Anthony Joseph Young

Anthony Joseph Young 1952-2015 Anthony "Tony" Young peacefully passed away at home on Monday, Dec 7. Tony was the loving husband of Kathleen Cameron and dedicated father to Cameron Young. Tony is also survived by his, brother Bobby of San Diego, CA, faithful friends and assistants David Fields and Santiago Toscano and numerous relatives and friends.Tony is the son of the late Jane and Robert Young and brother of the late James Young. Tony was an avid sports fan who played many sports in his youth and cheered on the Redskins, the Nationals, and Red Sox as well as all University of Notre Dame sports teams most of his life. Tony devoted his career in disability policy to helping people with disabilities live as independently as possible. Most recently, Tony served as the Senior Public Policy Strategist for SourceAmerica in Vienna, VA. During his career, Tony served as the second Chair of the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), from 2001 through 2003. Many of you may also remember Tony for his years of work as a Co-Chair of the Social Security Task Force and for co-leading the disability community's efforts to pass the Ticket to Work legislation, among many other legislative efforts. He was also the founding Executive Director of the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia. Throughout his life Tony served in a wide variety of state and national bodies dedicated to helping people with disabilities, including the Congressional Task Force on the Rights and Empowerment of Americans with Disabilities, the Presidents' Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, the Blue Ribbon Panel on Entrepreneurship and Small Business for People with Disabilities; the National Rehabilitation Hospital Research and Training Center on Medical Rehabilitation and Health Policy; the World Institute on Disability Research and Training Center on Personal Assistance Services, the National Institute on Consumer Directed Long Term Services at the National Council on the Aging, Inc.; and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Blue Ribbon Panel on Personal Assistance Services Policy, and as a Fellow with the World Institute on Disability. In 1998 Tony was presented with the Disability Achievement Award by the American Public Health Association's DisAbility Forum. This award is given to a person who has a long history of making substantial achievements in the field of disability science or policy benefiting persons with disabilities. The following is a college essay about Tony written by his nephew Anthony Cameron of Lansdale, PA based on an interview conducted two months before Tony's death. Tony Young: A Few Slight Adjustments "You have fractured your C4 vertebrae. You will never be able to walk again." Imagine if you were told that when you were just 18 years old and getting your adult life started. Well, that is exactly what Tony Young was told on August 16th, 1970, when he went from being a typical teenager to facing life with a disability. From that point on Tony could have given up on his dreams but he didn't. As he puts it, he "had to make a few slight adjustments to those dreams, but nevertheless still could fulfill them." Tony decided then he wasn't going let his injury change his life's goals. As he had just finished high school, Tony had plans to attend George Mason University and, despite him now being disabled, he accomplished his goal and graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Business Administration. But, what makes Tony Young an even more extraordinary person is what he did for his career. After his accident, he had to learn about his limitations, but more importantly about what he still could do, and do well. Through Tony's positive attitude, perseverance, and will to help others, he made his own dreams come true, and at the same time, he devoted his entire career to help other people with disabilities capture their dreams as well. The Accident Tony Young was very focused on sports as a child growing up in Florida. He played Little League baseball, Catholic League football, was a Boy Scout, and a lifelong Notre Dame fan. He had a relatively typical family life. His father was a mathematician and he had a stay-at-home mother. He also had two brothers, Bobby who was into the arts and theater while Jim was big into sports, like Tony. When Tony was 18, he started working at a hotel as a lifeguard in Arlington near Springfield, Virginia where his family had moved after relocating from Florida. On his off days, he and his buddies would drive a few hours to Ocean City, Maryland. On August 16, 1970, he and his friend, Ed, decided to go early and see if they could catch some waves. They left at about four in the morning and got to Ocean City at seven. They were having fun at the beach like most 18 year olds would. Around 11 o clock that morning as Tony tells the story, "We decided we were going to ride one more wave in and then go get some food." So Tony caught a final big wave and unexpectedly rode it straight into the sand. His friend couldn't find him. He slowly floated up to the surface and told his friend "I can't move anything." And then to make matters worse, another wave came crashing down on him as he lay there. The lifeguard said that he would have to go to the main building to call the ambulance. Keep in mind the year is 1970, there were no cell phones. As Tony remembers the scene, "they had no real idea what to do, nor did they have any procedure to stabilize my neck at the time. Even some hospitals didn't know how to handle or help with a broken neck." That's when Tony was given the news that he was paralyzed, wouldn't walk again, and would have only partial use of his arms and hands. He was now facing life with quadriplegia. In fact, the license plate on Tony's van has always let the world know that by stating, "I QUAD." Making Those Adjustments It would have been very easy for Tony to just give up and be totally dependent on his family. Being dependent, however, was not a concept that Tony would naturally gravitate to, no matter the situation. Because of this attitude, he took it upon himself to follow the dreams he had before the accident. This perseverance started in 1975 when he applied to Northern Virginia Community College and got admitted. He completed his associate's degree there in 1978. When he completed that degree, he applied and received admission into his dream school of George Mason University. He ended up exactly where he planned to be. Oddly enough when he arrived on campus as a junior, he noted, "there were no handicapped car spaces available because they were taken up with people's cars who shouldn't have been allowed to park there." And that was just the beginning. He also noticed the only wheelchair-accessible building on campus was the office of the President of the University. So he went right in the office and as Tony said, "started going over what they could do to help me and any other students with disabilities." During his two years there, Tony continued being an advocate for students with disabilities so they could access the same buildings and facilities as easily as everyone else. This experience of raising awareness among college administrators on behalf of students with disabilities inspired him to make it his career after he received his degree from George Mason in 1980. He turned his advocacy experience into various positions in Northern Virginia and the Washington DC area like being the Executive Director of the ENDpendence Center of Northern Virginia from 1980 to 1983, a Board Member of ServiceSource from 1983 to 1995, and the Director of Residential Services and Community Supports for the American Rehabilitation Association from 1990 to 1996. Then from 1996 to 1999, Tony became a Policy Analyst for United Cerebral Palsy representing their interests in employment issues before Executive and Legislative bodies and developing new opportunities for the economic empowerment of individuals with significant disabilities. Since 1999, he was employed as a Senior Public Policy Strategist with SourceAmerica addressing employment and employment support issues as they affect individuals with significant disabilities. He also developed strategies to achieve enactment of laws and regulations to give people with disabilities the tools they need to be productive in life. In addition, he was very involved with a number of organizations supporting those with disabilities. Since 1993 he was a member of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities and was the Chair from 2000 to 2002. From 2003 to 2009, he was a Board Member of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). And since 2005, he was a member of the National Academy on Social Insurance, advising policymakers on social insurance as it affects people with disabilities. To say the least, Tony's life was a never-ending quest to make life better for those with disabilities and to help them help themselves. Tony is one of the toughest people I have ever met or been associated with. He ended up using his accident as an advantage in his life and became a strong voice helping people with disabilities through the many organizations he was involved with and the connections he had in state and national government. Tony got married in 1999 and had a child in 2004. As Tony himself described it, "I have a great family and a job that I love. What more could I want out of life?" It was this never-ending positive attitude that continued to drive him to be so successful and is what is so inspirational to me. When asked for some final advice for people with or without disabilities, he reiterated his own life story: "Follow whatever passion you desire, and turn life's setbacks into something positive--something others can look at and make them believe they can accomplish their goals too."