Name of Host Organization: Center for Disability Advocacy Rights, Inc.

City, State: New York, NY

Issue area: Disability Rights

Sponsor: Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Lisa Winters, a native New Yorker, brought twelve years of social work experience to the practice of public interest law. She has been a long-time activist around women’s health, AIDS and lesbian and gay issues. She also served on several boards of directors, funding panels and advisory boards. Lisa enjoys the interplay of social work and legal work and pursued doctoral studies in Public Health at New York University. Lisa’s Work Incentives Project was aimed at individuals with disabilities and their advocates. The Project assisted clients receiving SSI or SSD benefits to achieve their work goals while maintaining their benefits. Through legal counseling and advocacy, SSD or SSI recipients received assistance with the various programs designed to help them maintain benefits and achieve eventual independence. Lisa’s work included direct representation of clients and assistance with a range of work incentive issues from Overpayments and Impairment Related Work Expenses to PASS Plan’s and Expedited Benefits. Lisa also continued to represent clients at the administrative hearing levels and wrote Appeals Council memorandum (“paper” appeals). The final stage of her fellowship focused on education and collaboration with various agencies and development of pro se materials.