I worked with Rhonda on a variety of international disability and human rights efforts, including the campaign for United States ratification of the international disability rights agreement, the CRPD. We did a lot of outreach and stakeholder education together, and Rhonda was an integral part of our team. Rhonda was equally adept at engaging grassroots advocates as she is at educating policymakers. She has a natural talent for bringing people in. Fostering inclusion comes so naturally to Rhonda–she walks the talk! She easily builds colleague relationships and earns the trust of her colleagues–she is a solid partner, brings a professional skill set, and is not afraid of hard work. It is exciting to see her in this next stage of her work, bridging cultures, fostering advocacy and supporting advocates, and making our big world a little smaller–and a little bit kinder too. Thank you, Rhonda Raven Neuhaus, for your work and your vision.
I had the pleasure of working with Rhonda when I interned at Handicap International USA in 2009. Rhonda was the project manager for the Making it Work Initiative, and with her supervision, we developed a toolkit manual to support organizations who want to implement the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in their country. As my supervisor, she mentored me in the field of international human rights issues concerning people with disabilities. Rhonda is knowledgeable about many domestic and international disability legislation, and is committed to sharing her expertise with people from the grassroots level to government officials. Rhonda’s advocacy work has empowered individuals who have been marginalized in different communities to speak up against discrimination. She continues to encourage me to develop my professional goals and connects me to the leaders of the disability community. Her caring attitude, inner strength, and professional achievements makes her a great role model and mentor for people with disabilities.
I have known and worked with Rhonda for many years both when she was a professional advocate with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and in her consulting work. Rhonda is extremely professional and gifted. She can really be an asset to you as an individual struggling to manage stress and adversity in today’s workplace, or for your whole office team. She has great skills in conflict management, advocacy work, civil rights work and how to ground yourself and your staff during difficult times. Whatever help or support you need, Rhonda can help!
Rhonda Raven is a multi-faceted professional who will meet you exactly where you are. One of the things I find makes her so extraordinary is her energetic intuitiveness! Her heart-centered business savvy and her network of global, national and local contacts will bring YOU to the level you are seeking for yourself and your business. Her innovative style serves to connect, amplify and heal. I have known Rhonda Raven for almost 2 decades and experiencing her synergistic approach to all things will bring you to what you are searching for. I bow to her expertise and the ease in which she graces those around her.
Rhonda’s strong and expansive heart and life experiences drive her strong commitment to humanity and take several traditional and non-traditional forms. She is well known in the Washington, DC, national and international circles of disability policy advocates having been among leaders strategizing and organizing for the US government’s signing (and ratifying) the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As a human rights lawyer, she is savvy about the ‘ins and outs’ of federal and international legislative and regulatory processes. She’s also been on the ground in low- and middle-income countries, co-creating programs to empower women and youth in gaining voices individually and collectively in their communities, regions, and nations. She brings insights, knowledge, and skills to influence policy and program development, addresses inequities and cultural beliefs, and facilitates access to societal inclusion across a range of sectors. While professionally engaged, she serves as a role model to those mentees who learn of her journey, resilience, and talent for ‘risk taking’ athletically and personally—carving new paths to healing for those she trains and joins in fostering positive energies to affect change. We discovered as DC-based colleagues a decade ago that, in another time in our lives, she was in Maine with my daughter and niece in summer programs! Our paths were meant to cross yet again, and align for comparable professional and personal goals. Her life purposes are easy to ascertain and contributory to the betterment of people’s journeys—’value added ‘wherever she travels this globe.
Rhonda is a passionate and exceptional organizer, trainer, mentor and speaker. Rhonda brings a deep commitment to, and personal knowledge of, disability rights, policy, and lobbying; social justice issues and campaigns; healing and self-care that shines through in all her work. I am grateful to have learned from and worked with Rhonda and recommend her highly.
Rhonda provided me with insight, connection and wisdom. She cares deeply for her clients and her causes.
Rhonda is deeply and passionately committed, and at the same time incredibly compassionate and empathetic — qualities that make her a wonderful mediator, coach, consultant and trainer. Human experiences of all kinds and depths are not merely abstract ideas to her, but real and potentially constructive contributions to communications and relationships. I recommend her highly.