Fort Myers' John R. Vaughn Appointed by President Bush to National Council on Disability

NCD #06-518
August 8, 2006 

WASHINGTON—John R. Vaughn, a resident of Fort Myers, Florida, was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a member and chairperson of the National Council on Disability (NCD) (www.ncd.gov). The U.S. Senate confirmed Mr. Vaughn’s nomination on August 3, 2006.

Mr. Vaughn is a retired executive in the financial services industry. He is also a former commissioner of the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services and commissioner of the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired. Mr. Vaughn was appointed to the Florida Rehabilitation Advisory Council for Blind Services by Governor Jeb Bush and he was also appointed to U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao’s Working Committee on Work Place Issues in connection with President Bush’s Twenty-first Century Work Force Initiative.

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.