Virtual Ability, Inc.® will present the 14th Annual International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference (IDRAC) on Thursday, November 6, 2025.

This annual professional conference will be held online, and is free and open to the public.

The conference will take place in Second Life® at The Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island.

The conference will also be Live Streamed on YouTube.

The theme of this year’s conference is “No Health Without Peace.” The Oxford English Dictionary has ten meanings for the word “health” and ten meanings for “peace.” Both words have different meanings for individuals, agencies, communities, nations, and the world. With the number of possible permutations of the meaning and context of the conference theme, presenters will share widely varied interpretations. Join us for thought-provoking presentations and panel discussions.

Below is the schedule of the presenters from different parts of the world who will share their thoughts and perspectives on No Health Without Peace.

IDRAC 2025 Schedule of Events

IDRAC 2025 Speaker Biographies

Speaker	Speaker
Erica Mones	Erica Mones is a writer and disability advocate who was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She earned her Bachelors in writing and classical civilizations from Loyola University Maryland and her Masters in disability studies from the City University of New York School of Professional Studies. Her work has been published in New Mobility, Rooted in Rights, Pop Sugar, and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation blog among other online and print publications. When she is not writing or doing advocacy work, she is usually watching and overanalyzing Apple TV's latest series. She currently lives in Wyoming with her cat, Atticus.
Arash Javanbakht	Arash Javanbakht, M.D., is an award-winning psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and the founding director of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic (STARC) at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan. He treats civilians, refugees, and first responders with PTSD. He has written a book about fear. Dr Javanbakht holds patents on artificial intelligence and augmented reality and telemedicine technologies for treatment for anxiety disorders and PTSD. He has written a book about fear, "Afraid: Understanding the Purpose of Fear, and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety," which explores topics such as bravery, creativity, diseases of fear and trauma, and politics of fear and media.
Tiago Horta Reis Da Silva	Mr. Horta Reis da Silva is a Lecturer in Nursing Education at King's University, assisting with the BSc programme and teaching other modules. He has experience in other HEIs and NHS and collaborates with international teaching organizations. Tiago teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses nationally and internationally, including Nursing Practice 2 and Fundamental Knowledge and Skills in Older Person's Care. He is a Senior Fellow in Higher Education, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a Fellow for Faculty Nursing and Midwifery Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.
Carol Miller	Carol Miller, whose work focuses on language development, is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at Penn State. She is a member of the AI Institute for Exceptional Education's subgroup on learning science for children with disabilities.
Rose Hill	Rose Hill, MLIS, CPC, SUDP-T, is a Certified Peer Counselor with a focus in trauma and crisis counseling. She is in her final year of a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program. She has extensive professional and lived experience with a wide range of therapy modalities with specialized training in relational therapy, somatic therapy, existential therapy, psychotherapy, CBT, DBT, EMDR, and crisis intervention. She is currently an OUD specialist at Crisis Connections in Seattle, WA
Charee Thompson	Charee M. Thompson is a Professor of Health Communication at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She teaches and researches health communication within families and between medical providers and persons living with chronic illness. She focuses on health issues that are associated with uncertainty, stigma, and contestation--namely pain, mental illness, and, recently, long COVID. She also creates communication skills trainings for social network members and healthcare professionals, with the goal of equipping individuals to be more empathic and supportive providers of care to people navigating health issues.
Henry Germain-McCarthy	Henry Germain-McCarthy is Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (New Orleans). His journey in peace advocacy began at age 20, when he first learned about non-violent resistance to militarism and oppression from various peace organizations. He applied and was recognized by the Federal government as a conscientious objector to performing compulsory military service for the USA. For his alternative community service, he worked as an aide in a skilled nursing facility, which was his immersion in the disability world. He bonded with several of the residents, who became his first teachers about the disability experience and how to be both caring and collaborative in his job there. Those relationships steered him to pursue a career in rehabilitation psychology and disability studies. His professional work has been focused on promoting the legacies of disability rights and self-help movements as the foundation for meaningfully improving public awareness, professional education, and social policy regarding holistic quality of life for the disability community. Alongside this professional work, Henry continued his avocational activities as a pacifist and human rights advocate. Through his interests in disability justice and peace causes, he has had the privilege and pleasure to work with awesome colleagues and mentors in the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, and the USA. A sample of his scholarship is published in the open-access journal, Disability, Community-Based Rehabilitation, & Inclusive Development, 2021, 32(2),160–178.
Biji Kuu	Biji Kuu (his avatar name) is a fifty year health industry executive on the business and administrative side. He has been volunteering with global programs, often with veteran or special needs population for twenty years. He has an MBA and executive education at Wharton, University of Chicago Booth School and Kellogg School, and is a military veteran. Biji is presently spending time in various civic pursuits and global engagement and betterment programs.
Susan Sygall	Susan Sygall, CEO and Co-Founder of Mobility International USA, is an internationally-recognized expert in the areas of international educational exchange, international development and leadership programs for persons with disabilities. As a person with a disability and wheelchair rider, she has had a personal and professional commitment to disability rights and women's issues for more than 30 years. She is CEO and co-founder of Mobility International USA (MIUSA), a non-profit organization advancing disability rights and leadership globally® which she co-founded shortly after studying abroad on a Rotary-sponsored scholarship as a college student. Susan has co-authored numerous publications and lectured throughout the world on a variety of topics related to inclusive international exchange, international development, women’s leadership, and disability rights. She is a MacArthur Fellow, an Ashoka Senior Fellow, and a Kellogg Fellow. She has received an honorary doctorate from Chapman University and the University of Portland. She teaches a course on Global Perspectives on Disability at the University of Oregon, where she also serves on the President’s Diversity Advisory Community Council.
Kimberly Lopez	Dr. Kimberly Lopez (she/her) works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. She is interested in critically examining social structures and processes that reinforce difference and marginalisation. As a community-engaged qualitative researcher, she is interested in aging and long-term care (LTC), care labour, and well-being. In particular, Kim values working collaboratively and creatively to amplify BIPOC and other Othered identities (gender, ability, class, ability, and age) in the context of caring labour and leisure – practices inextricably linked to the social through labelled bodies. To learn about practices of labour engaged in LTC caring work and hear about the different ways identity is embodied, Kim looks to influencers of anti-racist feminisms, anti-colonial/restorative practices, and post-identity literature/art.
Ronnie Kraegel	G Ronnie Kraegel is the Executive Director of the Brain Energy Support Team (BEST). BEST provides peer support, education, and skill development for persons with brain injuries and their families to help them live healthy lives and build on their strengths. On Second Life as Namaara MacMoragh, Kraegel is the Chief Grounds Keeper at Etopia Sustainable Communities, Etopia Island, where supportive and engaging activities are provided for neurodivergent individuals.
Cicero Kit	Cicero Kit (her avatar name) is a woman with disabilities who has personal experience with complex trauma. She is a communication scholar who has taught numerous college level courses on the topic, worked as a journalist, as well as having worked in the non-profit sector.
Dr Kat Schrier	Dr Karen (Kat) Schrier is a Professor and Founding Director of the Games & Emerging Media Program at Marist University in New York. She is a world-renowned expert and researcher in games and learning, and is the director of the Play Innovation Lab. Her research interests include gaming for empathy, compassion and bias reduction, and using games to teach ethics and civics. She is the creator of Awesome Upstander, an antibullying iphone and ipad game.