Judy Panko Reis
For Judy Panko Reis, director of the Women With Disabilities Center, life on the front lines of disability has been her most profound teacher. Judy’s life took a fateful turn when she and her fiancé were victims of a savage attack while camping in Hawaii in 1980. Her fiancé was murdered and Judy was left with severe disabilities. Living with emotional and physical trauma, Judy discovered that the disability community, and the male-dominated field of rehabilitation medicine, had neglected women’s specific needs. Since then, Judy has used real life experience to spur action on behalf of women with disabilities. After finding public transportation inadequate, she worked with disability groups to make the Chicagoland system accessible. With Drs. Kristi Kirschner and Suzan Rayner, she founded the Women with Disabilities Center (WWDC) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to support the reproductive and social needs of women with disabilities. Her awareness of the high prevalence of domestic violence against disabled women and the disabilities resulting from domestic violence led to the creation of an advocacy program for affected women. To provide urgently needed role models, Judy established an innovative mentoring program that pairs disabled teen girls with disabled women mentors. Recently the Center has begun collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control on promoting breast health among women with disabilities. Judy is the author and co-author of important articles such as, “It Takes More Than Ramps to Solve the Crisis of Healthcare for People with Disabilities” and “Women living with Traumatic Brain Injury: Social Isolation, Emotional Functioning and Implications for Psychotherapy.” She is editor of the award-winning educational publication, Resourceful Woman. Personally Judy continues to challenge herself to embrace life to the fullest – earning graduate degrees; converting to Judaism; and marrying and having a child. She pushes the boundaries of narrow conventions so that those with disabilities can experience full dignity, as well as equal access and opportunities under the law.
Disability activist Judy Panko Reis grew up in Chicago, raised Roman Catholic, but later converted to Judaism. She studied philosophy at SUNY Geneseo, then entered the corporate world in the mid-70s and was successful at Marsh & McLennan, an actuarial firm. When camping in Hawaii, unknown attackers murdered her fiancé and left her severely disabled. Panko Reis began working in disability transportation advocacy and successfully fought for equitable access to Chicago public transit. She cofounded the Women with Disabilities Center at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, for which she received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation community health leadership award. Meanwhile, Panko Reis earned a master’s in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a master’s in managerial communication from Northwestern University. Until 2020, she worked as a Healthcare Policy Analyst at Access Living Center for Independent Living.
