Naperville Illinois' Victoria Ray Carlson Appointed by President Bush to National Council on Disability

NCD #06-520
August 23, 2006 

WASHINGTON—Victoria Ray Carlson, a resident of Naperville, Illinois, and native of Iowa was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the National Council on Disability (NCD) (www.ncd.gov). The U.S. Senate confirmed Ms. Carlson’s nomination on August 3, 2006.

Ms. Carlson is a homemaker with three young girls. She was the executive director of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Iowa Chapter. She has worked at the U.S. Departments of Energy and Housing and Urban Development and for Senator Robert Dole in the Republican Leader’s Office. In addition, Ms. Carlson was the Iowa Organization Coordinator for Branstad for Governor and worked in the Iowa House of Representatives. Ms. Carlson was also a member of the Iowa Persons with Disabilities Commission.

NCD is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress to enhance the quality of life for all Americans with disabilities and their families. NCD is composed of 15 members appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In its 1986 report Toward Independence, NCD first proposed that Congress should enact a civil rights law for people with disabilities. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law.

NCD’s overall purpose is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability; and to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.