Ashlea Lantz

I've been in the disability employment field for 20 years, and my journey into this work is deeply personal. My sister has an intellectual disability and owns and operates her own coffee shop, which really inspired me. I initially came out of a short stint in journalism, but I just wasn't feeling fulfilled by that role. When I started working with people with disabilities, they oftentimes reminded me of my sister, and I ended up doing really well in that work. I pursued my master's in rehabilitation counseling and then moved into a more consulting role. From that consulting work, I ended up developing my own practice, contracting with organizations such as the Harkin Institute and Griffin Hammus Associates. In the last two years, I built a more visible consultancy with my colleague, Bob Ludke, called Value Inclusion. I also have a federal policy fellowship working with the Council for State Vocational Rehabilitation Administrators. My work focuses on disability employment policy, particularly for individuals utilizing Medicaid waiver services and state vocational rehabilitation. I'm also a certified benefits planner, which allows me to help people understand that if they're receiving benefits such as Social Security disability insurance that gives them access to healthcare, they don't lose that when they return to work. Through Value Inclusion and the Harkin Institute, we've worked with a number of corporations to help them expand their own disability hiring and accessibility needs. I was also diagnosed with ADHD in graduate school, which I've had lifelong, and realizing and understanding more about how my own brain works has been empowering. Disability has always been part of our family in some capacity, with my sister Em and my aunt who had ALS, so lived experience is really important to the work I do.