2025 Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine

Rebecca Cokley is the Program Officer for the Ford Foundation’s first-ever U.S. Disability Rights program, which is focused on strengthening the field, driving efforts at disconnecting disability and poverty, building a pipeline of diverse leadership, and mobilizing resources toward disability rights work. Prior to joining Ford, Rebecca was the co-founder and Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, where she built out a progressive policy platform that protected the rights and services disabled people depend on for survival. At CAP, she stewarded a campaign that resulted in an unprecedented 12 presidential candidates developing disability policy platforms. A three-time presidential appointee, Rebecca served in key policy roles at the U.S. . Department of Education. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as oversaw diversity and inclusion efforts for the White House. Her tenure in the Obama Administration included four years as the Executive Director for the National Council on Disability. Rebecca has spoken at Netroots Nation, New York City Comic-Con, Yale University, the Women’s March National Conference and given a TedX talk. Rebecca has published with The Body Is Not An Apology, Rewire, CNN, Refinery 29, the Washington Post, and been a guest on MSNBC and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Rebecca sits on the board of directors for Rockwood Leadership Institute, the NY Women’s Foundation, and Common Cause and is an Equity Advisory Board member for Sephora. Rebecca has a Bachelor’s Degree in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she was a Karl S. Poster Scholar.