Ms. Vernitia  Shannon is an attorney, community advocate, and global missionary. Born in Richmond, Virginia, she comes from a family of college presidents, educators, and public servants. After graduating from Howard University School of Law, she served as a Campaign Director for the Lieutenant Governor Race in Virginia and practiced property tax law for the Fulton County Office of the County Attorney in Georgia for 15 years. During election season, she volunteered to assist voters at the polls who felt their rights were violated. 

 

Ms. Vernitia  Shannon was introduced to the disability community in 2006 after recovering from an injury. After seeing how people with disabilities were treated differently at home and across the globe, she became a trainer to address voter challenges at the polls. She created Disability Awareness Now to change the inequality. This led her to step up from disability, to awareness, and to advocacy. She started an occupation as a volunteer community disability advocate with organizations like Fulton County Commission on Disability Affairs and disABILITY LINK. She became the Chairperson of the Friendship Baptist Church Disability Awareness Ministry and a Coalition Member of Revup. When Attorney Shannon learned that there was inequality in accessibility at the voting polls for people with disabilities, she heeded to the call of Congressman John Lewis. He encouraged disability advocates to find a way to get in “good trouble.” Naturally, she chose to get in good trouble by advocating for voting rights for voters with disabilities.

 

Attorney Shannon approaches voting rights from the perspective of the following experiences:

• Former Campaign Director of a Lieutenant Governor race in Virginia

• Attorney addressing complaints about voting rights violations at the polls

•  Voter without a disability before 2006

•  Voter with a disability after 2006

•  Community Disability Advocate for voting rights 

•  Trainer on addressing complaints of voters with disabilities about voting rights

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On a personal note, she has served as a global missionary in  Zambia and Fuji, is a Deacon at Friendship Baptist Church, and has a daughter Jylyan Jones, who is a mental health advocate.