Staff

Andrea Kadlec
Attorney

A Northwest native, Andrea Kadlec grew up in Southern Idaho, was a foreign exchange student to Chile, and then obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees (in Journalism and Organizational Leadership) from Gonzaga University in Spokane. Andrea worked at Disability Rights Washington for about 15 years before pursuing a law degree. She graduated with a juris doctorate from Seattle University School of Law and currently works on education and school-to-prison pipeline issues as part of the Community Inclusion and Services team.

Over the past two decades at Disability Rights Washington, Andrea built and facilitated coalitions; developed and implemented disability-rights curriculum; managed media and communications; developed and managed grants; and promoted local and national policy to advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities. She implemented a federal Office of Violence Against Women grant to better support long-term care residents who experienced sexual violence. Andrea was a Region 2 Ombuds for the Office of the Developmental Disability Ombuds. She directed a grant of national significance that built student-led advocacy, spurring legislation to include Disability History in public schools. She served as public policy chair for the State Special Education Coalition; was a member of the National Disability Right Network’s Community Education and Self-Advocacy Committee; chaired the Northshore School District’s Special Education Parent & Professional Advisory Council; was a trustee of the Board of Directors of the Arc of King County; and assisted with advocacy development for Manos Unidas, a school for students with disabilities in Cuzco, Peru.