Elise Roy Biography

Elise Roy has been a fighter from an early age. Whether it was her determination to succeed academically in the face of severe hearing loss, her fierce athleticism, her dedication to helping other people with disabilities succeed, or her drive to follow her dreams in spite of social pressures to conform, Elise found a way to fight the good fight early on and she continues that work every day. Elise Roy is an athlete, a lawyer, a tireless human rights advocate, a recognized writer and also a highly sought after public speaker.

At 10, Elise lost almost all of her hearing for reasons that doctors have never been able to explain. Determined to continue to live the normal life that she had already begun, she refused to lower herself to the new sub-par standards that society began placing on her. Instead, she excelled in athletics, participating in the Olympic Development Program for soccer and being the only freshman to make her high school varsity lacrosse team, which was ranked 2nd in the nation. In the classroom, receiving no extra help, she learned how to teach herself using her books. Her hard work in school, athletic skills and 98th percentile math SAT score, helped her get into Brown University and fulfilled her dream of attending an Ivy League school with top 20 NCAA division one teams in both soccer and lacrosse.

At Brown Elise was recognized as one of the nation’s elite soccer goalkeepers and received numerous awards for both her soccer and lacrosse endeavors, including the prestigious Arlene Gorton Award given out among all athletes at Brown for their dedication to their sport. While at Brown Elise also began seeing herself as an advocate. The University tried to take away the real time captioning, a cross between closed captions that you see on television and a courtroom stenographer enabling her for the first time to hear and participate in the classroom. After organizing the other deaf students at the University and meeting with several deans, Elise was able to secure the real time captioning for the remainder of her time at Brown. Her senior year, the University awarded her the prestigious Joslin Award for her campus leadership in disability issues.

Following Brown, Elise turned down an invitation to play professional soccer and instead opted for law school at Northeastern University. While in law school, Elise became actively involved in gay and lesbian rights, acting as a fellow for the human rights campaign in Washington D.C. Upon graduation, Elise received the highly prestigious Georgetown University Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship, with alumni and board members that included Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg, as well as, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Practicing as a gender and disability rights litigator as part of the fellowship, Elise was successful in leading numerous hospital access cases. During this time she also began working on an International Disability Rights Treaty at the United Nations. She quickly found herself thrust from a mere observer to the leader of her Article on culture, sport, recreation, leisure. The treaty, the first human rights treaty at the United Nations to be passed in the 21st century, was ratified this past April and entered into legal force. Over 125 countries have signed on to the treaty.

Elise spent several months traveling through Africa and the Middle East speaking with local advocates, educating them on the treaty and how to use sport to improve the lives of people with disabilities. Her policy recommendations and development methods will be published in a book handed out to governments worldwide at the 2008 Olympics. During her time in Africa she also began her memoir recounting the rich experiences she had working with people with disabilities in Africa. Her personal essays have appeared in national publications such as Curve and Alternative Medicine.