Class of 2015

We are proud to induct Harilyn Rousso into the Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame’s 2015 inaugural class.

Harilyn Rousso is a disability activist, feminist, psychotherapist, writer and painter. Considered one of the “founding mothers” of the U.S. disabled women’s movement, she has worked on issues of women and girls with disabilities for more than twenty-five years. She is the founder of the Networking Project for Disabled Women and Girls of the YWCA/NYC, a unique mentoring program that has been replicated widely, the executive producer of the documentary Positive Images: Portraits of Women with Disabilities, and author of numerous publications on gender and disability, including Double Jeopardy, Addressing Gender Equity in Special Education (2001, SUNY Press), and Strong Proud Sisters: Girls and Young Women with Disabilities (2001, CWPS). Her memoir, Don’t Call Me Inspirational: A Disabled Feminist Talks Back, was published by Temple University Press in 2013.

Rousso is a former board member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the Center for Women Policy Studies, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Sister Fund and Educational Equity Concepts, and a former commissioner with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. In 2003, she was selected by the National Women’s History Project as an honoree for National Women’s History Month.

Rousso’s educational background includes a B.A. in economics from Brandeis University, graduate work in economics at Harvard University, a Masters in Education from Boston University, a Masters in Social Work from New York University, and a Certificate in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from the New York School for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

Further information is available at www.harilynrousso.com.