DEPARTMENT OF DISABILITIES
SECRETARY
![[photo, Kristen Cox, Secretary of Disabilities]](http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/12dod/images/1198-1-1367b.jpg)
KRISTEN COX, Secretary of Disabilities
- Office of Secretary
Dept. of Disabilities, 217 East Redwood St., Suite 1300, Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 767-3661
e-mail: mdod@gov.state.md.us
fax: (410) 333-6674
tdd: (410) 333-3098
web: www.mdod.maryland.gov
www.mdtap.org (Technology Assistance Program)
Secretary of Disabilities since July 1, 2004. Director, Office for Individuals with Disabilities, 2003-04.
Member, Governor's Executive Council, 2004-; Children's Cabinet, 2005-; Interagency Committee on Aging Services, 2004-; Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code Advisory Council, 2004-; Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council, 2004-; Task Force on Parking for Individuals with Disabilities, 2004; Procurement Preferences Task Force, 2004; CommunityChoice Advisory Group, 2005-. Chair, Interagency Disabilities Board, 2004-. Chair, Advisory Committee, Technology Assistance Program, 2004-. Member, Subcabinet for Children, Youth, and Families, 2004-05. Co-Chair, Community College Students with Disabilities Task Force, 2005. Member, Task Force to Study Visual Smoke and Evacuation Alarms for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 2005-; Task Force on Assistance to Disabled Veterans Establishing Small Businesses, 2005; Advisory Council for Children, 2005-.
Special Assistant to Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration, U.S. Dept. of Education, 2001-03. Member, Council on Parental Relinquishment of Custody to Obtain Health Care Services, 2003. Chair, Affordable and Accessible Housing for Individuals with Disabilities Subcommittee, Governor's Commission on Housing Policy, 2003-04. Co-Chair, Interagency Transition Council for Youth with Disabilities, 2003-.
Born in Bellevue, Washington. Brigham Young University, B.A. (educational psychology; certificate in special education), 1995. Assistant Director of Governmental Affairs, National Federation of the Blind, 1998-2001.
An inside look at Kristen Cox — Ehrlich’s advocate for the disabled
“It’s an inconvenience that you work around,” Cox told The Examiner.
Her blindness “started when I was about 11,” growing up in Utah, due to a rare recessive trait, said Cox, who is now 36.
“I had to memorize everything” when she went through Brigham Young University, Cox said, because she didn’t know Braille. “If you’re born blind you tend to get those skills early on.” Despite her disability, she served a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil.
She finally learned Braille because “I wanted to read to my son,” she said.
She got to know Robert Ehrlich when he was a congressman and she was a lobbyist for the National Federation of the Blind, based in Baltimore. “Even then, he was a real champion for disabilities.”ExaminerEhrlich named Cox to head the Governor’s Office on Disabilities and then created a Cabinet-level department for disabilities, which the administration says is the first in the U.S.
The department is small — about 25 people — and helps coordinate and evaluate the programs throughout the rest of the government. “We spend about $4 billion on people with disabilities” in Maryland, Cox said. “We can be very objective about services. … We don’t have anything to lose.”
Being an advocate for the people with disabilities comes naturally to Cox: “If you have a disability, you’re always an advocate for yourself,” she said.
llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com