training for Disability Voices United. As director, Gilda is leading the Emerging Leaders Program, which focuses on growing and nurturing self-advocates and family advocates to become leaders.

Gilda earned a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from California State University, Los Angeles and has certification in Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship (DIR) based model and customized employment. She has been an advocate and ally to the disability community for over 18 years, specifically with underserved communities. Gilda has worked in various settings including community college, adult day programs, and state-funded programs that serve people with disabilities. Her most recent roles include supervisor for an adult day program and Floortime therapy working collaboratively and in a multidisciplinary approach with families.

Gilda is the mother of three children, two of whom have a disability. Over the course of her career, she has been passionate about disability rights and having a daughter with a disability led her towards furthering her advocacy for people with disabilities. Gilda and her daughter were the first to undergo an experimental fetal surgery procedure for spina bifida. She is a passionate family advocate, providing support to newly diagnosed parents considering fetal surgery and parents that have gone through the process.

A California native, Gilda lives in Orange County with her husband of 11 years and three children.

Darlene Hanson has her Masters of Arts in Communication Disorders from Whittier College in California. Within her role as DVU’s Director of Communication Rights Projects, Darlene leads the Communication Disabilities Access Network (CDAN) and works on communication access, including strategic planning.

She is currently in private practice in Southern California. Darlene works with individuals, their support teams, and their families to build communication. Her professional experiences have included work in the public schools, private practice, as a Director of Communication Services for a Non-Profit.

As a speech and language pathologist Darlene conducts assessments in the areas of speech, language, and augmentative communication. Darlene has included Facilitated Communication Training in her assessments and practice since 1991. Over the course of the years she has taught at Chapman University, presented at local, state and national conferences, and conducted trainings on Autism, Augmentative Communication strategies, and Facilitated Communication Training through out the United States.

She is also one of a group of Master Trainers for Facilitated Communication Training, and assisted with the writing of the Best Practice Standards for Facilitated Communication Training distributed through the Institute for Communication and Inclusion of Syracuse University. She is now a Board Member of the Wellspring Guild. Darlene has co-authored research and articles on communication for those with severe communication impairments, and is a co-author of Investigation of Authorship in Facilitated Communication, (Journal of Mental Retardation, Aug. 1996).

Miguel is the Assistant Director of Outreach and Leadership Training for Disabilities Voiced United. Miguel’s goals align with the mission statement of DVU, which is to empower the disability community with the knowledge, experience, and encouragement of their given rights.

Miguel lives with a disability known as Cerebral Palsy (CP). Miguel was diagnosed with CP at the age of four, and his parents were told he would never walk. Miguel went on to live the life of a “typical disabled child” by going through special education with the uncertainty of what life after school really meant for him. He gave his first steps at the age of 11yrs old and without realizing it, Miguel made the choice to take his future into his own hands by pushing his parents to enroll him in regular education at the age of 14yrs old.

Miguel then went on to graduate from Montebello High School, and later attended community college. After which he became an advocate for disabled rights and was involved at the city and state levels. For four years Miguel has worked for a non-profit, assisting disabled adults in finding gainful employment and speaking to parents on the importance of not “disabling” their disabled child. Miguel has decided to challenge himself yet again by getting on stage and performing his “sit down comedy” routine. He has performed throughout California and parts of Mexico by raising awareness and infusing humor into what he considers the gift of life.

Miguel run his own business as a motivational speaker. He wrote a film on disability awareness called My Reality which is based on a poem that he wrote as well. In the poem, Miguel talks about how he believes society views his as well as other disabilities. Miguel’s goal is to prove that we can all turn a blind eye to the ‘dis’ and extenuate everyone’s abilities!

Monica Rejniak is a human resources and operations management leader. Monica will be working to ensure DVU is compliant with the regulations and compliance issues that dictate how California employers conduct business. Her primary objective is to streamline processes and establish policies that enable staff and volunteers to focus on driving the DVU mission forward.

She brings over 15 years of experience working with the I/DD community and prides herself on being a community builder. In addition, she brings her own experience, as a person who lives with the challenges of epilepsy, to DVU.

Monica earned her BA in Anthropology from San Francisco State University. She uses cultural anthropology to inform and guide her in the business environment. Understanding the people and culture of DVU provides insight on how to best support the team. Monica seeks to listen and learn the “other” perspective in order to build partnerships within DVU. She believes that partnerships, built on mutual trust and respect, are the basis for a successful organization.

Monica is a California native and enjoys exploring the world with her husband, Mick. They have two adult daughters that amaze them on a daily basis.

Born with cerebral palsy, Tim Jin advocates for the rights of anyone with a speech-related disability to have access to the communication tools and support they need. He has used an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device since elementary school in the 1980s. His work has been featured by TEDx and other publications. Mr. Jin graduated from California State University in Long Beach with a degree in speech communication. He lives in Southern California , and also serves on the boards of several nonprofits.  Mr. Jin is in Self Determination and achieving life to the fullest

Ed Hirtzel manages the organization’s external communications and facilitates DVU’s development operations through both grant writing and grant management. She also directs all social media and websites for DVU and coordinates the technical portion of DVU’s public-facing webinars and calls.

Ed holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Millersville University in Pennsylvania and an MFA in Creative Writing from St. Mary’s College of California. Before DVU, she served as the Publishing Manager of River of Words, a nonprofit that uses youth poetry and art to connect students to their watersheds. She also taught rhetoric and composition at St. Mary’s College of California.

Ed is a neurodivergent, previously-mainstreamed, Deaf butch lesbian who lives with multiple less-visible disabilities in the form of chronic autoimmune diseases and mental health disabilities. These lived experiences inform her work with and outside of DVU. She is particularly passionate about helping build a world where all people have communication access, as well as maximum choice and control over their own lives. Ed lives on Agua Caliente Band (of the Cahuilla Tribe) land, also called Palm Springs, with her fiancée Aleesha and their beloved cat.

Kristina graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in Psychobiology and a double minor in Chicanx Studies and Disability Studies. As Outreach and Leadership Team Assistant, Kristina helped formulate the Emerging Leaders Program alongside Gilda and Miguel to provide self-advocates and family-advocates the skills necessary to become leaders in their communities and state to advocate for systemic changes.

She is currently working on her medical school application and plans to apply the next cycle. In the future, she would love to co-own a medical clinic that will cater towards people with low incomes and people with developmental disabilities in helping transition away from the medical model of disability and creating a space where all patients and families feel seen and heard.

Vejas has been with DVU for the past year, with a primary focus on the Communication Disability Access Network (CDAN).

Vejas Vasiliauskas is about to start his second year of the Masters in Counseling, Option in Rehabilitation Counseling program at California State University, Los Angeles. Previously, he earned a bachelors degree in English from Loyola Marymount University. Vejas, who has been blind since birth, would like to become a rehabilitation counselor and help other blind individuals seek employment and learn what opportunities are available.

William is a high school student currently in transition. He has autism, is non-speaking and types to communicate. As an intern with CDAN he has been an active advocate for access to communication and education while promoting inclusion.

William enjoys presenting at conferences demonstrating that non-speaking doesn’t mean non-thinking. He would like to seek post-secondary education by attending college to pursue writing and continue with his advocacy work. He enjoys spending time with friends, swimming and traveling with his family.

Jules Shinbrot (she/her) is an undergraduate senior at UCLA. She is an English major (creative writing emphasis) and Disability Studies minor. Apart from working at DVU, Jules is one of the co-executive fiction editors for Westwind UCLA’s Journal of the Arts. In the future, she hopes to be a Disability Rights attorney by day, and fantasy/sci-fi author by night.