Task Force Member Profiles

Rob Roozeboom
Sheldon, Iowa

Rob Roozeboom, 31, is founder and president of RISE Ministries, an organization that teaches teens and adults how to overcome adversity in their lives.

Roozeboom travels the country giving motivational speeches to a variety of audiences. He speaks from experience, drawing from his own journey through depression, loneliness, substance abuse and suicidal despair.

He also shares his insights on a daily radio program called “Rise Above Radio.” His minute-long segments, designed to motivate and inspire young people, are heard on more than 300 stations worldwide.

Roozeboom is also the co-founder of the annual Rise Above Festival, a family event that combines speakers, comedians, skateboarders, BMX riders and bands. Thousands come each summer to enjoy the activities and spend time with their families and friends.

Roozeboom was found to have limb-girdle muscular dystrophy in his teens — around the time he was hoping to realize his dreams of becoming a farmer and an athlete. The progressive disease causes weakness and muscle wasting, initially affecting the shoulder and pelvic girdle muscles.
Currently, Roozeboom is ambulatory.

Roozeboom and his wife, Sharla, often speak on behalf of MDA and represent the Association at fundraisers and sponsor events across the country. In 2001 and 2002, he was profiled on the national broadcasts of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

The Roozebooms, their son, Jager, and daughters, Riley and Aidan, look forward with enthusiasm each fall to participating in the harvest of their family's crops.

Christopher Rosa, Ph.D.
Flushing, N.Y.

Chris Rosa, 41, is University Director for Student Affairs, City University of New York (CUNY). Rosa earned a doctorate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; his dissertation is on "Disability Rites: The Construction of Disability Culture." Each year since 1997, Rosa has authored chapters advising students with disabilities on how to choose colleges, graduate and professional schools in a published series for the Kaplan Interactive Division of Simon & Schuster.

Rosa, who lives in Flushing, N.Y., graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
Queens College with a double major in sociology and philosophy. His activities include coaching basketball for Catholic Youth Organization and teaching at City University.

Rosa served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Employee Disability Concerns of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. As a member of the New York State Independent Living Council, Rosa is involved in making policies that ensure that state agencies providing services to consumers with disabilities do so in ways that empower these individuals and foster their independence.

A member of the national task force steering committee, Rosa was profiled on the 1993 national broadcast of the MDA Telethon. He was named an MDA national vice president in 1994 and elected to MDA's Board of Directors in 1997. Rosa was the recipient of MDA's 1997 National Personal Achievement Award.

Rosa has Becker muscular dystrophy, a slowly progressing muscle-wasting disease. His condition was diagnosed when he was 9; his brother, Gian, a 38-year-old higher education professional, also has Becker muscular dystrophy.

David A. Sheffield, Esq.
Silsbee, Texas

David Sheffield, the elected County Attorney for Hardin County, Texas, lives in Silsbee with his wife, Dr. Joyce Reed, and daughter, Erin. Sheffield was first elected in 1993 and is serving his fourth term in office. In the past, he's served as first assistant district attorney for the county, as well as chief legal counsel of the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission.

Currently he's chairman of the four-county Big Thicket District of the
Boy Scouts of America, and also serves as an officer and director of Goodwill Industries of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. At 16, Sheffield became an advanced-class amateur radio operator (KB5UY) and still enjoys the hobby today.

Sheffield, 45, earned his undergraduate degree at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Determined to be self-supporting, he transported his iron lung to the University of Mississippi and slept in it every night while studying for his law degree.

Sheffield was profiled on the 1991 and 1992 national broadcasts of the MDA Telethon and has served as an MDA national vice president. In 2004, David was the state recipient of the MDA Personal Achievment Award and was a finalist for the national award.

Sheffield has a neuromuscular disorder similar to SMA, which involves weakness and wasting of the voluntary and respiratory muscles.

L. Vance Taylor
Oxon Hill, Md.

L. Vance Taylor, 31, is a principal with the Washington, D.C. government affairs and business development firm Catalyst Partners, LLC.

Taylor is one of the few people in the country with a masters degree in Homeland Security, and has used his expertise in that area to advance the mission of homeland security both on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.

Prior to joining Catalyst Partners he handled security-related policy issues dealing with drinking water and wastewater for the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, also in Washington.

Before his work in the water sector, Taylor served as an aide for two members of the House of Representatives: Congressman Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). In Washington he provided them and other legislators advice and recommendations on issues such as homeland security, immigration and grants.

Taylor’s large network of professional and personal acquaintances with members and staff of both houses of Congress allows him in his current position to link industry clients with the nation’s most highly placed homeland security decision makers.

An accomplished public speaker and a long-time volunteer for both MDA and the Boy Scouts of America, Taylor co-hosts the regional broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. In 2007 he received the MDA National Capital Region’s Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award for outstanding leadership and achievement. He lives in Oxon Hill with his wife (Casey) and their two daughters.

Taylor is affected by limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a progressive disease that causes muscle weakness and atrophy, starting in the muscles of the shoulder and pelvic area. He uses a power wheelchair for mobility.

Angela Wrigglesworth
Houston, Texas

Angela Wrigglesworth's advocacy for people with disabilities is illustrated by the personal example she sets and by her extensive volunteer and community involvement.

Wrigglesworth, 30, teaches third grade in the Houston area. She graduated in 1999 from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education.

As the college's first student using a wheelchair to take part in sorority rush, she spurred changes that have made all sorority houses on campus wheelchair-accessible. She was involved in numerous campus organizations, student government and community projects. As a member of the Parking and Transit Student Advisory Board, she worked to improve accessibility on the Texas A&M campus.

Involved in her community as well, she works at a camp for children with disabilities, is active in her church, and helps local charities.

Wrigglesworth has held many leadership roles with MDA, starting as a child when she served as Texas MDA Goodwill Ambassador in 1985 and 1986. She's appeared on local broadcasts of the MDA Telethon since she was 6 years old, and has personally raised $70,000 for the Association. Wrigglesworth has been involved with MDA summer camp since she was a youngster. She was the 1997 recipient of the Association's Personal Achievement Award for Texas and frequently speaks on behalf of MDA. Wrigglesworth was named Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2004 and now serves as the executive director of the Ms. Wheelchair Texas Foundation.

As an infant, Wrigglesworth received a diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive motor neuron disease that causes weakness in the arms, legs and torso.

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