{{Short description|American disability rights activist (1955–2020)}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Deidre Davis Butler | image = DeidreAnnDavis1997.png | alt = A young African-American woman, seated and smiling, wearing a print dress and holding a pamphlet in her lap. | caption = Deidre Ann Davis, from a 1997 publication of the United States Department of State. | birth_name = Deidre Ann Davis | birth_date = {{Birth date|1955|09|26}} | birth_place = Elizabeth, New Jersey | death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|08|07|1955|09|26}} | death_place = Rogers, Arkansas | occupation = Lawyer, disability rights activist, federal official }}
'''Deidre Davis Butler''' (September 26, 1955 – August 7, 2020), born '''Deidre Ann Davis''', was an American disability rights activist and federal official.
== Early life == Davis was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Linden,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Obituary: Deidre Davis, Disability Advocate|url=http://www.blackdisability.org/content/obituary-deidre-davis-disability-advocate|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926091932/http://www.blackdisability.org/content/obituary-deidre-davis-disability-advocate |archive-date=September 26, 2020 |access-date=2020-08-22|website=National Black Disability Coalition}}</ref> the daughter of Hilton Davis and Bernice Jones Davis.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2020-08-19|title=Deidre "Dee" Ann Davis Butler, Esq., September 26, 1955~August 7, 2020|url=https://www.beardsfuneralchapel.com/deidre-dee-ann-davis-butler-esq-september-26-1955august-7-2020/|access-date=2020-08-22|website=Beard's Funeral Chapel|language=en-US}}</ref> Her mother was a teacher and her father was a lawyer. In childhood, a spinal tumor and the surgeries to treat it affected her ability to walk; she used leg braces and canes as a girl, and a wheelchair later in life.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Davis|first=Deidre Ann|date=2010-10-15|title=Ability & Possibility: A Personal Chronicle of the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act|url=https://www.diversityinc.com/ability-possibility-a-personal-chronicle-of-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-americans-with-disabilities-act/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129135935/https://www.diversityinc.com/ability-possibility-a-personal-chronicle-of-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-americans-with-disabilities-act/ |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |access-date=2020-08-22|website=DiversityInc|language=en-US}}</ref> She attended Brandeis University as an undergraduate, and Howard University School of Law, completing her Juris Doctor degree in 1980.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|date=2020-08-21|title=Deidre Davis Butler, Who Fought for Disability Rights, Dies at 64|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/us/deidre-davis-butler-who-fought-for-disability-rights-dies-at-64.html|access-date=2020-08-22|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Davis worked in state and national disability programs as a young lawyer, beginning at Rehabilitation International in New York in 1980.<ref name=":1" /> In 1987, she worked at the United States Department of Education. She was involved in drafting the Air Carrier Access Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), among other important legislation for accessibility and disability rights.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-08-11|title=NCIL Mourns the Loss of Deidre Davis Butler|url=https://advocacymonitor.com/ncil-mourns-the-loss-of-deidre-davis-butler/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200830192604/https://advocacymonitor.com/ncil-mourns-the-loss-of-deidre-davis-butler/ |archive-date=August 30, 2020 |access-date=2020-08-22|website=Advocacy Monitor|language=en-US}}</ref> "I was one of the very few people of color in the inner layers of helping to draft the ADA, implement it, enforce it from all different perspectives," she told NPR's Michel Martin in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=August 2, 2010|title=Low-Income Minorities With Disabilities See Services Disparity|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128932141|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808113356/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128932141|archive-date=August 8, 2010|access-date=2020-08-22|website=NPR's Tell Me More|language=en}}</ref>
Davis served in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel from 1995 to 2001, and was head of the ADA Technical Assistance Division at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=EEOC CELEBRATES DECADE OF ENFORCING TITLE I OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT|url=https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-celebrates-decade-enforcing-title-i-americans-disabilities-act|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026052804/https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-celebrates-decade-enforcing-title-i-americans-disabilities-act |archive-date=October 26, 2021 |access-date=2020-08-22|website=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission}}</ref> She traveled extensively, overseeing civil rights compliance at American embassies overseas. In 2005, she became director of ADA services for Walmart.<ref name=":2" /> She retired from Walmart in 2012.<ref name=":3" />
Butler was founder of DYSability Dynamics, LLC, a disability law consulting firm.<ref name=":1" /> She served on the boards of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the Howard University Center on Minorities with Disabilities, and the National Black Disability Coalition.<ref name=":0" /> She was awarded NCIL's Max Starkloff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, just before she died.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-05-21|title=SOURCES Board Member Recognized for Lifetime Achievement|url=https://www.arsources.org/post/make-a-change-raise-5900-for-the-curu-national-wildlife-refuge-in-costa-rica|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920095848/https://www.arsources.org/post/make-a-change-raise-5900-for-the-curu-national-wildlife-refuge-in-costa-rica |archive-date=September 20, 2020 |access-date=2020-08-22|website=Sources|language=en}}</ref> The day before she died, she was listed as a featured panelist in an online event sponsored by the State of New Jersey, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the ADA.<ref>[https://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dds/documents/events/2020/ADA_30_Event.pdf "Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the ADA Striving for Equity and Inclusion"] Panel Discussion (August 6, 2020).</ref>
== Personal life == Deidre Davis married Juan K. Butler in 2015. She died August 7, 2020, in Rogers, Arkansas.<ref name=":2" /> Her grave is in the Fayetteville National Cemetery.<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=CURvPKQ8fFg&feature=emb_logo A video interview with Deidre Davis Butler from July 2020], conducted by the Center For Independent Living of NorthWest Florida in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the ADA; on YouTube.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Deidre Davis}} Category:1955 births Category:2020 deaths Category:People from Elizabeth, New Jersey Category:People from Linden, New Jersey Category:American disability rights activists Category:Lawyers from Union County, New Jersey Category:Brandeis University alumni Category:Howard University School of Law alumni Category:Alpha Kappa Alpha members Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century American women lawyers Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:21st-century American women lawyers Category:21st-century American lawyers