In his own words…

01 What do you most miss about campus?
The general atmosphere of being on a buzzing university campus. I truly enjoyed learning and being with other students who wanted to learn and fully engage in academic life. To this day, I still take pleasure in spending time on university campuses … the UW’s in particular.
02 What was your favorite class?
Wow, tough question. I would have to say a sociology class I took during my senior year. It was the first time in my undergraduate career that I had an African-American professor. That made the class very memorable. But more importantly, the professor’s ability to engage students and manage conversations about sensitive issues stuck with me.
03 What is the one thing every UW student must do?
Participate in campus football activities on a crisp Saturday morning in late September.
04 What is your proudest UW achievement?
Graduating from the UW. Very few people in my family attended college, let alone, graduated from college. Graduating from the UW has been my most significant achievement, as it is a defining moment that reflects the sacrifices my family made to ensure I gained the best education possible.
05 What advice would you offer to graduating seniors?
Stay focused on your end-goals in life (personally and professionally); but be open to change. The path taken to meet your goals may take you to unimaginable places — yet only seeing or relying on one route can lead to many missed opportunities.
06 Who is your hero? Who or what inspires you?
I have multiple heroes — my grandparents for being resilient and surviving discrimination unknown to many; my father, who while growing up in the South never had an English textbook yet had a brilliant career in Wisconsin state government; my mother, the rock of the family, who sacrificed attending college to raise her children; and my wife, whose love for life and having fun reminds me daily of what true joy and happiness are.
07 What’s your favorite quote?
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.; “Do not judge me by the color of my skin; judge me by the content of my character.”
08 What are you reading now?
Cesar’s Way by Cesar Millan (I have two crazy dogs).
09 What was your first job?
At the age of nine, I started a dog-walking service, mowed my neighbors’ lawns and shoveled their snow. Otherwise, in high school I worked for Madison School-Community Recreation as a playground leader.
10 What five items would you take to a desert island?
My wife (also a UW grad, and together we could figure out how to survive), a very long book, a metric ton of food/wood, matches, and a tent.

The Washington, D.C. area is awash in movers and shakers. But you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who is shaking up the system more than Aaron Bishop when it comes to advocating for the millions of Americans with disabilities.

As the driving force behind important legislation such as the Assistive Technology Act of 2004 and the Traumatic Brain Injury Act, Bishop owes his interest in disability advocacy to his days at the UW.

“My graduate school experience at the Waisman Center had a significant impact on my personal and professional aspirations,” Bishop says. “It was where my passion for the disability field, systems change, and policy development were born.”

After he earned his graduate degree, Bishop’s passion only grew … and so did his stature. Now considered a national leader in fighting for the rights of persons with disabilities, Bishop has been advising Wyoming senator Michael Enzi on legislative strategy, initiatives and policy for this population since 2004.

Prior to his work with Senator Enzi, Bishop received a prestigious Public Policy Fellowship from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation in which he had an opportunity to actively participate as a social change agent. That experience, he says, “reinforced my lifelong commitment to advocating against discrimination and oppression.”

The question is, where did his inner drive come from? Bishop himself doesn’t have a disability. Yet he tirelessly fought for the deaf as the lead senate committee staff member responsible for the Education of the Deaf Act section of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. He doesn’t have autism either, but he was still a major player in getting the Combating Autism Act passed.

According to Bishop, his dedication to people with disabilities is a result of being a person of color.

“My interest and motivation to work in this field are derived from what I believe are the similar histories that exist between people with disabilities and people of color struggling to establish human rights that are rightfully theirs,” he says.

Along with winning numerous awards for his work, Bishop recently spent ten months in Australia as an International Policy Fellow studying health care for people with disabilities. And in 2008, he spoke at the National Rehabilitation Association’s 27th annual Government Affairs Summit. It’s one of the oldest and strongest advocacy group for persons with disabilities in the United States.

So, what’s next? Bishop has pondered a return to his home state of Wisconsin to run for political office. Whatever he decides to do, he says he’ll continue to focus on social policy issues. And you can bet he’ll be moving things in a positive direction.