JFActivist

A Thanksgiving Message from Sarah Peterson, Former JFA Moderator

Fighting for disability rights can inspire many emotions: urgency, satisfaction, sadness, joy, anxiety, anger, and triumph. However, with Thanksgiving coming up this week, as people across the country spend time reflecting on the blessings in their lives, I would like to take this opportunity to express gratitude for all of the blessings that this work has brought to my life.  I worked at AAPD from 2008 to 2011, and during that time I was honored to be involved with a number of exciting and meaningful programs and coalitions including Justice for All (JFA), the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC), the Disability Vote Project (DVP), and the National Disability Leadership Alliance (NDLA).  The people I met and the experiences I had doing this work made me a better, more patient, more passionate person.

I believe that we, human beings, are created to find fulfillment in community, be they our families, faith groups, schools, or workplaces.  This Thanksgiving I will be giving thanks for the disability community.  I am thankful for the inspiring legacy that has been passed down to us by leaders like Justin Dart, Fred Fay, Judi Chamberlin, Max Starkloff, Paul Hearne, Laura Hershey and many, many more.  I am thankful for the guidance and example of our community’s current leadership, many of whom are my personal role models, who have taught me about solidarity, power and justice.  I am thankful for the commitment and courage of advocates, young and old, who travel across the nation, call or email to share their personal stories with policymakers when called upon in times of great need.  I am thankful for each small step we take toward a more accessible, inclusive, and just society, and I am thankful for the remaining challenges that we will face together, which teach us to value each other and our interdependence.  But most importantly, I am thankful for the companionship and camaraderie of colleagues-turned-friends who are there to offer plucky words of encouragement when I lose motivation, who push me to stretch my limits, who have walked and rolled with me in the heat and the rain shouting “Our Homes, Not Nursing Homes!” until our voices went hoarse. 

This Thursday as I close my eyes to pray, I will hold in my heart a sincere prayer of thanksgiving for bringing the disability community into my life.  

 

Get Out the Vote for Decision 2012 Primaries

From AAPD (11.9.2011):

Election Day is almost a year away. The Iowa Caucus is less than two months away, with the New Hampshire primary following shortly after. It’s imperative to get the disability vote out in record numbers on Election Day in 2012. In the last presidential election, we established a compelling voting block of 14.7 million voters by following the motto set by Justin Dart: “Vote as if your life depends on it because it does!” 

Although 14.7 million of us voted in 2008, 42.7 percent of eligible voters in our community did not. 

An effective get out the vote plan begins with identifying people with disability interests who you will get to vote.  The fact that 42.7 percent of us did not vote in the last presidential election reflects that just voting yourself is not enough.  Each of us has to become a get out the disability vote “block captain” in the presidential primaries. Though every election is important, the primaries are especially significant because they frame the issues for the general election. 

As our voter turnout in the general election is improving, our turnout in the primaries is dismal.  For instance, only 8 to 15 percent of us vote in primaries. Above all, getting out a strong voting block in the primary season is a way to garner media attention on issues that affect our community of fifty-four million strong.  Now is the time to start organizing voters with disabilities in your state for the primary.

AAPD Announces Release of 2011 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2011

Media Contact: Lara Schwartz, VP of External Affairs
Email: lschwartz@aapd.com

 AAPD Announces Release of 2011 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

Poverty among people with disabilities hits 27.3%, unemployment 16.1%

Persistent Trend in Unemployment of People with Disabilities Must be Reversed

WASHINGTON, DC – November 2, 2011 – The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the nation’s largest cross-disability membership organization, is pleased to support the publication of the 2011 Disability Statistics Compendium released today at an event on Capitol Hill. This Compendium provides new data on the status of Americans with disabilities.  

The Compendium data shows that:

• Working-age people with disabilities have a 16.1% unemployment rate, a substantive increase from 14.1% in September 2010.  In contrast, there is an 8.5% unemployment rate for people without disabilities.
• 27.3% of people aged 18-64 with disabilities who live in the community live in poverty, compared with 12.8% of their counterparts without disabilities. 
• From 2009 to 2010, the percentage of the total US population with a disability grew by 2.0 percentage points. 

“Reversing the persistent and continuing trend of high unemployment and poverty among people with disabilities has to be a top priority in this country,” said AAPD’s President and CEO, Mark Perriello. “People with disabilities want to work. We want opportunities in the private and public sectors that lead to good, meaningful jobs and a secure economic future.  Job creation initiatives need to address the barriers to employment that many people with disabilities still face, and promote equal opportunity.” he added.

The Disability Statistics Compendium reports statistics pertaining to people with all types of disabilities every year.  Such statistics are often difficult to find because there are numerous government agencies that generate and publish many reports. As a result, specific disability statistics are often scattered or buried in documents and web sites all across the Federal government. AAPD works with the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability (UNH/IOD) to address these research problems in the effort to produce the Compendium, a project funded by the National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation.

The 2011 Compendium serves as a reference guide for policymakers, compiling data on the prevalence of disability, employment participation, educational attainment and health status, federal expenditures, and state-level data.

Click here for more information about the Disability Statistics Compendium 

Click here for more information about UNH/IOD

For more information on AAPD, please visit http://www.aapd.com 

Seizing Internship Opportunities

by Sarah Amin, AAPD Programs Intern

“We are lucky to have grown up in the post-ADA generation. The ADA has done a lot for us, but we have a long way to go. Let’s influence the generations after us, and show them that what is good for us is good for everyone else”-Leah Katz-Hernandez, AAPD Youth Transitions Fellow

 On Thursday, October 6, Gallaudet University’s Career Center hosted the event, “Finding Your Perfect Experience to Jump-Start Your Career,” featuring a presentation by guest-speaker Leah Katz-Hernandez, former Gallaudet student and current The HSC Foundation Youth Transitions Fellow with AAPD. The goal of the information session was to highlight meaningful internship experiences as crucial stepping stones to future employment for students with disabilities. As the Youth Transitions Fellow, Leah works closely with The Greater Washington Internship Coalition to develop innovative ways to facilitate collaboration among internship programs serving young people with disabilities in the Greater Washington, DC area. The Coalition is a one-stop opportunity for college students and emerging professionals with disabilities to obtain information on internship programs committed to being accessible and including disability within their framework of diversity.  For more information about the Greater Washington Internship Coalition, please visit www.aapd.com/internshipcoalition.

Before an overflowing crowd of students, faculty, and staff in the I. King Jordan Student Activities Center (named after the university’s first deaf president), Leah took the stage and captivated the audience with stories of her own personal experiences. As a deaf student, she had a very positive and comfortable transition to college life at Gallaudet University, where all programs and services are designed specifically for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. But she stressed that for all individuals with disabilities, the post-college world should be no less intimidating.  There are plenty of internships out there for students with disabilities, in every interest area, from science to public policy to the arts. Students and young professionals should confidently reach out and grab internship opportunities that will test their full potential. As Leah put it, “Don’t let opportunities pass you by!”

During the segment, “Out There: Being a Deaf Intern, ” Leah invited a panel of speakers to the stage, featuring Dylan Hinks, who recently participated in the AAPD Summer Internship program, working in the office of Rep. Ed Markey. Currently a junior at Gallaudet, Dylan’s motto after his internship experience is “Know Thy Opportunities.” His advice to fellow students who are applying for internships is to “Ask for help! Don’t be scared to ask your teachers to help you look over your applications. Don’t be shy!”  Also featured on the panel was Briana Johnson, who had previously interned for Rep. Sam Brownback. Leah, Dylan, and Briana are great role models for other motivated students who wish to take full advantage of programs within the Coalition to secure brighter futures in the professional arena.

The AAPD Summer Internship Program offers undergraduate and graduate students as well as recent graduates with disabilities the opportunity to work in public service for ten weeks on Capitol Hill, at federal agencies, and non-profit organizations. The AAPD Summer Internship Program allows students with disabilities to gain invaluable hands-on experience in government, including insight into government office operations, public policy development, law-making and research, and constituents’ roles in the legislative and administrative processes.  

For more about the AAPD Summer Internship Program, visit www.aapd.com/internships or e-mail internships@aapd.com. AAPD’s program is just one among nearly thirty great programs within the Greater Washington Internship Coalition. For the full list of participating organizations, please visit www.aapd.com/internshipcoalition. 

 

An Opportunity to Transform the Disability Rights Movement

by Jessica Lehman, 2011 Hearne Awardee

In September, thousands of people came out to say: My Medicaid Matters! In front of the U.S. Capitol, a diverse crowd of people came together from all over the country. People with HIV, deaf people, and people with non-apparent and apparent disabilities all shared the importance of our community uniting to stand up for what is right. And people who could not get to Washington DC took action in their own communities, holding local rallies, posting messages about health care, and sending postcards to legislators. The thousands of people who showed up were not just people with disabilities. Allies from women’s organizations and health organizations joined the crowd. Union members and domestic workers were there. Friends came out to show solidarity.

Our movement continues to grow. Incredible sparks are flying today through the Occupy Wall Street movement. People from varied backgrounds and communities are talking about inequality and justice. Thousands are taking to the streets. People with disabilities are camping out in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. This movement has created a buzz among disability rights organizers and activists across the country. Last week, more than 60 people with disabilities participated in an Organizer’s Forum call to explore the role of the disability community in the Occupy movement. The phone lines carried incredible energy, with excitement about seeing people with disabilities take to the streets, attention to what it means to see people with disabilities claiming solidarity with other oppressed communities, and the possibility of reinvigorating the disability rights movement.

This reinvigoration is what I hope to contribute to as a Hearne awardee, and this energy is what sustains me. Over the last several months, I have dedicated time to growing the Organizer’s Forum as a means to supporting community organizing within the disability rights movement and with the ultimate aim of engaging more people with the movement. Our monthly calls now average 40 participants, and a facebook site notifies people about the calls and allows people to post questions and comments. We now have an email group to allow disability rights organizers to discuss issues of community organizing in the disability rights movement.

One of my earliest organizer mentors taught me about seizing opportunities. He taught me that when a hot issue arises, and people are ready to mobilize and take action, jump on it! Over the past year, a new movement has taken shape – a movement for securing fair treatment and respect for domestic workers, including the personal care attendants who allow many of us as people with disabilities to live our lives with dignity and fulfillment. As a Hearne awardee, I have taken on the work of organizing people with disabilities who employ attendants, as an opportunity to connect the disability rights movement with a broader struggle for justice. Through educating the disability community about workers rights, educating workers on the history of disability rights, and working together for mutually respectful, beneficial relationships, we are moving toward collective liberation.

Would I be doing this work without the Hearne award? Some of it, sure. But my work is stronger because of it. The Hearne award has allowed me to set aside time to do new, cross-movement organizing that I hope will change the course of the disability rights movement. The Hearne award has given me access to people from state and national organizations with a wealth of creative and insightful perspectives. And the Hearne award has given me a strong responsibility to do everything I can to build the disability rights movement, to think outside the box, to not be afraid to take actions that might challenge people in uncomfortable ways, as we work to transform the disability rights movement and get a little closer to justice.

The Hearne award can provide a thousand different opportunities for transforming the disability rights movement. As my early mentor taught me, seize that opportunity! Put in your application. Take the process as an opportunity to share your vision of how the disability rights movement can grow and change, and then take us with you on your way to make that happen. 

 Click Here to Apply for the 2012 Hearne Award!

TV Worth Watching: PBS Premieres Fred Fay Documentary Tonight

From AAPD (10.27.2011):

Tonight PBS will air the documentary “Lives Worth Living” about disability rights champion Fred Fay.   This is TV worth watching.  In an era when so much TV programming features people who are famous for being famous, we have a rare chance to learn about someone who moved mountains. 

Who was Fred Fay?  He was an architect of the disability rights movement.  He was a founder of the Justice for All web network.  He was an organizer, an innovator, and an inventor.  Working from a motorized bed he designed with three computer screens in reach, Fred Fay connected people to ideas and to each other.  Over the course of decades, he knocked down barriers for people with disabilities and helped change our landscape to be more accessible. 

Watch “Lives Worth Living” with your friends, family, congregation, classmates, or neighbors.  Launch a conversation-- what makes our lives worth living, and what would it take to fulfill our enormous potential as Fred did?  What can we invent?  Whom can we touch with our own gifts? 

For broadcast information visit:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lives-worth-living/film.html

AAPD Joins Transportation Equity Coalition to Ensure Civil Rights of People with Disabilities: You can join in too!

by Jenifer Simpson, AAPD Senior Director for Government Affairs

AAPD has partnered with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR) to ensure that the transportation needs of people with disabilities are addressed in any new transportation policy agendas.  Several key leaders from the disability community are working directly with AAPD in this effort. They include Kelly Buckland of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL),  Billy Altom of the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights & Education Defense Fund (DREDF) and James Weisman of United Spinal Association.  The intent of the partnership is to generate more awareness of the overall. Transportation Equity agenda in our community and to influence federal and state policy so that the transportation needs and civil rights of people with disabilities are part of every transportation policy discussion. 

There’s no doubt that transportation equity is a civil and human rights priority. Availability of affordable, reliable and accessible transportation widens opportunity and is essential to addressing our employment needs.  Similarly, transportation is critical to our participation in higher education, health care and civic activities such as voting. However, current transportation spending does not equally benefit all communities and populations. We need to ensure ‘a disability voice at the table’ as transportation decisions are made at both the federal and state levels. By joining in the activities of the Transportation Equity for People with Disabilities campaign you can participate to help ensure there are more opportunities for us to succeed.

 If you would like to be regularly informed of the Transportation Equity for People with Disabilities Group's activities, including invitations to participate in state level efforts, you can join as follows:

 

Go to the website at http://groups.google.com/group/transportation-equity-for-people-with-disabilities and click on the “join this group” button.

Or you can subscribe directly by sending an E-mail to transportation-equity-for-people-with-disabilities+subscribe@googlegroups.com .  

We encourage you to let your friends and colleagues know about this group so that they can sign up too and learn more about this specific topic as well.

If you no longer want to participate in the group’s notices and discussions, all you have to do is just send an email to transportation-equity-for-people-with-disabilities+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

 

More on LCCHR at http://www.civilrights.org/

More on Transportation Equity at http://www.civilrights.org/transportation/

Information on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protections in regard to people with disabilities is at http://www.fta.dot.gov/civilrights/12325.html

Instructions and Form for filing an ADA complaint against a public transportation entity is at http://www.ada.gov/t2cmpfrm.htm

More about AAPD at http://www.aapd.com

 

Disability Mentoring Day 2011 Launches in Chicago

On Friday, October 14^th AAPD partnered with Chicago’s Mayor’s office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) for the 2011 Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) National Launch.

Last week’s launch at Malcolm X College was a huge success, showcasing Chicago’s outstanding model and success in furthering the employment of youth with disabilities. The theme for the 2011 DMD National Launch was “Transition to Independent Futures”, focusing on the importance of education, employment, and independent living for people with disabilities. The morning started with outstanding keynote speeches from Commissioner Karen Tamley--MOPD, Allison Donnelly--Transition Manager for Chicago Public Schools, Mark Perriello--President and CEO of AAPD, Joyce Bender-- President and CEO of Bender Consulting and AAPD's Board Chair and Dr. Harvey Davis--Director of Installations and Logistics for NSA. The morning ended with wonderful skits prepared by the students, teaching the participants the right and wrong way to interview for a job. For the rest of the day, more than 300 young people participated in career building activities and workshops that will prepare them for the next stage in their lives.

The DMD National Launch kicks-off hundreds of DMD programs across the country. The programs are coordinated by a proximity 200 AAPD volunteers, implementing programs tailored to employers and students. DMD promotes career development for students and jobseekers with disabilities through hands-on career exploration, on-site job shadowing, and mentoring which leads to internship and employment opportunities. It is currently the nation’s largest job-shadowing program designed for people with disabilities.

 

Disability Mentoring Day is supported nationally by:

Platinum Partners Walmart, American Airlines, CSC

Gold Partners AT&T, IBM, SAP, SCI

Silver Partners Darden Restaurants

Bronze Partners ARAMARK, the US Office of Personnel Management, the US Office on Disability Employment Policy, Siemens, Walmart/Sam’s Club

 

Patrons Amerigroup, Bayer, FedEx Ground, the Job Accommodation Network, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, the National Security Agency, TimeWarner and USA Characters Unite.

 

Transportation and Job Opportunity

by AAPD's VP of External Affairs, Lara Schwartz

Unemployment is high and job creation is a top priority for America.  But job creation is not the only piece of the puzzle.  For many Americans including those with disabilities and people with low incomes, job opportunity cannot exist without job access. Even if a person is offered her dream job, there is no true opportunity if she lacks accessible transportation to get to the interview. 

As Congress and the Administration consider how to combat unemployment, it’s important that they include accessible, affordable transportation in their agenda.   People with disabilities disproportionately lack access to cars, but most of our nation’s transportation investments continue to focus on car-based travel.  Options such as rail, commuter buses, and transit-oriented development—which means building employment, housing, and community services around accessible transit—not only increase opportunities for people with disabilities, they benefit the entire community by reducing traffic and pollution, enabling senior citizens to be closer to services and activities, and providing options for lower-income workers who can ill afford the $9,000 per year that it costs to own and maintain a car. 

Click here to learn more about how access to transportation affects job opportunity.

 

 

Disability Matters Radio Show Highlights Disability Mentoring Day 2011

How can people with disabilities create career opportunities? Each week, AAPD Board Chair Joyce Bender discusses the employment and empowerment of people with disabilities on her radio show: Disability Matters. Today’s edition of Disability Matters features Michael Murray, AAPD Director of Programs, offering listeners info and insight on Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) 2011. DMD, a job-shadow and career exploration program, links students and jobseekers with disabilities to employers interested in hiring people with disabilities. Every year, AAPD coordinates DMD through a network of more than 200 volunteers. 

DMD 2011 will take place on Wednesday, October 19th. 

To listen in, click here.

Disability Matters is on the VoiceAmerica Channel every Tuesday from 2:00pm - 3:00 pm EST.

For more on Disability Mentoring Day 2011, please visit disabilitymentor.net.