The Disability Rights Advocacy Fund’s (DRAF) organizational structure, which places persons with disabilities in powerful roles, was informed both by newer grantmaking philosophies and by principles and articles of the CRPD, which recognize participation as an imperative.

Lorraine Wapling
Co-Chair

Lorraine Wapling

Lorraine Wapling serves on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. Lorraine has extensive policy and research experience in disability inclusive programs through her work with bilateral agencies and international NGOs across Africa, Asia ,and the Pacific. Lorraine was embedded in DFID’s policy and research department as their disability specialist for several years, helping to lay the foundations for DFID’s current disability framework and has and worked on assignments for DFAT (Australian Aid), the UN and the European Union. Lorraine has also produced a number of resources on disability inclusive development, including DRF’s “Beyond Charity: A Donor’s Guide to Inclusion.” She is currently researching the models that influence educational outcomes for deaf children in low-income countries for her PhD at University College London.

Andrew Ferren
Co-Chair, Clerk

Andrew Ferren Andrew Ferren serves on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund as Co-Chair. Andy is a partner at Goulston & Storrs, a law firm based in Boston with offices in New York City and Washington, DC. As a specialist in commercial transactions and intellectual property law, he handles a wide range of business matters for established and emerging companies, non-profit organizations, closely-held businesses, and individual entrepreneurs. Andy devotes much of his time to pro bono work and the representation of non-profit clients, including several whose missions are international in scope. In addition to DRF, these organizations include Endeavor Global, YouthBuild International, Oxfam America, and Fair Trade USA. Andy has served on the Advisory Council of Fair Trade USA since 2004. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Chicago Law School.

Charlie Clements
Member

Charlie Clements

Charlie Clements serves on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. He is a public health physician and human rights activist. In the fall of 2015, Charlie stepped down after five years as the Executive Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he led a study group called Disability Rights and Realities. He is now Professor and Clinical Coordinator in the Joint MSPAS (physician assistant) and MPH (public health) Program at Touro University California. He was a founding board member of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and served on its board for fifteen years.  As the PHR Board President, he represented PHR in December 1997 at the treaty signing ceremony in Ottawa and a week later at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Aditi Juneja
Member

Beth MacNairn

Aditi Juneja serves on the board of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. She is a lawyer, writer, and activist. Currently, Aditi is serving as a Communicator at Protect Democracy. Previously, Aditi co-founded and led the Resistance Manual and OurStates.org. Aditi began speaking and writing about her experiences as a person with epilepsy in an effort to improve the representation of people with disabilities and to advocate for an accessible future. She created and hosts her own podcast focused on radically inclusive self-care called Self Care Sundays. She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 for Law and Policy in 2018. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Setareki Macanawai
Member

Ola Abu Al Ghaib

Setareki S. Macanawaiserves on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. Setareki S. Macanawai is currently the CEO for th                   ae Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) based in Suva, Fiji. Prior to PDF, he served as the Executive Director of the Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons and Principal of the Fiji School for the Blind. Setareki is a leading disability advocate in Asia and the Pacific region, and has served on the committees of many international and regional organizations concerned with disability, including as Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Global Network of Indigenous Persons with Disabilities, and as founding member of the Disability Inclusive Development Reference Group of the Australian Aid Programme. In the latter role, he provided guidance on disability-inclusive development to help shape the implementation of Australia’s Development for All strategy to ensure that the aid program is consistent with and fulfills Australia’s obligations under international law (CRPD). Seta earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from the University of New England of Australia.

Beth MacNairn
Member

Beth MacNairn

Beth MacNairn serves on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. She is Deputy Director for Health Volunteers Overseas. Previously, she served as Director of Public Sector Development for Partners In Health and Executive Director of Handicap International US. She was Haiti Project Director for a USAID funded workforce development initiative, served with Catholic Relief Services in Morocco and worked for AMIDEAST in Washington, DC, and in Cairo, Egypt. Ms. MacNairn was on the board of directors of InterAction (2013-2015) and the executive committee of the Hilton Laureates Collaborative. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, she has an MA in international relations and economics and received her BA from the University of Virginia.

Kristen Pratt
Member

Kristen Pratt

Kristen Pratt has served on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund since 2014 and has been associated with the Funds since 2008. She has over 30 years of experience in social development and disability rights. Kristen worked for the Australian Government Aid Program (then AusAID) from 1996 to 2014 where, as Director of Disability Inclusive Development (DID), she led the development and early implementation of Australia’s first inclusive development strategy for the aid program: Development for All: Towards a disability-inclusive Australian aid program 2009-2014. In this capacity, Kristen was a significant supporter of DRF, initiating an early partnership with DRF under Australia’s new DID strategy, and playing an active role as a donor representative on the DRF Grantmaking Committee. Kristen was seconded to the World Health Organization from 2012 to 2014 as Technical Officer with WHO’s Disability and Rehabilitation team where she led the consultation process to design WHO’s first-ever global disability strategy: WHO global disability action plan 2014–2021: Better health for all people with disability. During her time in Geneva Kristen held a Board Role with the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled as Australia’s representative. Kristen is the Founding Director of Capital Nordic Walking and a committee member of the Parkinson’s ACT.  She holds a B.App.Sc (OT) and Masters Degrees in Education and International Development and Business Administration.

Diana Samarasan
Founding Executive Director

Diana Samarasan

Diana Samarasan is the Founding Executive Director of the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. She also serves on the boards of directors for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund as an ex-officio member. Diana is the primary liaison to donors to the Fund and oversees grantmaking and strategic development. She is also responsible for promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in the human rights and development funding arenas.

Diana has over two decades of experience in disability, international health, and human rights. Previously, Diana directed the Mental Disability Advocacy Center a legal advocacy organization in Budapest, Hungary, which litigates abuses of rights of persons with disabilities in institutions. She also worked with the American Refugee Committee and Doctors of the World, addressing issues such as access of vulnerable populations to reproductive health services, tuberculosis control, and deinstitutionalization. A graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Diana has advanced degrees in Public Administration and Psychology. Diana is a member of the Steering Committee of Opportunity Collaboration.