Convention

Rebecca Alexander, Keynote Speaker

Rebecca Alexander is a psychotherapist, disability rights advocate, group fitness instructor, and extreme athlete. She is also the author of Not Fade Away: A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found. Born with a rare genetic disorder called Usher syndrome type III, Rebecca has been simultaneously losing both her sight and hearing since she was a teenager. She was told that by age 30, she’d be completely blind. Then, at 19, one year after a fall from a second-story window left her athletic body completely shattered, she discovered she would lose her hearing as well. Despite these difficulties, Rebecca refused to lose her drive and zest for life and rose above and beyond every challenge she has faced.

Now, with only 10 degrees of vision and significantly deteriorated hearing, Rebecca is a flourishing full-time psychotherapist with two master’s degrees from Columbia University in Public Health and Clinical Social Work. Rebecca received post-graduate training at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy at the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia and her psychodynamic psychotherapy training from the American Institute for Psychoanalysis. Rebecca is also certified in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) and is fluent in American Sign Language and Tactile Sign Language. Rebecca works with individuals, couples, and families, specializing in the treatment of anxiety, depression, addiction, grief, loss, and disability. She is also an athlete who teaches indoor cycling, HIIT (high intensity interval training) classes, and regularly competes in extreme endurance races. Most notably, she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, swam from Alcatraz to shore in the San Francisco Bay, participated in the 600-mile San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS Lifecycle ride, and regularly competes in the Civilian Military Combine (CMC) for extreme athletes.

Additionally, Rebecca travels around the country on a regular basis, speaking at corporate and nonprofit events across the globe. Rebecca has been featured in an array of media outlets including The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Morning Joe, The Daily Rundown, One-On-One with Steve Adubato, Megyn Kelly TODAY, The Dr Oz Show, The Meredith Vieira Show, The New York Times, Huffington Post, New York Post, USA Today, ABC News, NBC News, Fox News, ESPN, People, Shape Magazine, Fitness Magazine, Women’s Health Magazine, Marie Claire, Glamour magazine, Glamour UK, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Mail, Mercury News and various others. Rebecca has been honored with numerous awards including the American Foundation for the Blind Helen Keller Achievement Award, The Disability Rights Advocates’ Eagle Award, NO LIMITS for Deaf Children Spirit of Leadership award, and the University of Michigan’s Bicentennial Award.

Come hear Rebecca talk about her inspiring journey at the Opening Session on Thursday, June 20 at 9 a.m.