Wendie Abramson

LMSW, Chief Quality Officer

Wendie Abramson, LMSW, joined The SAFE Alliance in 1998 as the Director of Disability Services. In 2009, she assumed responsibilities as the Chief Quality Officer for governmental grant proposal reviews, and for awards, she is responsible for grant management, compliance and performance reporting for 30+ local, state and federal governmental contracts and as the agency liaison with governmental grant monitoring. She also reviews and approves intra-agency agreements, MOUs, contracts and other documents that bind the organization or create liability, and oversees the operations of SAFE’s Compliance and Information Systems (data management) departments, Deaf Services program (outreach/education), and a federally funded program that provides outreach and training within the hospitality industry focused on addressing gender- based violence and harassment.

In her prior position as SAFE’s Director of Disability Services, Wendie led the expansion of this program to a nationally and internationally-known provider of best-practice training, resources, and publications for the disability, rape crisis, domestic violence and criminal justice fields. She has been a co-author or editor for numerous publications designed for the victim service, disability, and criminal justice fields, and served on local and national Advisory Committees and conference planning committees. She has been a peer grant reviewer for multiple federal governmental agencies. Wendie is a Licensed Master Social Worker, a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, a native to Houston, Texas and is conversational in American Sign Language. She has two teen boys and enjoys pickleball, hiking, water adventures and non-violent video games.

Jabeen Adawi

Director, Family Empowerment and Legal Access Clinic, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

Drawing from her expansive background in litigation and systems-solution building, Professor Adawi guides students in the clinic through individual lawyering growth to discover their potential for impact. Throughout her career, Professor Adawi has been actively engaged in training and educating other professionals, which she now carries forward in her role as a professor. Professor Adawi grew her roots as an educator as a Clinical Teaching Fellowship at the Georgetown University Law Center’s Domestic Violence Clinic. There, she taught and supervised law students engaged in intensive litigation, helping them develop their strategic thinking, counseling, and litigation skills.

Professor Adawi came to Pittsburgh after a decade-long career advancing the rights of gender- based violence survivors in the greater Washington D.C. area. In her non-profit career, she first worked with survivors to achieve recovery through litigation, negotiation, and extra-legal advocacy. This led Professor Adawi to develop a holistic approach to lawyering – one in which she serviced not only the immediate legal goals of the client but addressed any extra-legal needs that directly impacted their access to justice.

After her time in direct client services, Professor Adawi moved into systems development work, where she managed the creation and launch of the Victim Legal Network of DC (VLNDC) – a legal referral infrastructure aiming to reduce the pathway between a crime survivor and legal help. In creating the network, Professor Adawi adopted a highly collaborative approach and ensured that all member agencies were invested in the final outcomes, while also advocating for policies and procedure that would reduce barriers for crime survivors. Under her leadership, the network launched with 10 member agencies in 2018, garnering local and national interest. Using the framework Professor Adawi established, VLNDC maintained steady growth even after her transition to academics.

Professor Adawi holds an LL.M. in Advocacy from Georgetown University Law Center, a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law, and a B.S., Magna Cum Laude, in Applied Physics from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Jan Campbell

Director of Disability Awareness Resource Team

Ms. Campbell is a tireless advocate for people with disabilities. She is a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Portland State University. In the 70’s, she was denied the right to teach because of her disability. Undeterred, Jan pursued a career in civil and human rights. For 23 years she served as the Disability Project Coordinator for the City of Portland and Multnomah County. She also has worked on several projects with Oregon Health Science University training individuals with disabilities to improve their clinical care.

Currently, Ms. Campbell works as the Director of Disability Awareness Resource Team (DART), a non-profit peer-based organization that focuses on survivors living with a disability who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes. DART supports and advocates with survivors through the criminal justice and social service systems. She co-facilitates support groups of survivors experiencing depression, using a curriculum that is evidence-based and strength-based. Ms. Campbell has chaired and served on numerous commissions, boards, and committees, both locally and at the state level. She currently chairs TriMet’s Committee on Accessible Transportation, Co-Chairs the Special Transportation Fund Advisory Committee in the Metro area, and past President and now Board Member of Disability Rights Oregon. Awards have been presented to her at the local, state, and national levels for work in the area of disability rights.

Nikki Dolan

Survivor of Domestic and Sexual Violence

Ms. Dolan has been in two abusive relationships and both ended with the abuser going to prison. These experiences were drastically different for a variety of reasons. Ms. Dolan is excited to be a part of the committee and share more about her personal experiences.

Reanna Hensley

Disability Advocate

Ms. Hensley was born with a permanent physical disability. From the moment she was born, she has relied on state healthcare to stay alive. Fighting for her right to receive care was the foundation of her advocacy skills. Today, she is a passionate disability advocate and believes the ADA needs to be amplified in the justice system. She believes in offender accountability and victim voice in the process.

Her first involvement with the criminal system was when she was 15 when a student from her high school assaulted her. She remembers how her disability was perceived by the court, with the judge making comments about her being “the wheelchair girl”. Her perpetrator received under 2 years of jail time for strangling her, he faced more time for stealing her cell phone. His criminal record today doesn’t reflect the incident, because he was underage at the time. He has racked up new charges since then, demonstrating dangerous behavior. Ms. Hensley continues to advocate for herself, years after this incident and fights for the safety of all community members.

Lael (Lay-ol) Hill

Executive Director

Ms. Hill is the Executive Director for Mental Health America of Hendricks County and President of the Indiana Coalition for Crime Victims Rights. Lael brings over 15 years’ experience in direct and macro social work practice working with vulnerable populations, communities, and policymakers.

Lael has also served as a Rape Crisis Community Advocate for the Julian Center in Indianapolis, Indiana and the Lead Victim Advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, where she gained her experience in community organizing, crisis intervention, advocacy, government affairs and crime victims’ rights enforcement. In addition, Lael brings 8 years’ experience working as a board officer for the Hendricks County local chapter of Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, 3 years’ experience working on the Mental Illness Advisory Council for Indiana Disability Rights, and 8 years’ experience on the National Association of Social Workers, Public Policy Committee for the Indiana Chapter.

Lael Hill is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Social Work in Indianapolis, Indiana an education she pursued after surviving sexual assault, trauma and mental illness. Lael has lived with her husband and two boys Sam (14) and Eli (17) in Brownsburg for nearly 16 years. In her spare time, Lael is an avid hiker and kayaker which lead her to create the Indiana Nature Clean Up Initiative where she organizes a group of nature lovers to clean up state parks throughout Indiana.

Kate Knowlton

Supervising Attorney

Ms. Knowlton is the Supervising Attorney for the Victim Advocacy Program at Disability Rights Wisconsin, and has been practicing law in the private sector since 2001, specifically focused on victim rights advocacy. Her primary areas of practice are victim rights enforcement and family law, with special emphasis in survivor advocacy and representation. Kate earned her JD at Marquette University while teaching English at the secondary level with her degree from UW-Madison. For over a decade, Kate has worked with law enforcement and through the criminal justice process, directly representing survivors at both the state and federal levels.

Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Victim Advocacy Program provides direct service to individuals with disabilities who experience crime, regardless of reporting. According to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “the rate of crimes against persons with disabilities is at least twice that of persons without disabilities.”

Legal Services for Victims with Disabilities Project

Victims with Disabilities

All victims of crime face barriers accessing and understanding the criminal justice system. These challenges are often magnified for victims with disabilities, a population victimized at alarmingly high rates. A key piece of dismantling these barriers is a concerted effort to achieve equitable access to justice for persons with disabilities who are victimized by crime. This is the call to action which brought together NCVLI, its programmatic partner Disability Rights Oregon (DRO), and its evaluation partner RTI International (RTI) to launch the Legal Services for Victims with Disabilities Project with funding from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

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Project Overview

Project Steering Committee

Disability & Victims’ Rights Attorney Toolkit

Request Technical Assistance

Get Involved

Legal Advice for Victims Project Overview

The Legal Services for Victims Project aims to increase the number of attorneys with expertise at the intersection of victims’ rights and disability law who are ready to provide competent rights assertion and enforcement legal advocacy at no cost to persons with disabilities who are victimized by crime.

To achieve this vision, we are:

creating an online, interactive Disability & Victims’ Rights Attorney Toolkit;
deploying intensive, in-person, skill-based trainings;
pairing trained attorneys willing to serve as pro or low bono counsel with victims in need; and
providing ongoing legal technical assistance to practitioners.

The Project is launching in Oregon, but with the support of RTI, lessons learned will be captured to ensure scalability to other jurisdictions.

“People with disabilities are disproportionately more likely to be victims of crime, and yet are underrepresented in the criminal system. Supporting a survivor with a disability through the criminal system is incredibly rewarding and a powerful way to fight for justice.”

Beth Brownhill

Managing Attorney, Disability Rights Oregon

Steering Committee

Recognizing that centering the voices of those with lived experience is foundational to effective victim services, we are convening a steering committee that includes persons with disabilities who have navigated the criminal justice system as well as lawyers with expertise. Meet our Steering Committee.

Wendie Abramson

LMSW, Chief Quality Officer.

Jabeen Adawi

Director, Family Empowerment and Legal Access Clinic, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law.

Jan Campbell

Director of Disability Awareness Resource Team

Nikki Dolan

Survivor of Domestic and Sexual Violence

Reanna Hensley

Disability Advocate

Lael (Lay-ol) Hill

Executive Director

Kate Knowlton

Supervising Attorney

Disability & Victims’ Rights Attorney Toolkit

Having access to practice tools is critical effective representation. That is why NCVLI and DRO are creating an online Toolkit. This Toolkit will have resources to aid attorneys representing these victims in criminal courts as they assert and seek enforcement of their rights. To ensure this Toolkit complements, rather than duplicates, resources that already exist nationally, NCVLI and DRO are conducting a national environmental scan for other practice resources critical for attorneys working on victims’ rights enforcement for persons with disabilities. If you know of existing resources that may be helpful to lawyers interested in representing victims of crime who are persons with disabilities who are seeking to assert their rights during criminal justice processes, please let us know by submitting the Resources Relating to Crime Victims with Disabilities online form!

In Development - Check back here soon

Request Technical Assistance

Request Technical Assistance Form

In response to a request for technical assistance from a victims’ rights attorney, NCVLI conducted research on case law addressing challenges to victim competency. The competency of a witness to testify is an issue that frequently presents when the victim is a child or when the victim has a disability. Notably, competency to testify as a witness in a criminal case is often presumed by law. Because mental age, physical age, and physical or mental disabilities often do not prevent a person from understanding the nature of an oath, perceiving the events at issue in their testimony, and conveying information (with the help of accommodations, in some cases) to the court or to the jury, courts nationally have affirmed trial court findings of competency to testify in cases involving very young children and people with physical and/or mental disabilities, even in cases where a person’s ability to communicate may be limited.

Get Involved

NCVLI actively works to pair volunteer attorneys with crime victims with disabilities so that they can assert and seek enforcement of their rights during criminal investigation and prosecution. If you are an attorney who is interested in volunteering you can review current volunteer opportunities on the Pro Bono Portal of NCVLI’s National Alliance of Victims’ Rights Attorneys & Advocates (NAVRA.org) or contact us at navra@lclark.edu.

Disclosure for website: This website is funded through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including,
without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

This project is funded under 15POVC-23-GK-02770-NONF, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.