Developmental Disabilities Reform Act

Expert Review Panel

In October, 2007 an Expert Review Panel was

established to advise the Department on Disability
Services, Management Advisory Committee (DDS
MAC) Legislative Committee on the development of
new legislation governing supports and services for
District of Columbia residents with developmental
disabilities and their families. The Expert Review Panel
members are experienced professionals with
nationally-recognized expertise in the field of rights,
supports and services for people with developmental
disabilities.

As of May 19, 2009 the members of the Expert Review

Panel are:

Robert L. Burgdorf Jr., Professor, University of the

District of Columbia David A. Clark School of Law

James F. Gardner, Ph.D., President and Chief
Executive Officer of The Council on Quality and
Leadership in Supports for People with Disabilities

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Tony Records, President of Tony Records and
Associates, Inc.

Michael Smull, Chair of The Learning Community
for Person Centered Practices(TLC-PCP), and
Partner in Support Development Associates, LLC

Nancy Thaler, Executive Director of the National
Association of State Directors of Developmental
Disabilities Services

Short biographies of the Expert Review Panel members

are provided below.

Professor Robert L. Burgdorf Jr.

Disability rights scholar and advocate for 36 years

Law professor for 20 years

Director of law school Legislation Clinic for 18 years

Author of original version of the Americans with
Disabilities Act;

so recognized by the United States Supreme Court

Professor Burgdorf has been a professor at the

University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke
School of Law since 1989. He directs the Legislation
Clinic and teaches Disability Rights Law and

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Constitutional Law. He has written extensively on the
rights of persons with disabilities, and was the
principal author and general editor of the first law
school casebook on the subject.

In 1983, Burgdorf co-authored the U.S. Commission on

Civil Rights' first major report on discrimination
against people with disabilities, ACCOMMODATING THE
SPECTRUM OF INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES. He was the
principal staff author of TOWARD INDEPENDENCE, the
National Council on the Handicapped's 1986 report to
the President and Congress, and wrote the original
version of the Americans with Disabilities Act that was
introduced in the 100th Congress. The United States
Supreme Court has recognized Professor Burgdorf as
"the drafter of the original ADA bill introduced in
Congress in 1988," and has relied on Professor
Burgdorf's article, The Americans with Disabilities Act:
Analysis and Implications of a Second-Generation
Civil Rights Statute, published in the HARVARD CIVIL
RIGHTS – CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW in1991, as
authoritative commentary on the origins of the ADA
(Sutton v. United Airlines, 527 U.S. 471, 484-85
(1999)).

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James F. Gardner, Ph.D.
(Joined the Expert Review Panel in April, 2009)

James F. Gardner, Ph.D. is currently the President and

Chief Executive Officer of The Council on Quality and
Leadership in Supports for People with Disabilities.
From 1977 to 1986 he served as Director of Community
Programs and then as Vice President for Community
Program Development at The Kennedy Institute at The
Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Gardner received his Ph.D. in a dual program of

American Studies and American Social History from
Indiana University. He was awarded a Joseph P.
Kennedy Jr., Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Medical
Ethics at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Gardner
later completed the Masters in Administrative Sciences
program at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr.
Gardner has held faculty appointments at The Johns
Hopkins University and the University of Maryland.
He has written and edited numerous publications in
the field of human services.

During his career Dr Gardner has worked as a unit

director in a large public institution, an executive

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director of a regional educational collaborative, vice-
president of a university center on excellence in
developmental disabilities and director of an
educational center at a private psychiatric health care
system. He has served on numerous local and national
non-profit boards and advisory councils.

Dr. Gardner is a nationally recognized leader in the

application of quality improvement methods to the
field of human services. Through presentations at
national conferences, in his teaching and writing, and
during organizational consultations, Dr. Gardner
argues that the measurement of quality must move
from compliance with organizational process to
facilitating person directed outcomes for people.

Dr. Gardner has directed The Council’s research and

publication initiative in the area of quality of life
design, measurement, and improvement. Since the
introduction of The Council’s Personal Outcome
Measures® in 1993, Dr. Gardner’s research has
appeared in Intellectual and Developmental
Disabilities and the International Review of
Research in Mental Retardation.

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Tony Records

Since 1992 Tony Records has been the President of

Tony Records and Associates, Inc. (TRA), a human
services consulting firm in Bethesda, Maryland. Mr.
Records has 35 years of experience and has consulted
in 22 states with regard to services and supports for
people with disabilities.

Mr. Records is involved in several projects of national

and statewide significance, including the following:

Serves as Independent Consultant to parties in Arc

Connecticut v. O’Meara, a Settlement Agreement
regarding people with developmental disabilities
who are on waiting lists for community services.

Appointed as Independent Monitor for the state-
operated Rosewood Center in Maryland to improve
quality as part of a plan of correction directive from
the state Office of Health Care Quality.

Provides training for states on Best Practices in
Protection from Harm for people with disabilities in
residential settings.

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Administers a grant with the Illinois Council on
developmental disabilities to establish individual
Microboards and Human Services Cooperatives.

Consultant with DC Quality Trust on developing
measures to evaluate community integration.

Serves as an expert evaluator and witness in
individual litigation that involves alleged abuse
and/or neglect of people with developmental
disabilities.

Consults with numerous service providers in
various states on quality improvement, community
inclusion, monitoring and protection from harm.

Through a contract with the state of Tennessee,
administers an individual advocacy program for
people who were previously institutionalized.

On a voluntary basis, Mr. Records provides
individual advocacy assistance to several
individuals with disabilities and their families.

In 2006-2007 served as a consultant with the US
Department of Health and Human Services in
establishing best practices for states for people with
disabilities on waiting lists for community services

Consultant to the state of Nevada regarding the
assessment and transition to the community of

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 people with disabilities who currently live in
nursing homes and other institutions.

As a nationally recognized expert, Mr. Records speaks

on a regular basis at national, state and local
conferences of organizations serving people with
disabilities.

Past projects and accomplishments of Mr. Records

include the following:

Served from 2000-2004 as the court-appointed

Independent Expert in the Embreeville case in
eastern Pennsylvania that includes 175 people with
developmental disabilities and evaluates the quality
of community supports and services provided to
class members and assists the parties in shaping
corrective action plans.

From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Records was a consultant
with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the US
Department of Human Services to provide technical
assistance to OCR staff in evaluating states’
planning documents regarding Olmstead
compliance.

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Served as an Expert Consultant for the Key Bridge
Foundation assisting in mediation of complaints
regarding compliance with the Olmstead US
Supreme Court decision, which requires states to
ensure that people with disabilities receive services
in the most integrated settings.

Appointed in 1994 by the US Court to serve as the
Special Master in the landmark Pennhurst case and
supervised the parties toward a successful ending of
court oversight in the 26 year-old litigation.

Served as an expert consultant for the Special
Master in the Petties case in the District of
Columbia, which involves more than 3,000
students receiving special education and related
services.

Chairperson of the Association of Court Monitors
and Special Masters who administer cases involving
people with disabilities.

Served as an expert consultant to the US Justice
Department in class-action litigation in Tennessee
and the District of Columbia.

Conducted performance and program audits in
New York, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina,
North Carolina, New Jersey and Delaware.

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Michael Smull

Michael Smull is the Chair of The Learning Community

for Person Centered Practices(TLC-PCP), and Partner
in Support Development Associates, LLC. He is the co-
developer of essential lifestyle planning and has
worked in 47 states, Canada, the U.K, Australia, and
Belgium. Mr. Smull has been working with people with
disabilities for the past 36 years. He has had extensive
experience in nearly all aspects of developing
community services. He helped found 3 community
agencies, existing agencies to convert from programs to
supports, and states, regions, and counties to change
their structures to support self-determination. He has
helped people leave institutions in the US and the UK.
Mr. Smull has written extensively on issues relating to
supporting people with challenging behaviors, person
centered planning, and the challenge of changing our
system to one that will support self-determination.
From 1982 through 1997 he was at the University of
Maryland. When he left he was a Research Assistant
Professor with the Department of Counseling and
Personnel Services at the College Park Campus and a
Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of
Pediatrics, at the University of Maryland School of

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Medicine. As a consultant Mr. Smull works with
agencies, regions and states on learning the person
centered thinking skills that underlie good person
centered plans, using the skills, and developing plans
that are implemented. He and his colleagues are
working in 8 states, the UK and Canada to help
agencies to make the changes needed to become person
centered organizations. He is the recipient of the 2006
AAMR service award.

Nancy Thaler

Nancy Thaler is the Executive Director of the National

Association of State Directors of Developmental
Disabilities Services. The Association provides member
state agencies with analyses of federal statutory and
regulatory policies that affect people with disabilities;
disseminates information on state-of-the-art programs
and service delivery practices; provides technical
assistance and support to member states; and offers a
forum for the development of state and national policy
initiatives. Ms. Thaler served as Pennsylvania’s Deputy
Secretary for Mental Retardation from 1993-2003
managing a system that served over 80,000 children
and adults. Ms. Thaler also worked for the Federal

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Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from
2003-2006 and was responsible for the quality
improvement strategy for the Federal Medicaid Home
and Community-Based Waiver Program. Ms Thaler a
Master of Human Organization Science with a specialty
in public administration from Villanova University. Ms.
Thaler is the parent of an adult son with cognitive
disabilities.

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