By NUWC Division Newport Public Affairs
NEWPORT, R..I. –
With a highly decorated 35-year career in the Department of Defense (DOD), almost entirely focused on equality, diversity and inclusion, Dr. Claiborne Douglass Haughton Jr., shared his personal story of living with disabilities during a virtual presentation to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s workforce on Oct. 21.
“I was born on a plantation in Jim Crow segregated Louisiana, with cerebral palsy and blindness in one eye,” Haughton said. “I wore ‘Coke bottle’ glasses that were so thick, that when I looked at a map I could see people up here in Providence waving at me.”
Haughton, president of Haughton Group LLC based in Arlington, Virginia, who retired in 2002 as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity, is now a motivational speaker and consultant. Division Newport hosted him as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, observed each October to recognize the contributions of people with disabilities to America's workplaces.
“Almost no one, regardless of your race, gender, religion, economic status, or background, will go through life without suffering from some form of physical or mental impairment,” Haughton said. “You are only one accident away from developing a disability. Those of us who are disabled are a constant and visible reminder of the frailty of each member of the human race. We are a minority that ‘temporarily’ able-bodied persons could...
Health care entities may be able to pay less than half the steep fines ordinarily associated with False Claims Act (FCA) violations by voluntarily reporting issues under a new pilot program launche...