Shirley Perez is the Program Director of The Arc of Illinois Family Support Network and Ligas Family Advocate Program. Ms. Perez has spent many years advocating and working with individuals and their families with disabilities. She is a business graduate of Metropolitan Business College and Kaplan University. She operated her own business, worked at an ISC Agency where she advocated for and assisted families in locating services by navigating the State system. She has navigated the state system as both a professional and a parent, caring for an adult child with a developmental disability. In conjunction with the City of Chicago, Federal Home Loan Bank and The Illinois Housing Development Authority, she implemented a home-buying program for individuals with developmental and physical disabilities. She has worked as a Special Project Advocate with the Illinois Life Span Project; met with families/guardians to explain the transition process and listen to their concerns as their family members transition into the community from State Operated Developmental Centers.  She self-directs her daughter’s long-term Medicaid waiver services, and has over 40 years of hands-on experience.

Brian Rubin, JD, a former IRS Agent and former IRS Attorney, has been a practicing attorney since 1976, has been married to his wife Linda for the past 45 years, is the parent of three children, one of whom, Mitchell, has Autism. Brian’s law practice, for four decades, since Mitchell was one year old, has been dedicated to serving the legal and future planning needs of his fellow Illinois families of children and adults with intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities (I/DD), and/or mental illness (MI). Brian is the Past President (2017-2018), and Director (2008-2019) of the Special Needs Alliance, the national, non-profit, association of experienced special needs planning attorneys (membership is by invitation only), and is a Faculty Member and Text Book Author for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) on the topic of special needs legal and future planning, as well as a Speaker for the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association on those topics. For more information, please visit www.rubinlaw.com.

Benjamin Rubin, JD, LLM, Brian’s youngest son, Mitchell’s “little/big” brother, has been a member of the Law Firm since 2010. Benji graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law, Magna Cum Laude, received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, and his Graduate Law Degree, an LLM (Tax), with honors, also from Northwestern University. Benji is married to his wife Debi, and they have two children. Benji is Chairman of the American Bar Association Special Needs Planning Committee, serves as the President of SIBS (Supporting Illinois Brothers and Sisters), the Illinois chapter of the national Sibling Leadership Network, and is a Board Member of The Arc of Illinois. Having Mitchell as a brother profoundly shaped who Benji is today, and thus the type of law he chose to practice. For more information, please visit www.rubinlaw.com.