Kimberly (Hill) Ridley ‘94 appointed to National Council on Disability

Utica Community
Utica Stories
Kimberly (Hill) Ridley ‘94 appointed to National Council on Disability

Kimberly Hill, with red hair and a blue-yellow shirt, sits in her wheelchair inside the capital building in Albany, smiling.

Both she and her husband Michael ‘95, Strive to Improve the Lives of People with Disabilities

Kim Hill Ridley is sworn in to the National Council on Disabilities.

Kimberly (Hill) Ridley ‘94 has always focused on two fundamental goals - inclusion and independence for people with disabilities.

And now, she brings to the national stage the passion and dedication for advocacy that she brought to New York’s Executive Chamber and state Assembly for over three decades - as the newest member of the National Council on Disability (NCD).

Appointed by Senator Chuck Schumer, Ridley took the oath of office in November and officially began her time as a member of the NCD.

“I am so very excited and honored to join the Council and look forward to working with my fellow Council members and staff on so many of the issues that Americans with disabilities face daily,” she says. “I truly thank Senator Schumer for this opportunity.”

First established as a small advisory council within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Rehabilitation in 1978, NCD became an independent federal agency in 1984. In 1986, NCD recommended enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. Since the ADA became law in 1990, NCD has continued to play a leading role in crafting policy solutions, and in advising the President, Congress, and other federal agencies on disability policies, programs, and practices.

“NCD has an amazing history and impact, and I’m proud to be a part of that,” she says.

For more than three decades, Ridley has lived with C5-C6 cervical incomplete spinal cord injury. It was at a New Year’s Eve party at the end of 1988 and she was a high school junior in New Hartford, New York when she was knocked to the floor as the energy and excitement rose among the teenage party-goers, suddenly unable to move, sustaining a broken neck.

“It was the definition of a fluke,” she says.

The months that followed the accident were a blur of hospitals, surgeries, and rehabilitation. Doctors, physical and occupational therapists helped her recover and helped her learn how to adapt to a wheelchair and transition to a new life as a 17-year-old with a disability.

She had just begun exploring college options when her accident had altered everything. Original plans of New York City and a career in merchandising were put on hold as she rethought her path and how the physical limitations she now faced would factor into that journey.

In summer 1989, a visit to then-Utica College of Syracuse University opened up a new possibility. Since the accident, the support and advocacy of her parents had been essential in helping her recover and cope. Her mom, Barbara, had practically made her daughter’s care her full-time job. The entire family knew that finding a college nearby would allow Ridley to continue to rely on her parents' support. Still, Ridley was not interested in commuting. Getting the full college experience, she knew, meant all the trappings of college life: living on campus, eating in the dining hall, attending parties with friends, and hanging out on the quad on spring afternoons. Despite all the changes she'd endured over the past several months, she wasn't ready to give up on that vision.

Her visit to Utica had restored her hope. Living so close by, Ridley realized she had discounted the local college, but now, after a tour and multiple assurances that adjustments could be made to the physical campus to ensure accessibility, Ridley felt she had found the perfect fit.

"[Utica] was 10 minutes from my house, had several programs I was interested in, and it just made a lot of sense," she says. By then, her career goals had moved away from merchandising and toward journalism and public relations, two programs for which Utica was nationally known. Soon after her visit, Ridley applied and was accepted, declaring a PR and journalism major with a minor in government.

Ridley impressed many of her professors from the very start. It was Professor Jim Murphy, who himself was working in the state legislature as director of the intern program, that knew she would thrive in a position within the Assembly’s Communication and Information Services Department thanks to her intelligence, keen writing skills, and a temperament for pressure. In January 1994, at Professor Murphy’s recommendation, Ridley interviewed for and was offered a job that blended her interests and education, doing writing, research, and graphic design for the democratic majority.

It would be not quite two years into her recovery when she enrolled at Utica and discovered a passion for state government, following in her father’s footsteps, and sharpening the skills that would propel her into a decades-long career in the New York State Assembly, all while refusing to let her disability get in the way. It was also in her senior year at Utica where she met her then-boyfriend Michael Ridley ‘95.

After graduating from Utica in 1994, she and Mike moved to Albany. Mike spent his last fall semester at Utica College commuting back and forth before he joined the State Assembly internship program in the spring of 1995 and quickly found a full-time position of his own within the Assembly where he worked for a few years. Mike then enrolled in the computer engineering masters program at the college of St. Rose in Albany. Mike has gone on to have an incredibly productive career, first leaving state service to work at NYSTEC for a few years, and then returning to work for the NYS Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Health, and now the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, where he is the Chief Information Officer charged with rebuilding its entire data system. The two have remained steadfast partners in every part of life for over 30 years, remain married to this day and have two children - Michaela (22) and Alex (17). Kim credits Mike’s love and support for making every success in her adult life possible and often says their two stories are forever intertwined.

Both Ridleys have made it their career goals to leave the world a better place than they found it, especially within the disability community where issues often get neglected.

“I am extremely proud and happy for Kim,” said Michael Ridley. “Kim and I have supported each other professionally from the beginning. Her latest appointment and my own professional achievements and commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities are a testament to that foundational commitment and respect we have for each other. As our careers progressed, one plus one have always equaled three - I think that should be the goal for any couple. I can think of nobody more deserving who will represent these important issues with more integrity than Kim. For me, it was a no-brainer for Senator Schumer to select her for this critically important role at this particular moment in America. Nothing is more important than a husband to be all in for their partner who is fighting for such a worthy cause such as life and dignity for people. She is a great role model to our children and a great mom, who is leading by example that public service is a worthy, dignified profession that can make a positive difference in the lives of people.”

In 1998, she became the Director of the Task Force on People with Disabilities, creating and evaluating initiatives for people with disabilities in New York State. The chance to help others through legislation was too appealing to pass up.

“I knew I would have the ability to make changes to help people live more independently, more inclusively in the community,” Ridley says. “Not everyone has the support system I’m so lucky to have.

In the position, she became one of Albany’s most vocal and effective advocates for New Yorkers with disabilities. She worked with Assembly members to advance legislation related to the state’s Nursing Facility Transition and Diversion Waiver, which allows seniors and people with physical disabilities to have more control over the services they receive while living in community-based settings. In 2002, she championed the passage of the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council, ensuring that New Yorkers with disabilities receive care and services in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs. She served with the Assembly’s Standing Committee on People with Disabilities as their principal analyst, and planned more than 24 annual Legislative Disabilities Awareness Days, which brought hundreds of people with disabilities, their families, advocates, and legislators to Albany each year.

She now proudly serves as New York State’s first-ever Chief Disability Officer (CDO), appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul in February 2022. In her CDO position, she advises the Governor and executive staff on all issues pertaining to people with disabilities. In this position, Ridley and her team spend significant time meeting with advocates, people with disabilities, and their families, focusing on priorities such as homecare, employment, housing, accessibility, and transportation.

Now, her voice has the opportunity to influence and make change not only for her state, but for her country.

“I am thrilled to welcome Kim to the council,” says recently resigned NCD Chair Claudia L. Gordon. “Her exceptional leadership as New York’s Chief Disability Officer and her deep commitment to disability rights will be invaluable assets to NCD.”