Rowan Deaza
The Arc of Greater Haverhill Newburyport

Conference presenters shared with the Center on KTDRR these biographical statements. The bios represent their choices about how to describe their expertise.

Rowan DeAza is a Bilingual Family Support Navigator at The Arc of Greater Haverhill Newburyport. Ms. DeAza immigrated to the USA at the age of four from the Dominican Republic. She grew up supporting her family members who live with disabilities with overall translation supports from a very young age. Ms. DeAza has been a fierce advocate for individuals with disabilities for many years. She is a person with lived experience as well as professional experience. Throughout her work with the disability community, Ms. DeAza has held roles related but not limited to, disability and employment, transition services, independent living movement, and family training and education. In previous roles, Rowan developed curriculum for transition aged students participating in the Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) Program through MRC while leading/training a team to provide these services to students in special education programs across northeast MA. During her tenure as the Manager of a Youth Service Program, Rowan developed a training program to help students with disabilities reach their driving goals, participated in the development of MRC’s NextGen project, as well as presented on various disability related topics in various environments. Today, Ms. DeAza is the Bilingual Liaison for the Lawrence Partnership for Transition to Employment project and proudly partners with families and professionals alike to provide education and training to families with individuals who live with disabilities. Ms. DeAza has completed The Arc at School’s Advocacy curriculum and the Parent Consultant Training Institute, an intensive training program designed to provide families and professionals with a solid foundation in special education laws and procedures.

Conference Presentation: Panel - Lawrence Partnership for Transition to Employment