GROTON -- Christine Griffin has a way of going back to her past.

Christine Griffin, a paraplegic, has plenty of experience advocating for people with disabilities. She and her husband, Philip Berry, see her new job with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as an “adventure.” SUN / BENJAMIN J. MCELROY

In her latest incarnation, she is returning to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C.

She worked for the commission as a special assistant to vice chairman Paul Igasaki during the Clinton administration in 1995 and 1996. She'll be back next month, this time as a commissioner.

As one of five commissioners, she will be responsible for guiding policy at the agency charged with protecting people against workplace discrimination.

Griffin and her husband, Philip Berry, sat in their family room this week discussing the move back to Washington.

They have a beautiful home on Worthen Drive, and she has been at the Disability Law Center in Boston for nearly 10 years. So when the opportunity to return to the commission as a Democratic appointee came up, she was reluctant. Berry helped convince her to make the move during a drive to New York City to watch a play.

“He said, right now it's a time in our life where his job is flexible and this could be a fun adventure,” said Griffin, who has been a paraplegic since being injured in a car accident during college.

Griffin's nomination to the commission was supported by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is responsible for confirming commission members, and Senate Minority leader Sen. Henry Reid, of Nevada.

The commission was looking for somebody committed to civil-rights enforcement in the work force, said Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Griffin is a good fit given her ability to build strategic alliances as well as her personal background, he said.

“Christine is an obvious choice to lead the EEOC because of her valuable experience in fighting for those with disabilities in Massachusetts,” Kennedy said. “She was the hands-down choice and will make a great commissioner.”

She is looking forward to starting work after being sworn in January.

The ability to work is the key to achieving the American dream, but 70 percent of disabled people are unemployed, Griffin said.

“This is a great opportunity to affect policy nationally,” she said. “Not just people with disabilities but all people protected in the employment ring.”

Griffin's empathy for others with disabilities and strong personal traits have empowered her career, said Stan Eichner, director of litigation at the Disability Law Center.

“A natural-born leader, she has charisma and people just want to work with her and do things with her -- projects and stuff -- she's just terrific,” said Eichner, who has known Griffin about eight years. “When she sets her mind to a goal or issue, you can't get her off track. She gets on an issue and is on it until she is able to do something about it.”

Berry will be commuting to Massachusetts, where he will keep his real estate interests and businesses, including Carlin's Tavern in Ayer.

After graduating from St. Peter School in Dorchester and St. Patrick High School in Roxbury, Griffin joined the Army and met Berry in Ayer while she was an operating-room technician with the Army's 46th Combat Support Hospital.

Griffin was in a car accident during her junior year at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and has been a paraplegic since. She has been advocating for the disabled since graduating Boston College Law School in 1993.

Her own disability has helped her resolve to champion the rights of disabled.

“It's opened up a world to me otherwise I wouldn't have known about,” she said. “In advocating for myself, it gave me the wherewithal to advocate for others.”

After her accident, Griffin returned to school to earn an engineering degree in 1983, and went to work for the Food and Drug Administration.

She returned to school and earned her law degree from Boston College in 1993.

During one of her summer jobs in law school she worked for Tom O'Neill, son of former House speaker Tip O'Neill. O'Neill asked her to research the Americans with Disabilities Act, which passed in 1990, to determine how it would impact his clients.

“I realized this was an interesting area of law that would be evolving and I should probably work at something related to this,” Griffin said, with her dog Sugar sitting at her feet.

Then she took over as interim president of her alma mater, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

From there, she took a public-interest fellowship through the Skadden Arps law firm to work at the Disability Law Center. During her year at the law center, she performed outreach services to minorities, teaching them about the ADA.

Then it was on to the EEOC where she worked as a special assistant legal advisor to Igasaki until the director's job at the Disability Law Center opened in 1996.

“I was encouraged by a few people to apply and I did and actually came back as director of this organization where I used to work,” she said.

The law center is known in Lowell for suing the city for violating the Americans with Disabilities act when LeLacheur Park was built without equal seating for handicapped fans.

Her appointment runs until July 2009, with potential for an additional five-year term.