Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson (she/her) is a multiracial, disabled, Black, Mexican, and Queer advocate advancing disability justice. Recently honored as a 2025 D-30 Disability Impact List awardee by Diversability, Brittanie has dedicated her career to building a just and caring economy where disabled people, homecare workers, and families thrive together.

Grounded in lived experience as a homecare employer, Brittanie’s work bridges policy, organizing, and education. She has testified at state legislatures, served on Minnesota’s Task Force on Eliminating Subminimum Wage and the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, and held leadership roles as Equity and Justice Director at The Arc Minnesota and Communications Director at the Minnesota Council on Disability. She organized with SEIU Healthcare to win Hero Pay for homecare attendants, was a member of the Minnesota Coalition for Disability Wage Justice, and contributed to campaigns that secured statewide disability justice training requirements for educators in Minnesota.

Now based in Oakland, Brittanie serves as California Lead Homecare Organizer with Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network, where she organizes employers to be fair employers and to protect Medicaid and advance rights for immigrant and domestic workers. She has trained dozens of organization on ableism, presented to universities across the Midwest and California. Her work is rooted in community care, systems transformation, and cross-movement and disability solidarity.

2025 Symposium Schedule

8:30- Breakfast

9:00- 10:00 Keynote Speaker- Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson "From Compliance to Justice: Practicing Disability Justice in Higher Education"

10:00-10:45 Speaker, Faculty, and Staff Panel

Associate Professor in the Kirkhof College of Nursing
Elizabeth has 15+ years of experience in academia and is a resolute advocate for student success and support.  Her commitment to life-long learning and working with students led Dr. Davis to complete the Florida State University (FSU) College Student Well-Being, Trauma and Resilience professional certification. Currently she is focusing on completing the Fundamentals of Neurodivergence professional certification through FSU. Dr. Davis is a graduate of the American Association of Colleges in Nursing (AACN) Access, Connection and Engagement Leadership Institute 2025 cohort.  She was selected to participate in this six-month program developing strategies to enhance academic excellence.  During this time Dr. Davis explored strategies to create an inclusive learning environment for neurodivergent students. At a national level, her work with Doc with Disabilities: Access in Nursing education team has led to collaborative efforts addressing disability access barriers in nursing education and practice through publication, presentations, and webinar development.

 Assistant Professor of Special Education at Grand Valley State University.
Julia received her Ph.D. in special education, with a focus on students with extensive support needs (severe disabilities), from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her passion is promoting the meaningful inclusion of students with extensive support needs within their communities. Prior to her career in academia, she worked in the Chicago Public Schools as a special education teacher and inclusion facilitator. Her scholarly work focuses on strategies to best prepare pre-and in-service teachers to become inclusive educators and agents of change.

Assistant Director, Student Academic Success Center
Liz Chase has been working with students at Grand Valley State University since 2015. She spent her first two years in the Student Accessibility Resources Office assisting students with academic accommodations and coordinating the Campus Links program designed for students with autism spectrum disorder. She then went on to serve as the Student Retention and Special Projects Coordinator in the Division of Student Affairs and was co-director of the anti-violence peer education group, ReACT!. Liz now serves as the Assistant Director in the Student Academic Success Center where she partners with students on their academic journey. Prior to GVSU, Liz acted with a non-equity theatre company called The Chicago Mammals and was a Program Manager for Design Dance, a company offering after-school dance programming in the Chicagoland area.

Director, Student Accessibility Resources

Jayne holds a Master of Arts in Student Affairs in Higher Education and Counseling Psychology as an Alumni of Western Michigan University (WMU). With 27 years of experience in higher education, she has dedicated her career to advancing accessibility resources and inclusion for students with disabilities. Prior to joining Grand Valley State University, Jayne served as the Director of Disability Services for Students at Western Michigan University for 14 years, where she developed innovative programs that transformed the landscape of disability support services at WMU. Her passion for empowering students with disabilities to become effective self-advocates has been the driving force behind her work. Among her notable accomplishments, Jayne created and implemented the Disability Inclusion Film Series, Peer Mentoring Program, and Academic Advisor Ally Training. These initiatives have been instrumental in fostering a more inclusive and supportive campus environment while promoting greater awareness and understanding not just among faculty and staff, but the entire university community.