Rural and Remote Service Provision in Vocational Rehabilitation Webinar

Christina Espinosa is the Division Director of Community Education for UK-HDI and a nationally Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. For more than 14 years, she has been working in assistive technology, accessibility, home modification, and universal design. Ms. Espinosa is the Project Director for the UK-HDI Center for Assistive Technology Services (CATS), funded through the Assistive Technology Act, and Co-PI of the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment contract with Wisconsin. She served on the AUCD Project Advisory Committee from 2013-2015 and has Chaired HDI’s Disability Equity and Inclusion Committee since 2014. She has served as vice chair for Lexington’s Center for Independent Living since 2017, and vice president of Lexington Fayette Urban County Government Mayor’s Commission for People with Disabilities since 2018.

Phillip Rumrill is a Professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education at the University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington. He also serves as Director of Research and Training in the UK Human Development Institute. He has worked for the past 30 years teaching and conducting research in university-based Rehabilitation Counseling programs. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rumrill has authored or co-authored more than 300 journal articles and 16 commercially published books on various topics related to the education and employment of people with disabilities. His research interests include aging and disability, issues facing students with disabilities in higher education, assistive technology and reasonable accommodations, chronic illness, the career development implications of disability, services and outcomes of the state-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation program, workplace discrimination, and traumatic brain injury.

Ms. Conder has a Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling as well as a Master’s in Special Education. She is a certified Rehabilitation Counselor. Prior to joining the VRTAC-QE, Ms. Conder worked with Vocational Rehabilitation for 7 years, beginning as an employment specialist, moving into a counselor position, and then as the VR administrator for the Community Work Transition Program.