Aaron Bishop

Aaron Bishop, who is currently serving as a professional staff member for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) for Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi, will become executive director of the National Council on Disability, Washington, as of November 15.

Bishop, a well-respected disability advocate, has been on the Hill since 2003, and served as a top disability policy adviser to Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee since 2005.

In his current post, Bishop handles disability related issues. He has almost 20 years of experience working with and for individuals with disabilities in the direct practice and public policy sectors. Most recently he was a legislative assistant for the HELP committee when the committee was chaired by Senator Judd Gregg.

In January of 2003, Bishop received a Kennedy Foundation public policy fellowship to work on federal disability policy and legislation and was placed as committee staff member for Gregg.

Bishop recently spent 10 months in Australia, where he conducted a comparative policy analysis of the Australian health care system and the new health care delivery model in Massachusetts. The analysis compared polices relating to the individual cost of health care services and supply of quality health care services for people with disabilities.

Bishop received his master’s of science in social work degree, with an emphasis in public policy, and two bachelor of science in natural sciences degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Joan Durocher, who had been serving as NCD’s interim executive director, has been promoted to the agency’s general counsel and director of policy.

NCD is an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and other federal officials and entities on all policies, programs, practices, and procedures affecting people with disabilities. NCD strives to further the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities.

[Source: NCD]