Chris Baty was born with cerebral palsy and grew up in Ann Arbor, where he attended Huron High School and attended the University of Michigan, where he studied engineering. The CIL provided essential support during his school years. He worked as a nuclear licensing engineer for seven years before returning to Ann Arbor.

Chris helped former members Barrier Free Theater create Diversability Theater, a theater group by, for and about disabilities. He, with CIL founder Lena Ricks, wrote a grant to help train themselves about theater and performance which created the impetus to explore and grow. Chris established many connections within the artistic and educational communities which exposed Diversability Theatre members to extremely talented artists. The company earned Kenny REHAB's 1992 Group Excellence Award.

Chris has served as producer, writer and actor for Diversability from Ann Arbor to Escanaba, entertaining and educating people about disability. He left Diversability in 1996 but has written 3 screenplays since, one of which was a quarter-finalist in the Slamdance Screenplay Writing Competition, 2004. He has returned to the Center to help Diversability Theatre again.

His other hobbies include: investing, Linux computing, and programming in JAVA/Android.