Class of 2019

Barbara Kornblau profile picture

Barbara Kornblau

Attorney, occupational therapist, certified case manager, & radical e-patient

“Mentoring to me means supporting the people who will come after you, as a commitment and a thank you to the people who came before you and mentored you. It is a commitment to the future of disability rights, to help insure the next generations are prepared to take up the disability rights torch, as leaders for the future.”

We are proud to induct Barbara Kornblau into the Susan Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.

Barbara L. Kornblau, JD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is an attorney, an occupational therapist, a certified case manager, a radical e-patient, and a person with a disability. She is a Professor of Occupational Therapy at Florida A&M University, where she teaches synchronously by distance. Currently, she collaborates with the American Association on Health and Disabilities on mammography accessibility projects, the United Spinal Association’s Pathways to Employment Program, and the National Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Association’s online social media and support groups.

A former Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow for Senators Harkin and Rockefeller, after her fellowship, she organized stakeholders in a successful effort to include people with disabilities in the Affordable Care and its implementing regulations. She founded the Coalition for Disability Health Equity to further this work. She collaborates with national civil rights, health and health equity, and disability advocacy coalitions.

Kornblau is a Past President of the American Occupational Therapy Association. As an attorney, she has litigated cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act involving discrimination in employment, state and local government services, and health care services. Ms. Kornblau has presented nationally and internationally, and is widely published. She is the parent of six, now adult children with disabilities, whom she mentored to become the independent people they are today.