John Kramer
John Kramer co-founded and is a leader of the Sibling Leadership Network (SLN) in the United States, a growing movement of brothers and sisters of people with disabilities, siblings with disabilities, and committed professionals interested in policy, services, and research related to siblings. Currently he is serving as steering committee co-chair and leads the policy and advocacy arm of the SLN. John also co-founded Supporting Illinois Brothers and Sisters, a state-wide advocacy group for siblings in Illinois. John is currently working with the research team at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts at Boston on systems change and employment issues for people with disabilities. John Kramer received his Ph.D. in Disability Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago, with his dissertation addressing the mutual support roles in aging families of people with disabilities and issues of future planning for people with Intellectual Disabilities and their brothers and sisters.
Kate Strohm
Kate Strohm is the founder and Director of Siblings Australia Incorporated, the only organisation in Australia focussed on the needs of siblings of children and adults of people living with disability and chronic illness. Kate started her career as a hospital scientist, before moving into health promotion and print and radio journalism. During the last ten years Siblings Australia has worked in three main ways: direct intervention with siblings; working with parents to increase their ability to support all their children; and with providers to improve their capacity to support the whole family. Also, the organisation has played an important role in advocating for sibling support at both government and community levels. Kate has been invited to present workshops and conference papers across Australia and also in the US, Canada, UK and Italy. Her book, Siblings: Brothers and Sisters of Children with Special Needs (Wakefield Press, 2002) has also been published in the US and the UK and translated into Korean.