14 Facts About Rebecca Cokley

Rebecca A Hare Cokley was born on December 4,1978 and is an American disability rights activist and public speaker who is currently the first US Disability Rights Program Officer for the Ford Foundation.

Rebecca Cokley was born with achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism.

Rebecca Cokley is the granddaughter of Judge James A Hare Jr, and Katherine Terrell Hare.

Rebecca Cokley earned a bachelor's degree in political science at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2001.

Rebecca Cokley began her career at the Institute for Educational Leadership where she worked for five years building tools and resources to empower and educate youth with disabilities and their adult allies.

Rebecca Cokley participated in the Education Policy Fellowship Program in 2006.

From 2009 to 2013, Rebecca Cokley served as an appointee in the administration of President Barack Obama.

Rebecca Cokley was recruited to join the Obama administration by her friend and mentor, Paul Steven Miller, a former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioner.

Rebecca Cokley first worked in the Department of Education as Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

Rebecca Cokley then served as Director of Priority Placement for Public Engagement in the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House where she was responsible for outreach to diversity and minority organizations to recruit professionals to the administration.

In July 2018, Rebecca Cokley joined the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, first director of the organization's Disability Justice Initiative.

Rebecca Cokley was a recipient of the Frank Harkin Memorial Award by the National Council on Independent Living.

Rebecca Cokley was named the 2020 Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life by Brandeis University.

Rebecca Cokley has consulted or given expert testimony to the National Council on Independent Living, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the World Bank, the Social Security Administration's Ticket to Work Advisory panel, the President's Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disability, and the committee for the US Department of Labor's Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization.