Cynthia Jones graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1974 with a BA in Biology. For the next two years she did community organizing for the Episcopal Women's Caucus to facilitate the change in canon law in the Episcopal Church to enable women to be ordained to the Priesthood.
In 1976 Cynthia Jones became production manager on the start-up staff of MAINSTREAM Magazine. This culminated in her attending in the White House Conference on Handicapped Individuals in 1977. Jones served on the Board of Directors of Able-Disabled Advocacy, the corporation that owned MAINSTREAM until 1982 when she assumed the role of Publisher and Editor. In 1984, MAINSTREAM was sold to Exploding Myths, Inc., with Cynthia Jones as President and Chief Executive Officer.
In 1990 Cynthia Jones was invited to discuss disability issues with President George Bush shortly before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. MAINSTREAM was recognized by the American Library Association in 1992 for "making a substantial contribution to the promotion of independence and empowerment to individuals with disabilities".
Cynthia Jones was appointed to the Advisory Board of the National Center on Medical Rehabilitation Research at NIH in 1994. Cynthia Jones is currently the Director, and Principal Investigator, of The Center for an Accessible Society, funded by the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The mission of The Center is to be a conduit of useful research information about Independent Living and Disability Research to the media so that people with disabilities and those close to them can find the information they need to live an easier, more productive life.
