Kimberly Knackstedt, Ph.D.Kimberly Knackstedt is the Principal Consultant of Unlock Access, LLC.
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Kim Knackstedt is the principal consultant of Unlock Access, LLC and brings more than a decade of accessibility and disability policy experience to your projects. She previously served in disability policy positions in Congress and the White House and brings experience as a person with chronic illnesses to her accessibility and policy perspectives.
Kim’s experiences span education, government, and nonprofit sectors, with strengths in policy writing; diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; accessibility program implementation; strategic visioning and planning; project management; public speaking; and coalition building.
Prior to launching Unlock Access, LLC, Kim was the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Public Policy Fellow, serving on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in 2016. She then served as the disability policy advisor for Chairman Bobby Scott on the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives. Next, she was the senior disability policy advisor for Senator Patty Murray on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the U.S. Senate. In January 2021, Kim was appointed as the first ever director of disability policy for the Domestic Policy Council for the Biden–Harris Administration. Following her experience in the White House, Kim was a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, Director of the Disability Economic Justice team, and Director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative.
Kim received her Bachelor of Education in special education and elementary education from Gonzaga University, Master of Science in Education in special education from the University of Kansas, and Ph.D. in special education and policy from the University of Kansas.
Kim’s experiences span education, government, and nonprofit sectors, with strengths in policy writing; diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; accessibility program implementation; strategic visioning and planning; project management; public speaking; and coalition building.
Prior to launching Unlock Access, LLC, Kim was the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Public Policy Fellow, serving on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in 2016. She then served as the disability policy advisor for Chairman Bobby Scott on the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives. Next, she was the senior disability policy advisor for Senator Patty Murray on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the U.S. Senate. In January 2021, Kim was appointed as the first ever director of disability policy for the Domestic Policy Council for the Biden–Harris Administration. Following her experience in the White House, Kim was a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, Director of the Disability Economic Justice team, and Director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative.
Kim received her Bachelor of Education in special education and elementary education from Gonzaga University, Master of Science in Education in special education from the University of Kansas, and Ph.D. in special education and policy from the University of Kansas.
Quotes and Links to Press Hits
One of my key goals is making sure that we are putting people with disabilities at the beginning of our policy development, not as the afterthought |
Biden marks Americans with Disabilities Act Anniversary by Saluting disabled WH policy Director MSNBC |
Across the entire government, whether it’s the Hill, whether it’s the Administration, there’s a lot more that can be done to make the work accessible |
Students – who often are students with disabilities – are put on a track of essentially exclusion |
Disability and poverty are so connected, and some say the whole structure and the whole system is broken. Well, unfortunately, the whole system is actually working exactly as it was designed. |
'We know that students and parents don't always have access to their rights.' These shortcomings, combined with deep economic and racial inequities says Knackstedt, mean that students with disabilities don't have the same access to educational opportunities and general-education students. |
From curb cuts of sidewalks to websites, everyday activities are easier to navigate for all of us because of [the ADA]. Now, thirty-three years later, we have an opportunity to "curb cut" research, policy, and practice and put disability at the forefront of all our work to achieve equity, access, and inclusion for all. |