Secretary Thompson Announces Creation of the HHS Office on Disability

Accelerates Departmental Work on the New Freedom Initiative

7/31/02

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the creation of the HHS Office on Disability to oversee the coordination, development and implementation of programs and special initiatives within HHS that impact people with disabilities. Margaret J. Giannini, M.D., F.A.A.P., currently the principal deputy assistant secretary for aging at the Administration on Aging (AoA), has been appointed the director to the new HHS Office on Disability.  

The announcement builds on the work of President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, a comprehensive plan to tear down barriers facing people with disabilities, which prevent them from fully participating in community life. The new office will help centralize many of the recommended strategies outlined in a report to President Bush, which explored solutions to reducing barriers in all areas of society for people with disabilities.   

"HHS is engaged in important and dynamic work to help the nearly 54 million Americans living with disabilities," Secretary Thompson said. "The new Office on Disability will bring increased focus and awareness to the issue, and will allow the department to interact with valuable partners in the most effective manner. Margaret Giannini will bring a wealth of expertise to the position and we look forward to her leadership."  

As head of the new office, Giannini will oversee the coordination of HHS disability issues and special initiatives. Preparations are currently underway to officially open the new office in the fall of 2002.  

Prior to joining AoA, Giannini was the deputy assistant chief medical director for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. In 1979, former President Jimmy Carter appointed Dr. Giannini as the first Director of the National Institute of Handicapped Research, now known as the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research.  

Additionally, Giannini was a founder and director of the University Center of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities of New York Medical College, the first and largest facility for the developmentally disabled in the United States and the world. She is a Diplomate, American Board of Pediatrics; a Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics; and a member of the Institute of the Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  
 

Article distributed by:
Jeff Sell
Autism Society of America--1st Vice President
Chairman--ASA's Gov't Relations Committee