Deborah L. McFadden was appointed by President George H. Bush as U.S. Commissioner of Disabilities (1989–1993), and was instrumental in the writing and passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Having been paralyzed for a number of years as a young adult from Guillain–Barré syndrome, she was the highest-ranking female with a disability in the Bush Administration. She is the mother of three children all adopted from Russia and Albania, Tatyana (Russia), Hannah (Albania), both paralympic elite athletles, and Ruthi (Albania).