Company: Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre & North Wales Borough

Website: https://www.dhcc.org/ & https://northwalesborough.org/

Neil McDevitt is the Mayor for North Wales Borough in Suburban Philadelphia. In this role, Neil oversees the police department of the Borough and is the elected official who takes charge during an emergency. In Pennsylvania, although the Mayor does not generally vote on legislative matters (except in a tie), they are heavily involved in the activities of Borough Council. He is the first Deaf person to be directly elected to this office in the country.

Neil is also the Treasurer of the North Wales Water Authority.  He was recently appointed to a second term in that role for a municipal authority that provides clean and safe drinking water across two counties.  This role is on the front-lines of the ongoing fight against “forever chemicals” in our water supply as well as protecting residents against efforts to privatize critical parts of our infrastructure. 

Neil is also the Executive Director for the Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre in Swarthmore, PA.  As a nonprofit, DHCC is the largest provider of ASL interpreting services in the Philadelphia region.  DHCC also provides advocacy services, programming for greater economic independence for Deaf individuals, and ASL classes. 

Previously, Neil served at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in their Office of Disability Integration and Coordination.  As the first person to be the agency’s Disability Integration Communications Specialist, Neil took a lead role in crafting inclusive messaging for the first nationwide EAS test in 2011.  He also worked closely with partners throughout the Agency to create inclusive preparedness materials. 

As a former volunteer firefighter in suburban Philadelphia, Neil was one of a handful of emergency responders in the country who are also profoundly deaf. He used that experience to lead a national training program bringing together emergency responders and people with disabilities in the same classroom to facilitate discussions on how the two groups can help each other prepare for and respond to disasters. 

He graduated from Gallaudet University in 1996 with a degree in Government.  He lives in the Borough with his wife, two children, a lizard, and two dogs.