Sandra Breitengross Bitter (she/her), a Hispanic, neurodivergent individual with lived experience in mental health, originally hails from a small desert town in California but now calls Texas home. After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from California Baptist University, Sandra spent the first part of her career working in public policy for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2012, she joined the Texas State Independent Living Council staff. She most recently held the position of Executive Director, where she led the organization in policy analysis, strategic planning, project management and evaluation, legislative and government relations, resource development, and community and stakeholder outreach and engagement. In 2022, Sandra became the Director of Training for the ILRU IL-NET T&TA Center for Independent Living. She collaborates with an outstanding team of subject matter experts from around the country. Sandra personally enjoys focusing on advocacy issues to improve accessible transportation and housing infrastructure, planning inclusive outreach and events, and expanding mental health and neurodiversity acceptance. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and two children.
Stacie Feldman, who co-leads the CIL Survey (R2), is a Survey Researcher at Mathematica, focusing on disability research. She has fifteen years of experience conducting survey data collection, including survey design for multiple modes, questionnaire design, interviewer training, and managing survey operations. She specializes in collecting data from/on people with disabilities, from transitional-age youth to older adults, on varied topics: employment, industry and occupation, education, activities of daily living (ADL), accessibility, unmet social and health care needs, and independent living. Other research interests include qualitative data collection and analysis.