June Kailes

June Isaacson Kailes, (www.jik.com) is a Disability Policy Consultant and the Associate Director and Adjunct Associate Professor at Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy at Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California.  Her breadth and depth of experience in disability and access and functional needs issues as a writer, trainer, researcher, policy analyst, subject matter expert, and advocate is widely known and respected. 

In the emergency world June is well known for her pioneering work in conceiving, promoting, and moving the emergency management world from the vague “special needs” focus to operationalizing an access and functional needs approach to planning, response and recovery. This also includes conceiving and working with the State of California to adopt and implement the use of Functional Assessment Service Teams (FAST). These teams strategically link government, nonprofit and business sectors to work with individuals with access and functional needs to enable people to maintain mobility, health, safety, independence, and successfully manage in general population shelters and other temporary housing options. This model is being put into practice in California and customized for use in other parts of the United States.

June has the unique ability to blend and bridge two worlds: disability user experiences and emergency management experiences. Her contracts include working with several California State Departments as well as cities and counties. She has also worked on nationally with FEMA, the Centers for Disease Control, Department of Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services on policy, planning and training issues. She co-chaired The United States Department of Homeland Security’s working group  which developed a Functional and Medical Support Sheltering Target Capabilities List, worked on FEMA's Guidance on Planning for Integration ofFunctional Needs Support Services in General Population  Shelters, and is a member of FEMA's National Advisory Council.

In the health care world June’s focuses encompass working as a contractor with a variety of health facilities, managed care plans, government projects and consulting firms. These projects include work with Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers: on Aging with a Disability, Managed Care and Disability, Health and Wellness and Disability, National Center of Physical Activity and Disability and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Medical Instrumentation, the Access Board. She delivers workshops on developing disability competencies in health care covering the demographics of disability populations (prevalence, causes, function versus diagnosis, employment rates, and health disparities) compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (attitudinal, communication, physical, medical equipment and programmatic access), care coordination and long term support services, and stakeholder engagement

June is the recipient of many honors and awards, and has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses, workshops and seminars and has over 200 publications on disability-related health, wellness and aging with disability, and emergency issues. She has held many offices on the boards of the National Council for Independent Living(NCIL), and the California Foundation of Independent Living Centers. As a presidential appointee to the United States Access Board  where she served as its chair and vice chair. June is a well-known and respected disability rights advocate and consultant.  Recognized nationally and internationally, she is one of the original national leaders in the Independent Living Movement.