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From: "Lee Hassinger" <[log in to unmask]>

Olegario "Ollie"  D. Cantos, VII recently appointed by Attorney General
John D. Ashcroft to serve as Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney
General R. Alexander Acosta in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S.
Department of Justice will be featured with Joyce Bender on "Disability
Matters", on Tuesday, October 19, 2004, from 2 to 3 PM Eastern Time.

Blind since birth, Mr. Cantos has become one of the highest-placed
people with a disability in the federal government today   His
responsibilities include fostering closer ties between the Department
and disability rights leaders at all levels, enhancing roll-out of
Project Civic Access, expanding the ADA Business Connection, increasing
the number of state building codes to become ADA certified, and
establishing and strengthening new cross-agency partnerships to enhance
national disability rights enforcement.

Prior to his current tenure, Ollie was the first and only person ever to
serve as General Counsel and Director of Programs for the 90,000-member
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the largest
cross-disability national membership organization in the country, based
in Washington DC.  One of his primary responsibilities was international
coordination of Disability Mentoring Day, a broad-based effort to
enhance internship and employment opportunities for students and job
seekers with disabilities through job shadowing and hands-on career
exploration.  Under his leadership, with only nominal increases to his
budget over a two-year period, the program grew from 1,600 participants
in 32 states, the District of Columbia, and one foreign country now to
encompass worldwide involvement of more than 6,000 mentees in all 50
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and 18 foreign countries on 5 continents.  He quadrupled the number of
workplace mentoring organizations from 250 to almost 1,000.

Widely known for his ability to network and bring stakeholders together
for a common purpose, Mr. Cantos also works with national leaders of
disability rights organizations and high-ranking officials from the
White House and various federal departments to provide consumer
perspective on policies affecting the disability community.  A 2001
Regional Finalist for the White House Fellowship Program and active in
work both within and outside the disability community, he has been
hailed by AAPD's President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew J.
Imparato as "an ambassador for the organization", and continues to be a
sought-after speaker as an example of how people with disabilities may
reach the highest levels of success in every area of life, by exercising
both the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.  His engaging
personal style and ability to convey thoughts through the written word
have established him as one of the fastest-rising up-and-coming leaders
in the disability community.  Mr. Cantos is a graduate of Loyola Law
School in 1997 and Loyola Marymount University in 1992.

The host of Disability Matters, Joyce A. Bender, is President and CEO of
Bender Consulting Services, Inc. (BCS) and its "sister company" Bender
Consulting Services of Canada, Inc. (BCSC).  BCS provides competitive
employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities in the areas of
information technology, engineering, finance/accounting, human resources
and general business.  In 1985, Joyce had a life-threatening accident
due to epilepsy, which caused an intracranial hemorrhage that required
subsequent brain surgery.  Against all odds, Joyce recovered from this
accident that left her with a 60 percent hearing loss in one ear and a
realization that she had epilepsy.  As a result of her personal
experience, she developed a passion for helping people with disabilities
and founded both companies.  Ms. Bender is the recipient of the 2003 New
Freedom Initiative Award from the Bush Administration, as well as the
1999 President's Award from President Clinton.

For more information on Joyce A. Bender and her companies, Bender
Consulting Services, Inc. and Bender Consulting Services of Canada,
Inc., visit, http://www.benderconsult.com  or
http://www.benderofcanada.com. To learn more about Voice America, visit,
http://www.voiceamerica.com .   Past radio broadcasts are archived on
http://www.benderconsult.com.  To learn more about the U.S. Department
of Justice, Civil Rights Division visit,
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crt-home.html.

Upcoming guests include:

Date:      October 26, 2004
Guest:     Idar Dart
Title:       Daughter of Late Disability Rights Leader Justin Dart


Date:      November 2, 2004
Guest:    John Bollinger
Title:      Deputy Executive Director of the Paralyzed Veterans of
America


Date:       November 9, 2004
Guest:     John DeWitt
Title:       President  & CEO of DeWitt and Associates &
Assistive-technology-Help.com
               Corporation


Lee Hassinger
Associate Research Assistant
Bender Family of Companies
Penn Center West III, Suite 223
Pittsburgh PA  15276
Phone:  412-787-8567
Fax:  412-787-7178
[log in to unmask]
www.benderconsult.com/www.benderofcanada.com
Please tune in to "Disability Matters" talk show, hosted by Joyce
Bender, every Tuesday at 2:00pm EST at www.voiceamerica.com.  Archived
shows can be found on www.benderconsult.com.


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