NAD Announces First Bloch Leadership & Advocacy Scholarship Recipient

NAD Announces First Bloch Leadership & Advocacy Scholarship Recipient

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is pleased to announce that
Lisa Bothwell, a fourth-year law student at Loyola University in New
Orleans, is the first recipient of the Nancy J. Bloch Leadership &
Advocacy Scholarship.

Bothwell recently completed her tenure as a student attorney at the
Loyola Law Clinic. As a student attorney, she handled fair housing
discrimination complaints and represented indigent clients in cases
where landlords withheld security deposits. She has also clerked for
the Law Office of Derek R. Van Gilder and the Bastrop County Courthouse
in Bastrop, Texas and the Advocacy Center in New Orleans, La. She is a
member of the Louisiana Work Pays Committee, which advocates for
employment for people with disabilities.

Additionally, Bothwell has assisted the NAD with its intake of deaf
truck drivers for their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) exemptions
through her work for Stein & Vargas, LLP.

Before beginning law school in 2009, Bothwell worked as an Outreach and
Training Specialist at the Advocacy Center and as the Community
Emergency Preparedness Information Network (CEPIN) National Public
Relations Specialist for Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing, Inc. (TDI).

Bothwell received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Texas
State University-San Marcos. As an undergraduate, she engaged in
grassroots advocacy as a student body senator by reinstating American
Sign Language classes to the curriculum and promoting access to closed
captioning on campus.

“We are pleased to welcome Lisa Bothwell as the first recipient of this
prestigious scholarship,” said Bobbie Beth Scoggins, NAD President.
“Lisa is an outstanding example of our young, deaf community, and I
know the NAD will benefit greatly from her work with us this summer.

The Nancy J. Bloch Leadership & Advocacy Scholarship, established by
the NAD at its 50th Biennial Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. in 2010,
encourages and enhances the distinguished history of the NAD by
advancing professional opportunities for young deaf and hard of hearing
individuals pursuing careers in law, public policy, nonprofit
management and related fields.

Bloch served the American deaf and hard of hearing community diligently
for nearly 19 years as Chief Executive Officer of the NAD. In 2011,
when her tenure ended, the scholarship in her name was created to honor
Bloch’s life-long commitment to invest in the future of young deaf and
hard of hearing advocates so that they, too, can pave the way for
others to follow.

Currently supported through generous individual contributions made
during and since the 50th Biennial NAD Conference in Philadelphia, Pa.,
the Nancy J. Bloch Leadership & Advocacy Scholarship relies on
individual, organizational, corporate and foundation support to further
its goals. To donate online or via mail/fax, visit
http://www.nad.org/donate and select the button for “Nancy J. Bloch
Leadership & Advocacy Scholarship Fund” in the Donor Designation
section to ensure that your contribution is directed appropriately.

Source:

http://www.nad.org/news/2012/5/nad-announces-first-bloch-leadership-advocacy-scholarship-recipient

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