DARS Council

Meeting Schedule

    January 25, 2013
    9:00 a.m.
    Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center Auditorium
    4800 North Lamar
    Austin, Texas

Upcoming Meetings

    April 26, 2013 (Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center, Austin)
    July 26, 2013 (Location to be announced)

Overview of DARS Council

State leaders have envisioned a consolidated and coordinated system of Texas health and human services that is rationally organized, effectively managed, centered on client needs, and accountable for results. Agency councils will play an integral role in implementing this vision. The councils will maintain the integrity of the public input in developing and evaluating agency policies and priorities. Texas health and human services agencies are committed to building strong accountability into every area of their operations, and the agency councils will take a lead role in ensuring public review of agency policies and rules and in providing a venue for constituent and stakeholder input and feedback.

DARS Council Resources

DARS Council Members

Lee Chayes, Chair
Lee Chayes is President of Computer Career Center in El Paso. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Master’s in Counseling from Webster University. Her term will expire on Feb. 1, 2013.

Judy Scott, Council Member
Judy Scott is director of the American Foundation for the Blind Center on Vision Loss. She is vice-chair of the Vision Services Consortium in Dallas, and an advisory committee member for Reading and Radio Resource for the Blind. She is past chair of the Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities and the Texas State Independent Living Council, and past president of the Texas Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

In 1974, while working with the Texas Commission for the Blind, Ms. Scott helped develop a proposal to establish the first independent living program for older visually impaired persons in Texas. The program, which she directed, later served as a national model. Ms. Scott’s efforts have helped make many significant public structures – such as the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Terminal D, Cowboys Stadium and the American Airlines Center more accessible for all people with disabilities.

Ms. Scott has received numerous recognitions and awards including in 2010 being inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, placed on Texas Division for Blind Services Wall of Honor and selected as a first time recipient of the Texas ACB “Who’s Who Among Blind Texans” award.

Ms. Scott holds an M. S. in Counseling and Guidance/Aging and a B. S. in Psychology and Sociology from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University at Commerce. Her term expires February 1, 2015.

David Coco, Council Member
David Coco of Austin is an outreach specialist with the Educational Resource Center on Deafness at the Texas School for the Deaf with a focus on developing grants for educational technology and providing statewide outreach and training on deaf-related issues. Coco worked as a senior research physicist at the Applied Research Laboratories at the University of Texas at Austin for more than 20 years. He obtained a Ph.D. in space physics and astronomy from Rice University in 1981. His term will expire Feb. 1, 2013.

Donald D. Roy, Council Member
Donald D. Roy is a retired IRS executive. He is a teacher at Mount Pleasant First Baptist Church and volunteers as an election judge in Titus County. Mr. Roy received a bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University. His term will expire Feb. 1, 2013.

Diego Demaya, Council Member
Mr. Demaya of Houston is a Human Resources Policy Consultant and legal analyst working for the Southwest ADA Center, a disability and business technical assistance center for Region VI. The Center is a program of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. He provides policy guidance in the development of human capital to the private, government, and education sectors in five states including Texas, and specializes in general employment issues in the healthcare and vocational rehabilitation industries. Mr. Demaya is a member of the Texas Bar Disability Issues Committee and a former Commissioner on the Houston Commission on Disabilities under the Houston City Mayor's office. He received a bachelor's degree in Humanities from the University of Houston-Downtown and a Juris Doctor from the City University of New York School of Law.

Berkley Dyer, Council Member
Berkley Dyer of Austin is a community volunteer. She is a Sunday school teacher and volunteer at the Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin. She is also a mentor and classroom volunteer at Doss Elementary School. Ms. Dyer received a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University. Her term will expire on Feb. 1, 2015.

Jon Arnold, Council Member
Jon Arnold of San Antonio is a vice president at Drexel Hamilton, a service disabled veteran financial service firm. He is also a two-time Iraq war veteran. He volunteers as a peer visitor at the Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio and is a Veteran’s Outreach Coordinator for The Mission Continues, a non-profit that promotes community service among disabled veterans. Mr. Arnold graduated Summa Cum Laude from The University of Texas at San Antonio and received a Masters of Global Policy Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. His term expires February 1, 2017.

Tommy G. Fordyce, Council Member
Tommy Fordyce of Huntsville is a retired director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Agribusiness Department but remains active in the community through various associations which include: Partner in Superior Building Systems, Partner in cattle, oil & gas (Whitsett, Texas) Live Oak County, current member and Vice- President of Lone Survivor Foundation, Chairman of Huntsville Economic Development Council, member of Kickstart for Kids, and member of the Huntsville Veterans Advisory Council. He also served as Commissioner of the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. Mr. Fordyce is a graduate of Sam Houston State University where he majored in Agriculture, and served in the United States Marine Corps during the Viet Nam war from 1966-1968. His term expires February 1, 2017.

Dr. Thomas Grahm, Council Member
Dr. Grahm of Tyler is a neurosurgeon and a partner at Tyler Neurosurgical Associates, is a member of numerous medical societies and is affiliated with both the East Texas Medical Center Hospital and Texas Spine and Joint Hospital in Tyler. Dr. Grahm received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas at Arlington where he majored in biology. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and completed his internship at the Integrated Surgical Residency, V.A. Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. He also completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Additionally, he completed his fellowship in vascular/skull base surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute. Dr. Grahm is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. His term expires February 1, 2017.

Information or questions for Council members can be sent to:

Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
4800 North Lamar, Suite 320
Austin, TX 78756