Keynote speaker, Doris Maldonado, is the former chair of the CT Council on Developmental Disabilities.

Born in NYC, diagnosed with a congenital disease at two days old. She is a 1st generation legacy of proud, hard-working migrant parents.

For two decades, she’s been a foster and adoptive parent of children with disabilities. As a national Latiné health and language access catalyst, social and economic capital executive, Guardian ad Litem, certified language educator, researcher and community health worker, she's become a trusted messenger for the Latino disability lifespan.

Doris has earned degrees from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs in International Relations, Spanish Language, Literature & Linguistics and Political Science, with a Master’s in Education and Research in Multisensory Foreign Language Acquisition. She is a founder of national Latina based multicultural organizations: AΣΩ Latina Sorority Inc and Academic Sisters Organizing Latina Scholarship.

She’s been appointed by the CT Governor as the first Latina Chair of the Council on Developmental Disabilities, served as President of the NAMI CT, President and founding board of her town’s SEPTA, Chair of Keep the Promise Coalition, and was celebrated among the Top 50 Latinos In CT-Community Leaders, Honor A La Mujer Hispana & CT Historical Society's "Common Struggle, Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health.