Ron Lucey

Manager, Policy Technical Assistance Unit and Accessibility Team
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS)

Ron Lucey is the manager of the Policy Technical Assistance Unit and Accessibility Team for the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. He has been serving the needs of Texans with disabilities for more than 20 years. He is a graduate of the University of Texas with degrees in government and communications. His perspective as a person with a visual disability has helped him effectively advocate for accessibility and the rights of citizens with disabilities. Lucey’s efforts include serving as a City Commissioner and past chair of the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities and providing accessibility policy recommendations to the City Council and Austin’s past four mayors.

From 1988 to 1994, Lucey worked as a vocational educator at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. In 1994, he began his career at the Texas Commission for the Blind as the agency’s consumer resources coordinator, where he established a statewide information resource system, providing training for job search, employment assistance, and use of assistive technology for agency staff members. In 1998, he was promoted to serve as the agency’s medical services specialist, establishing and managing the Blindness Education Screening and Treatment program to deliver free vision screenings and eye surgery to thousands of uninsured Texans.

In 2005, Lucey was hired as the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services Accessibility Coordinator to develop and implement an EIR accessibility policy for the five Texas Health and Human Services agencies. He served as the first chair of the interagency Health and Human Services Accessibility Workgroup. In 2008, he was promoted to manage the DARS Policy Technical Assistance unit and the DARS accessibility team, providing policy writing, training, accessibility testing, and consulting to DARS and the Health and Human Services agencies.

Classes Taught