Nicki Vander Meulen is a Juvenile attorney with a passion for special education law. When Nicki was elected to the Madison Metropolitan School District Board (MMSD) in 2017, she became the first autistic school board member in the United States.
*Nicki will also be an expert in the Legal Issues breakout session.
Marissa Alert, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and speaker. She is passionate about helping people improve their health habits, lose weight, manage stress, and overcome barriers to live a life that’s in line with their values. As an Associate Director and Clinical Product Expert at Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions, she enjoys developing digital programs for mental health and chronic disease conditions, such as diabetes and obesity. Whether it’s delivering corporate wellness webinars or leading in-person sessions, she loves connecting with people to help them move from where they are to where they want to be.
Topic Area: Mental Health
Hayley Archer is an associate attorney at Hawks Quindel, SC., a Wisconsin plaintiff-side law firm. She represents people who experience discrimination at work or in school, including disability discrimination and issues arising under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Attorney Archer also represents claimants seeking Social Security Disability benefits. She believes in client-centered legal advocacy and strives to help her clients make educated legal decisions.
Topic Area: Legal Issues
Lauren Bishop, PhD, MSW, is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work and principal investigator at the Waisman Center. Her National Institutes of Health-funded research focuses on empowering autistic adults to live long, healthy, and self-determined lives in their communities. She is currently studying disparities in health and wellbeing in autistic adults as they age. Her social work practice experience includes roles as a school counselor and a social skills group leader for children, adolescents, and adults on the spectrum. Dr. Bishop is also broadly interested in identifying strategies to strengthen the social work workforce that assists individuals with developmental disabilities in the community.
Topic Area: Medical Health
AnnaMaria Bliven has been working online at home since 2002. She has in-depth knowledge of the tips, tricks, and techniques it takes to get, keep and advance in remote work at home jobs. Since December 2013, she has shared experience, expertise and knowledge for how to seek, find, and successfully apply for a remote job position.
Topic Area: Employment
Kirsten "Kitty" Bonde has worked with and for people with disabilities for more than thirty years in a variety of capacities, from providing direct care to being a Special Education teacher and Support Broker. Whether working in the schools or in the community, Kitty has focused on helping others develop networks of support that allow them to build positive, meaningful lives, based on their unique visions and goals. Currently, Kitty works as a Children's Long Term Support and Services Coordinator for Avenues to Community and helps families access resources to support their child's development and success.
Topic Area: Support Services & Resources
Sarah Bubash is a third year doctoral student in special education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests address how quality of life outcomes are influenced by the narratives and representations of disability that are communicated in teacher preparation programs and educational practices. Before starting her doctoral program, she taught for 10 years as a special education teacher of students with low to extensive support needs.
Topic Area: Social Justice
Catherine (Casey) Burrows, PhD; LP, is an Assistant Professor in the Autism and Neurodevelopment Clinic at the University of Minnesota. She is involved in psychological evaluations and therapy services for individuals with ASD at the U of MN, and also helps lead research studies examining sex differences in autism. Outside of work, Dr. Burrows serves as a board member for the Academy of Whole Learning, volunteers at UpTurnships (a local nonprofit), and enjoys baking and rock climbing.
Topic Area: Mental Health
Philip Chen, PhD, is an assistant professor of political science at Beloit College. His research and teaching interests focus on American politics, with a specialization in political psychology. His research examines the ways identity affects public opinion about candidates and politics, as well as political behaviors such as voting and participation. Recent work looks at the role of benevolent sexism in driving COVID-19 public health compliance, the ways that race and gender interact to affect campaign donations to candidates, and how the gender of a Supreme Court nominee affects the ways people evaluate the nominee.
Topic Area: Societal & Political Trends
Lauren Dettmer has been engaged with the Disability Community since college, from which she graduated with a Bachelors in Special Education. She has worked as a special educator, autism therapist, and math and reading interventionist. In 2019, she became a job coach for individuals with disabilities, before making her final career change to become Community Organizer for LOV Inc. She has worked with individuals with disabilities in homes, schools, the workforce, and now the community. A lifelong resident of Madison, WI, she is always learning about resources in the Madison area so that families can be sure their loved ones have everything they need.
Topic Area: Support Services & Resources
Karen A. Fisher, MSW, MEd, LCSW, is a Clinical Social Worker at the Center for Students with Disabilities, UW-Whitewater, 2005-present. Karen specializes in mental health and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Prior to working at the university, Karen worked with the homeless and in homelessness prevention for seven years.
Topic Area: Cultural Norms & Expectations
Louis Fucilla, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He usually teaches courses in American politics and Public Administration but has also offered courses on Political Satire and Cartoons. His research interests focus on public attitudes towards government including trust in government and attitudes towards public employees.
Topic Area: Societal & Political Trends
Lilly J. Goren, PhD, is professor of political science and global studies at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She teaches American government, the presidency, politics and culture, gender studies, politics and literature, and political theory. Her research often integrates popular culture and literature as means to understanding politics. She has written four books as well as numerous articles for national publications. She is also a regular contributor to local, national and international media.
Topic Area: Societal & Political Trends
Ibrahim Harun is a man on the spectrum who is the entrepreneur and senior graphic designer behind IH Concepts. He studied graphic design at the University of Wisconsin and Madison Area Technical College and founded IH Concepts in 2008. He currently advocates for individuals on the spectrum and is a prominent member of the Madison community.
Topic Area: Employment
Majel Hein, a financial counselor since 2013, is currently the financial counselor for the Marine Credit Union Foundation where she designed and now manages their Finding HOME program. In 2016, Majel won the National Foundation of Credit Counseling Counselor of the Year award. She is a certified credit union financial counselor, financial education instructor, and rural development direct- loan packager with certifications in credit, HUD housing counseling, financial education, and student loans. She graduated from Western Technical College with a finance degree and also holds a certificate of Non-Profit Leadership from Viterbo University. Hein has helped countless individuals and families find their path to financial stability.
Topic Area: Financial Hardship
Liza Hellenbrand is a parent of a 17-year-old on the autism spectrum. She is a District Family Engagement Liason for the Middleton Cross Plains School District and co-facilitates a parent group SPARK to help support parents with young adults and school-age children (you can find SPARK Middleton on Facebook). She has participated in numerous trainings including being a current participate of LEND at the Waisman Center to learn more on how to best support those with disabilities. This year, she completed a Life Coach training program through UW-Madison to further be able to support those with disabilities and their families.
Topic Area: Cultural Norms & Expectations
Katherine Hilson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Carthage College. Her research interests meet at the intersection of race, gender, crime, class, and social movements. Specifically, she is interested in how the police, criminal justice systems, and mass incarceration work in concert to protect and reproduce social inequality. Simultaneously, she emphasizes how members of marginalized populations individually and collectively resist aggressive and punitive policing.
Topic Area: Social Justice
Rebekah Hudock, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and pediatric neuropsychologist at the Autism & Neurodevelopment Clinic within the University of Minnesota's Medical School. She conducts diagnostic evaluations, evidence-based interventions, and clinical research and also directs the clinic's training programs. She has particular expertise in the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions for school-age and transition-age individuals and their families.
Topic Area: Mental Health
Deena Huerkamp has been working in the Autism/DD field since 2007 and has no plans to ever leave it. She has worked for MTILP-Successful Work Options for the last 8 years and currently acts as the Transition Coordinator/Case Manager. She has previously worked for residential agencies and a day treatment program. Outside of work, Deena lives in Stoughton with her husband and three cats.
Topic Area: Employment
Bill Huisheere has 30 years of experience working with individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. He is a supervisor at the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Dane County. The ADRC is the entry point to learn about services and resources for adults with disabilities.
Topic Area: Support Services & Resources
Robin Jones has served as Director of the Great Lakes ADA Center located at the University of Illinois at Chicago since its inception in 1991. The Center is part of a network of federally funded ADA Centers. The Great Lakes Center serves the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Robin has extensive experiences as a consultant and trainer regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act and its application to individuals, business and government. She serves as a consultant assisting covered entities meet their obligations by employing strategies that can be used to support the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace and community.
Topic Area: Legal Issues
Chimei M. Lee, PhD, is an assistant professor and pediatric neuropsychologist at the Autism & Neurodevelopment Clinic at the University of Minnesota. She conducts diagnostic evaluations and provides evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents with ASD and related neurodevelopmental disorders. She is also involved in translational research for serving individuals with ASD and their families with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Topic Area: Mental Health
Marsha Mansfield is the Director of LIFT Dane (Legal Interventions for Transforming Dane County) Initiative, a collaborative effort to increase economic prosperity by addressing underlying civil legal barriers and transforming court systems, such as suspension of driver’s licenses for fines and fees or changing criminal records laws through the use of technology. She also is of counsel with Hawks Quindel, S.C., working closely with other attorneys to expand Hawks Quindel’s family law practice, bringing to the firm her many years of experience in all aspects of family law. Marsha previously was the Director of the U.W. Law School’s Economic Justice Institute, the home to the law school’s civil litigation clinics and served as the Director of the Family Court Clinic. She also was a core member of Wisconsin’s Access to Justice Commission and has advocated for clients in the access to justice community for most of her legal career.
Topic Area: Legal Issues
Arik Marmorstein is an Israeli entrepreneur who founded one of Israel's first crowdfunding platforms. He recently became the father-preneur of Spectroomz, a platform dedicated to helping autistic adults find remote jobs. Some of Arik ventures and projects were published on TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Forbes, and other well-known publications. Arik also graduated from the Hebrew U law faculty in Jerusalem.
Topic Area: Employment
Patrick McBride, MD
Bio Coming Soon!
Topic Area: Medical Health
Kiley McLean, MSW, MSEd is a social work doctoral student at UW-Madison and a Waisman Center LEND trainee. Her work centers on improving health outcomes for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has worked with individuals with disabilities for over 16 years and is currently a Special Olympics coach at the East Madison YMCA.
Twitter: @KileyJMcLean
Topic Area: Support Services & Resources
Ellen Merker, MS LPC-IT, received her MS in Rehabilitation Psychology from UW-Madison and has worked in a variety of roles with neurodivergent clients. In 2017, Ellen started her agency, Heart Consulting LLC, to address the epidemic of sexual assault and abuse against people with developmental disabilities. Ellen provides counseling to neurodivergent victims of sexual assault and abuse, as well as advocacy and education around healthy and safe relationships.
Topic Areas:
Medical Health
Cultural Norms & Expectations
Peggy Olive is the Financial Capability Specialist with the UW-Madison Center for Financial Security and Division of Extension. She brings 25+ years of experience in providing financial education and coaching, and has met with more than a thousand households to help them reach their financial goals. She holds a Master’s in Social Work from UW-Milwaukee and a Professional Coaching Certificate from UW-Madison.
Topic Area: Financial Hardship
Lance Owens is the founder and director of ArtWorking, a non-profit program that supports artists with disabilities, who wish to pursue careers in the arts and small business sectors. For most of the last two decades, Owens’ professional emphasis has been on inclusionary art practices, and microenterprise development within the disability community. In particular, Owens has focused on the intersection of arts entrepreneurship and social justice, and how art as a business practice can lead to inclusion in the community for marginalized populations.
Topic Area: Employment
Paige Parr is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Wisconsin. She has over 10 years of working with people with disabilities and has spent the last 5.5 years working for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Paige is the Project SEARCH Statewide Coordinator for 30 Project SEARCH sites that provide employment training to young adults with disabilities in throughout Wisconsin.
Topic Area: Employment
Christine Peterson, PhD is on the faculty with the School of Psychology at the UW-Stout where she serves as a program director and department chair. As a school psychologist, early in her career, she became interested in developmental disabilities and autism. Following completion of a post-doctoral fellowship in 2002 at the University of Rochester, Dr. Peterson joined the faculty at Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities where she continued her work in the field of developmental disabilities, providing support, consultation and professional development training for teaching teams, community professionals, and parents. Dr. Peterson’s research interests include social skills, sexuality, and post-secondary transition for individuals with Autism and developmental disabilities, as well as differentiated instruction in the general education setting for students with complex learning support needs.
Topic Area: Cultural Norms & Expectations
Emily Prince, PhD
Bio Coming Soon!
Topic Area: Medical Health
Bruce Robertson, PhD, was born and raised in De Pere, Wisconsin and then returned to the area after completing his doctoral work at Florida State University. He currently divides his professional time among St. Norbert College, the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay and his private practice. The areas in which he spends most of his clinical work are relationships, family issues, stress, anxiety, depression, and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Using a relational family systems approach and CBT, he explores feelings, beliefs, and behaviors and how each of these interact to produce life decisions. In his spare time he enjoys gardening, remodelling and road trips with his wife and teenage twins.
Topic Areas:
Mental Health
Cultural Norms & Expectations
Tara Rollins, MA, LPC, BC-DMT, is a licensed professional counselor and a board-certified dance/movement therapist. She specializes in working with children who are on the Autism Spectrum or have experienced trauma due to abuse or being placed outside of their home. Tara also works with individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, ADHD, body-image issues/body-based traumas, and anger-management issues. Tara utilizes DMT and other creative and expressive modalities as well as mindfulness, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients process their life experiences.
Topic Area: Support Services & Resources
Jeff Spitzer-Resnick, a nationally recognized attorney with thirty-five years of experience in the fields of civil rights, disability and education law. He is the owner and principal of Systems Change Consulting, a consulting and training law firm providing local, statewide, and national consulting and training for individuals, non-profits, and public entities. His focus is on making progressive systems change in the areas of civil rights, disability rights, general and special education, and combating abuse and neglect of vulnerable populations.
Topic Area: Legal Issues
Jennifer Tryzna is a Financial Advisor with Capital Wealth Advisory Group, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Before moving to Wisconsin, Jennifer practiced law as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago and as in-house Legal Counsel for a financial services firm. Jennifer specializes in offering guidance in comprehensive financial planning, cash management and inter-generational family wealth strategies. Jennifer is proud to coach for Girls on the Run where she helps inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and to embrace their inner strengths.
Topic Area: Financial Hardship
James Williams is an autistic self-advocate. He was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 and has been lecturing on autism at various events, including autism conferences, parent support groups, and anime conventions, since the age of 11. He is the author and co-author of various autism-related books, serves on the steering committee for Wisconsin's Community of Practice on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities, and serves on the staff of anime conventions throughout Wisconsin, wherein he also teaches awareness of autism and other disabilities.
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcpjKetmuxi05tHILA4Mo9w
Topic Area: Cultural Norms & Expectations
Chelsea Wunnicke has been with UW Madison Division of Extension since 2015, and previously worked in affordable housing with a NeighborWorks America affiliate. As an Extension Educator based in in Richland County, Wisconsin, Chelsea facilitates outreach and education to help families achieve financial wellbeing.
Topic Area: Financial Hardship