Shelley Kaplan is the Co-principle investigator and Project Director for the DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute of Syracuse University. The Southeast DBTAC, funded in 1991, is one of ten regional information centers on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Kaplan is responsible for establishing effective ADA networks across the eight southeastern states served by the project to ensure the availability of accurate ADA information and technical assistance to facilitate voluntary and effective ADA compliance efforts.
Ms. Kaplan has authored three fully accessible web-based tutorials entitled, “Welcoming Customers with Disabilities to the One Stop Center”, “ADA Basics” and “Title II for ADA Coordinators.” These courses build awareness and knowledge about the benefits of full inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the rich fabric of American life. To date, over 20,000 people have taken these courses to rave reviews.
Ms. Kaplan has expertise in public policy and disability-related legislation and professional experience in developing effective systems for the delivery of information, technical assistance, and training that have resulted in successful programs designed to maximize independence and choice for people with disabilities. She has designed a premier eight-state regional Network that is operated by people with and without disabilities. This decentralized Network offers extensive expertise and resources that expand BBI’s capacity to promote the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of society by increasing access to assistive and universally designed technologies, expanding educational and employment opportunities, and promoting increased access into daily community life. Integral to this work is Ms. Kaplan’s ability to bring diverse stakeholders from across the eight-state region together in common purpose. Ms. Kaplan is a frequent speaker on the subject both nationally and regionally.
Her marketing skills have helped various programs become well known throughout the Southeast Region. Ms. Kaplan is a frequent speaker at national, regional and state conferences on wide range of topics including the ADA, AT, systems change, innovative information dissemination and technical assistance/training methods, and project management.
Ms. Kaplan has a Master’s of Science degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech and Language Pathology from the American Association of Speech-Hearing-Language Association (ASHA). She is a native of New York, but has lived in Atlanta, Georgia for the past 26 years.
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