Contact: Jess Davidson, jdavidson@aapd.com; 202-465-5528

WASHINGTON – On March 11, reports emerged of mass layoffs across the Department of Education (ED), cutting roughly half of its workforce. These layoffs represent the first major milestone in the Trump Administration’s nefarious plan to dismantle and ultimately close the Department.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) released the following statement in response: 

“The Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the closure of the Department of Education have begun, and even these initial changes will be devastating for disabled students’ access to education,” said AAPD President and CEO Maria Town. “The work and programs gutted by these layoffs will violate the civil rights of students with disabilities, reduce education affordability and accessibility, and set our education system back decades, overturning hard-earned progress and deeply necessary programs.”

“Students with disabilities will be impacted by every reduction in workforce and capacity at ED, because people with disabilities are part of every other community in the United States. AAPD is especially concerned about the massive cuts that eliminated most or all staff at the Department’s regional Offices for Civil Rights, effectively shuttering all OCR offices except for at DC headquarters, as well as cuts to the Office of Special Education.”

“The Department of Education oversees the administration and implementation of many laws, regulations, and grants that protect and enforce the rights of students with disabilities of all ages, from students in early childhood education to those in career and technical education. As part of its obligations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Department of Education ensures disabled students have access to Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), speech therapy, vocational rehabilitation, accessible school materials, and more.” 

“The Department also facilitates Medicaid grant-funded health care and preventative screenings, and it also provides support for families of children with disabilities and support for independent living. These supports and services are necessary to ensure that disabled students can thrive at school, in their communities, and in their future careers.” 

“Prior to these devastating cuts in its workforce, the consensus of the disability community has been that the Department of Education’s capacity was inadequate to fully address the needs of disabled students. If our country genuinely values education and classroom integration, these systems and programs should be made more robust and strengthened instead of gutted.”

“We have seen how, without the Department of Education actively enforcing students’ civil rights, disabled students are ignored, segregated, and even abused at school. The oversight of the Department has been critical and necessary to ensure that disabled students can learn, grow, and thrive. Without the Department engaging in this active enforcement, disabled students’ educational attainment, career opportunities, and physical and psychological safety are all at risk,” Town concluded. 

The Trump Administration has made clear they will gut as much of the department as possible, effectively dismantling it without the authority of Congress. Formally closing the Department of Education and irreversibly ending enforcement of education civil rights can only occur with Congressional participation and consent. 

Every American who cares about disabled children and our nation’s educational attainment must contact their members of Congress and tell them that closing the Department of Education is a non-starter for the American people. Send a letter to your representatives in just a few clicks using AAPD’s tool at this link.

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By Morgan Dunn | November 08, 2021

Glenneisha Darkins, better known as Glenn, is a Black quadriplegic artist and mouth painter from Miami, Florida. She was involved in a fatal car accident in 2010 that caused her quadriplegia, and soon after she became determined to change how the world viewed her disability. Two years after her accident, she learned how to mouth paint from other young Black artists on Youtube. By operating breathing controls, navigating brush strokes, and mastering oil painting techniques, her efforts turned into a full-fledged business! She finds inspiration for her paintings from many sources:  her childhood, difficulties she experiences, navigating life, and her surroundings. She later received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology with an emphasis on Women and Gender studies from the Florida Int’l University in 2018. Glenn’s goal is to inspire and motivate others through her personal story and art. She hopes to educate the world on dismantling the misconceptions of individuals with disabilities and help others feel the courage and strength to discover their purpose and share their stories. I met Glenn on the audio-based social app ClubHouse; while listening to her perspective on the lack of visibility on black disabled artists, I recognized how her story could positively impact others.

M: What advice would you give other disabled artists and creatives? G: I would strongly advise other disabled artists and creatives to please keep going— keep creating and keep sharing your story. Throughout my journey as a disabled artist, I learned discipline and consistency is very much needed. When my purpose looked slow, bleak, I stretched whatever strength I had to find ways to stay creative. All sorts of challenges and obstacles definitely found its way to me, but I also found a way to make it work in my favor. I personally don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me or my situation so I strive to be better than I was yesterday. I look at myself as a source of motivation to keep creating what I want and what makes me happy. I found that those same challenges and obstacles makes for a beautiful story to share. You never know who’s watching! M: What are you looking forward to in the future? G: I want to continue to create so I’m able to be a household name in museums, in celebrity homes. I want to share my journey on a TedTalk. I honestly just look forward to expanding my art business and staying healthy! M: What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work? G: I schedule days to be in nature to see how colors complement each other. I listen to music and other creatives via podcasts or Youtube. I’m always looking at tutorials or documentaries on color mixing and oil painting portraits. I’m very motivated by other artists and when I see my earlier work, I challenge myself.

M: Thinking about the things you have created, is there something you hated but the public may have loved – and perhaps purchased? G: Yes, all of my Nipsey portraits. As I’m painting, I see it one way but at a distance, I second guess everything. Instant cringe. I want to do better when I capture him. I’m working on doing practice pieces with only him. M: Has rejection ever affected your creative process? Explain G: No, but criticism has definitely fueled my motivation to prove others wrong. I’m very sensitive when it comes to my art. Sensitive in a way that I’m motivated and inspired to prove to myself I am a real artist. I’m working on being more confident in art that isn’t what people want, but what I like and see as a masterpiece. So critics and negative comments has definitely affected how I approach my work. M: In your opinion, how can black disabled creatives stay connected to each other? What is missing? What’s already there? G: As of now, I found social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Twitter are most effective in connecting to disabled artists. I utilized Clubhouse as well. I’m still learning myself but I know that browsing social media sites has connected me to some very dope disabled creatives. I also learned that getting into local events as a vendor helps as well. So, establishing yourself on social media and participating in local events, in my opinion, can help disabled creatives to stay connected. M: Anything else you’d like to share? G: Do things for the greater good. Your purpose is bigger than yourself. Stay creative and never give up!

The post The Mouth Painter appeared first on AAPD.

By Lilian Aluri | September 20, 2021

As we close National Disability Voter Registration Week, we wanted to share a blog documenting a key moment for the disability vote this year. This blog shares highlights from a meeting that disability advocates had with Vice President Harris in July of this year to talk about gaps in voting access for voters with disabilities.

When I told my mom that I was going to meet with disability advocates after their meeting with the Vice President, she immediately thought I was going to meet with the Vice President myself. I had to temper her excitement slightly. But she was right to be excited, for the folks who actually got to meet Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Wednesday, July 14, seven disability advocates from across the country met with Vice President Kamala Harris for a roundtable discussion on access to voting at the White House. During this meeting, coordinated by Emily Voorde, Associate Director in the Office of Public Engagement at the White House, each advocate had a chance to share their personal experiences with the range of barriers that keep disabled voters from participating in democracy. 

The organizers present included many from the REV UP network whom I had spoken with several times but never met in person, as well as other advocates who have been working outside REV UP in their communities advancing the rights of disabled and Black communities. The advocates included:

• Olivia Babis  |  Senior Public Policy Analyst at Disability Rights Florida and Member of REV UP Florida
• Anthony Bonnelli  |  Freelance Journalist and Advocate for People with Disabilities
• Dessa Cosma  |  Executive Director at Detroit Disability Power and Partner of REV UP
• Howard Porter, Jr.  |  Advocate in Alabama
• Jalyn Radziminski  |  Communications Manager at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Founder and President of Count Us IN, and Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Program Alumni
• Dr. Ricky Stott  |  President at The Scott Institute and Former Board Member of the NC Council of the Blind, Raleigh Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities, Raleigh Human Relations Commission and the Governor Morehead School Human Rights Committee
• Mathew Yanez  |  Legal Intern at United States Attorneys’​ Offices and Partner of REV UP

Following their meeting with the Vice President, all of the advocates, except Mr. Bonelli and Ms. Cosma, joined myself and several of my colleagues for lunch at AAPD’s office. Over lunch, the advocates shared key moments and reflections on the meeting. It seemed that each of the advocates felt a mixture of hope and despair, a mix of emotions many feel when advocating for a more equitable world. This meeting felt like a new milestone in the ways that our political leaders are acknowledging both the existence of the disability vote and the access barriers disabled voters face. At the same time, as many of the attendees expressed, this was one, short meeting focused on a topic that needs more discussion and concrete action.

As Mr. Porter stated while we munched on sandwiches, he has been fighting to make a difference for so long with the hope of making a better world for his kids, and yet in many ways we are in the same place. You can read some of Mr. Porter’s testimony on page three of the NC District Court opinion. Statewide attacks on voting rights threaten to reverse the gains in voter turnout we saw during the 2020 elections, and the efforts to make voting more accessible, like the For the People Act, have failed so far to pass Congress and even fail to include people with disabilities from the start. Other efforts, like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, have yet to even be introduced. 

Despite the threats to our voting rights and access, disability advocates in each state continue to reach out to their communities, call on their elected leaders, keep their election officials accountable for holding accessible elections, and collaborate with one another to build the power of the disability vote. The work of the REV UP network and the many disability organizations advancing the disability vote has rarely felt more important. For me, and I hope for the advocates who spoke with Vice President Harris, this meeting felt like a sign of a shift that has been happening, and started well before I came to AAPD, towards meaningful recognition of the disability vote from the highest offices in the country.

Yes, it was just one meeting, and talk means little without actions. But this meeting between disability and voting advocates and the Vice President represents a significant moment for the disability vote nationally. And so yes, my mom was right to be excited.

Learn about National Disability Voter Registration Week that ends today at aapd.com/ndvrw and…

The post A Milestone for the Disability Vote: Advocates Meet with the Vice President appeared first on AAPD.

By Rachita Singh | September 16, 2021

The disability vote describes a powerful voting bloc consisting of over 38 million eligible voters and spanning all races, ethnicities, localities, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, and ages. Historically, the disability vote has been lower than that of people without disabilities, with a gap of over 2 million votes in the most recent election. Despite the fact that 1 in 4 American adults has a disability, candidates rarely address the disability community and issues important to us, and campaign websites, town halls, and debates are frequently inaccessible and not inclusive. The disability vote is too often overlooked and forgotten.

In order to counter this, AAPD asked the following question: What are effective strategies organizations can implement in order to raise awareness and increase the disability vote? 

And to answer this question, I carried out a series of interviews with people from various disability rights and voting advocacy organizations, such as Crip The Vote, Voto Latino, Human Rights Campaign, and more. I also conducted case studies on groups that have shown success in encouraging voter turnout within their communities.

During the interviews, I talked with a diverse set of advocates about the many barriers to voting and ways to overcome them. The four barriers most common to people with disabilities, people of color, disabled people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and other marginalized groups were:

1. Discrimination. Interviewees from disability rights/justice organizations discussed implicit and explicit ableism, while those from other voting rights groups described experiences of marginalization at the polls based on race or gender identity.  
   “Every marginalized group has experienced discrimination personally and that links them together…” – Leslie Adames, Voto Latino
   
2. Voter Suppression.  Voter suppression is used to influence the outcome of elections by discouraging or preventing certain groups of people from voting. Interviewees detailed tactics such as voter I.D. laws, eliminating early voting or same-day registration, and unnecessarily shutting down polling places.
   “Disability laws are being used to target minority leaders, putting bogus charges on them such as ineligibly helping someone else to vote. This has a chilling effect on many communities.” – Michelle Bishop, National Disability Rights Network
   
3. Voter Apathy. People are not going to the polls simply because they do not care or do not see the point. This is especially true within the disability community, where politicians continually overlook them and do not bring their issues to the forefront.
   “For voters who argue their vote doesn’t matter or that nothing can ever change, engage in simple questions: If your vote doesn’t matter, why do we have gerrymandering or voter suppression? [These issues] are carefully orchestrated to limit voting power. ” – Halley Rogers, When We All Vote
   
4. Lack of Information. There is an information barrier when it comes to voting and many of the interviewees believed that if people understood what they were voting for, and how to do it, then they would take more of an interest and engage
   “Civics courses are not as fruitful as they should be…there are people my age, around 27, who do not know the three branches of government and don’t understand what they do or what impact citizens can have.” – Deandrea Newsome, Local Progress

In the next few months, we will be posting blogs that dive deeper into these four key barriers, as well as the case studies I conducted on a few key communities. The interviews and case studies are ways to gain insight into how organizations like AAPD can better build the disability vote and accurately amplify the already amazing work advocates are doing. In order to learn more about what gaps exist in the field and why some strategies have a better impact than others, I conducted a comparative case study, examining three underrepresented groups: the Latinx/Hispanic community, the LGBTQIA+ population, and the youth of America. Given the multitudes of backgrounds and identities that exist within the United States, these case studies are just a drop in the ocean. But they can give us a better understanding of how factors such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and age influence the way communities work together to address issues.

Stay tuned for the other blogs in this series that will delve deeper into the interviews with advocates, who they were, and what was discussed, along with the specific findings from the case studies that describe how each group increased voter turnout. 

Check out all of the activities taking place this week at aapd.com/ndvrw and…

The post How Can We Increase the Disability Vote? appeared first on AAPD.

By Alexa Berry | September 15, 2021

Yesterday, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) hosted the Disability Vote Summit. The goal of the virtual Summit was to provide advocates with information and strategies to further their advocacy as well as provide policymakers with information to better understand the disability community and their impact on elections. The Disability Vote Summit was part of National Disability Voter Registration Week, a larger effort by AAPD’s REV UP Campaign. In case you missed it, this blog shares some highlights from the event.

The summit opened yesterday with Curt Decker, President of NDRN, speaking about the power of the disability vote. There are over 38 million eligible voters with disabilities, but despite being the largest minority voting bloc, candidates for public office rarely speak about disability issues or speak directly to voters with disabilities.

Over 400 attendees—advocates, activists, and policymakers—tuned in to learn from experts about accessibility and the experiences of disabled voters during the 2020 election. Attendees also learned strategies to shape their advocacy to increase enfranchisement and combat voter suppression. Conversations during the 4-hour event on Tuesday focused on voter turnout, election accessibility with a particular focus on language and information access, and the importance of coalitions and working together in the fight for voting rights.

The data presented by Rutgers University, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), and NDRN confirmed what the disability community already know: that voters with disabilities are engaged and motivated to vote, but face many more barriers to the ballot than voters without disabilities.

Dr. Douglas Kruse and Dr. Lisa Schur of Rutgers University presented data from their study, Disability and Voter Turnout in the 2020 Elections, an in-depth look at how voters with disabilities cast their ballots. Mirroring trends for all voting in 2020, voter turnout for people with disabilities surged in 2020; 17.7 million people with disabilities voted, accounting for 11% of all people who cast a ballot. Dr. Kruse and Dr. Schur attributed this record turnout to states’ shift to mail-in ballots and the urgency of the 2020 election. Dr. Kruse and Dr. Schur also found that people with disabilities are twice as likely to experience barriers to voting than people without disabilities. Among voters with disabilities, Black voters with disabilities experienced waiting times that were twice as long as non-Black voters with disabilities. Their data gave insight into the differences between voters without disabilities and voters with disabilities, and voting disparities within the disability community.

Additional data presentations from Jeff Kaloc and Lou Ann Blake from NFB and Essie Pederson and Diana Mairose, from the SABE Go Voter Project, showed how voters with certain disabilities were affected by barriers to vote. From the NFB 2020 Blind and Low-Vision Voter Survey, Jeff Kaloc and Lou Ann Blake shared that based on their data, they found poll worker training to be lacking. The NFB surveys found that federal election after federal election, one-third of respondents said that their polling place’s accessible voting machine was not running when they arrived to vote. Essie Pederson and Diana Mairose from SABE presented the findings of their GoVoter 2020 Voter Experience Survey, sharing how people with developmental disabilities (DD) voted or didn’t vote, and why. Their presentation focused on the disparities between Black voters with DD and all other survey respondents. A finding that garnered many reactions from the audience was that of the survey respondents, 7 out of 10 Black voters said the reason they did not vote was that they were told they could not vote, compared to 5 out of 10 of all voters were told they could not vote. In addition, the majority of first-time voters that filled out the survey identified as Black or Asian American. Jack Rosen from NDRN made the final data presentation, speaking about the Election Omnibus Findings from Lake Research Partners and The Tarrance Group that explored political preferences and issues that were important to voters. The survey found that disability issues affected more than just voters with disabilities; while 15% of survey respondents identified as having a disability, an additional 25% of survey respondents reported having a close family member with a disability. Despite this large swath of voters connected to disability issues, of all the voters surveyed, over two-thirds did not recall hearing any mention of disability issues by the candidates running in 2020. Disabled voters in swing states, which are often inundated with ads and candidate messaging, were least likely to hear candidates mention disability. 

The two panels during the Summit included speakers from across the spectrum of the disability community. The first panel, moderated by Sarah Blahovec of the National Council on Independent Living with Kriston Pumphrey of Communication Service for the Deaf, Terry Ao Minnis of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Ben Jackson of the Election Assistance Commission centered around access, particularly language access, for the deaf community, people with cognitive disabilities, and non-native English speakers. Speakers stressed how important it is for people with disabilities to be involved in all the aspects of elections, including becoming poll workers and working on the language for ballot initiatives, in order for voting to be more inclusive and accessible. Ben Jackson said, “…a lot of the decisions that are going to be impacting voters with disabilities, and voters generally, are going to be happening on a local level.” His point is particularly significant in 2021, as many states and local municipalities will be having elections this year that will decide governors, city council members, and ballot initiatives that affect the day-to-day lives of disabled people.

The second panel, moderated by Marlene Sallo of the Disability Law Center, with Cedric Lawson of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund, Teresa Moore of Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, and Gaylon Tootle of Walton Options, focused on the importance of coalition building, community, and relationships in the fight for accessibility ballot access and accessibility overall. Gaylon Tootle said it best: “What we need from everybody is to understand we’re in it together… So if one section of the community is being discriminated against, then all of us are. And if that is what we’re here to do, to improve the lives of folks with disabilities, then we implore you to get out there with us and make sure they enforce the ADA, Title II… It’s the law. And if we do it, as Cedric said, in mass as a group, we can get it done.” Both Cedric Lawson and Gaylon Tootle also encouraged attendees to contact decision-makers, whether it be in their community—faith leaders, youth and student groups, etc.—or at the national level and advocate for themselves and their rights.

Attendees also received video messages about the power and importance of the disability vote from Susan Diegelman, AAPD Board of Directors Chair, Rebecca Cokley, Program Officer for the U.S. Disability Rights Portfolio in the Office of the President at the Ford Foundation, Wade Henderson, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights interim president and CEO, Donald Palmer, United States Election Assistance Commission Chairman, Cedric Richmond, Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and the Honorable Kim Wyman, Washington Secretary of State. In his video, Wade Henderson said “Disability rights are civil and human rights. We need the collective power of our coalition more than ever as state lawmakers turn their backs on voters and create egregious barriers to the ballot. This is our moment to act right now.” 

Maria Town, President and CEO of AAPD, closed the Summit by driving home the importance of voting for the disability community as voting gives people with disabilities the opportunity to self-direct their own lives. As she stated in her closing, “Voting is a way that says we are here. We deserve to be here and we deserve to be in a world that works for us and with us.”

The recording and transcript for the Disability Vote Summit will be publicly available soon.

The post In Case You Missed It: Highlights from the 2021 Disability Vote Summit appeared first on AAPD.

By Lilian Aluri | September 14, 2021

This blog was originally published on September 13 by the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and can be found on AUCD’s blog.

Roughly 1 in 4 American adults has a disability, and over 38 million people with disabilities were eligible to vote in 2020! Unfortunately, disabled voters turnout to vote less frequently than voters without disabilities. A 7 percentage point turnout gap persists between disabled and non-disabled voters, which amounts to over 2 million fewer votes cast by people with disabilities. Much of this turnout gap comes from the increased barriers that disabled voters, and especially disabled voters of color, face. These barriers exist throughout the voting process, from registering to vote to casting a ballot. This year, hundreds of bills in state legislatures threaten access to the ballot, and some of these bills have already passed.

This week is National Disability Voter Registration Week which lasts from September 13th to September 20th. While the REV UP network is active all year, this national week of civic engagement initiatives builds excitement and momentum in our advocacy around the disability vote. During National Disability Voter Registration Week, Organizers across the country host voter registration drives, voter trainings, and other activities to get out the disability vote.

REV UP stands for “Register! Educate! Vote! Use your power!” Founded by grassroots organizers in Texas, REV UP is a part of a movement to build the power of the disability vote in our communities and nationwide. REV UP is now led by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and is made up of a national network of individuals, organizations, and election officials. These REV UP organizers work to both increase civic engagement in the disability community and ensure people with disabilities have access to the ballot.

We “REV UP” during National Disability Voter Registration Week, because we know how our vote impacts every part of our lives, including access to healthcare, work, housing, financial security, education, and more. By hosting National Disability Voter Registration Week, our goal is to get more voters with disabilities registered and ready to vote and to call attention to the issues impacting our communities, including access to voting.

We invite you to be a part of the 2021 National Disability Voter Registration Week happening now and join organizers across the country as we build the power of the disability vote! You can sign up as a partner here. You can also follow us on social media (@aapd on Twitter, @DisabilityPowered on Facebook, and @aapdofficial on Instagram) to participate in our 5 actions that you can do to make sure you and your community are registered and ready to vote. We hope you will join us for the events and activities throughout the week as we REV UP the disability vote together!

Check out all of the activities taking place this week at aapd.com/ndvrw and…

The post REV UP During National Disability Voter Registration Week appeared first on AAPD.

By Lilian Aluri | September 13, 2021

Today marks the first day of the 2021 National Disability Voter Registration Week (September 13-20)! Throughout this week, organizers across the country are hosting voter registration drives, voter education events, and more. The goals of National Disability Voter Registration Week are to increase civic participation in our communities and showcase the power of the disability vote.

At the REV UP Voting Campaign, we recognize that voting connects to every part of our lives. Our votes are powerful as voting is one of the ways we create the world we want to live in. The systems around us, from policing and minimum wage, to healthcare and taxes, are all shaped by our ability to cast a ballot. 

We also believe that our democracy will only work for us when our communities have access to the ballot. People with disabilities, people of color, and disabled people of color face compounding barriers to the ballot box that limit our freedom to vote. Our work through REV UP this week and every week centers building our political power as voters with disabilities, advocating for full access to voting both in-person and remotely, and getting our communities actively engaged in the political process.

Here are 5 ways that you can build up the disability vote this week:

1) Register to vote or check your registration. Go to weall.vote/revup and enter your information to begin registering to vote. This link will allow you to check your registration information and go to your state’s official voter registration website. Even if you think you are registered to vote, take a few minutes and check and make sure your information is up to date.

2) Learn more about the disability vote. Register today for the virtual Disability Vote Summit on Tuesday, September 14 from 12-4pm EST, and learn more about how you can get out the disability vote in your community. The Summit will include presentations and panels on voting access, the 2020 elections, and the future of advocacy around the disability vote.

3) Reach out to one person in your life and make sure they are registered to vote. Each of us has relationships in our lives—friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, people we know on social media. Choose one person and ask them when was the last time they updated their voter registration and share this online voter registration link with them: weall.vote/revup.

4) Find out the dates for your upcoming elections. Visit vote411.org and enter your address to learn about upcoming election dates and what will be on the ballot. In 2021, there are thousands of local, state, and tribal positions up for election, and many elections have already taken place. Make sure that you are ready for any elections in your area. Remember every election matters and every year is an election year!

5) Contact your Senators and ask them to protect your freedom to vote. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. This law would prevent states from trying to pass bills that would make voting inaccessible for certain communities, such as disabled voters and voters of color. Now it is up to the Senate! On Friday of this week, we will be sharing an easy way for you to contact your Senators about access to voting, so follow us on social media and sign up for our emails to receive Friday’s action alert!

Whether you can join us every day or for a few days, we invite you to participate in National Disability Voter Registration Week with these daily civic engagement actions. To learn more about National Disability Voter Registration Week and all of the events and activities this week, check out our website at aapd.com/ndvrw.

Lastly, I will end with this quote from Justin Dart which has become a rallying message for REV UP:

“Vote as if your life depends on it—because it DOES!”

Check out all of the activities taking place this week at aapd.com/ndvrw and…

The post 5 Ways to Build a Better and More Inclusive Democracy This Week appeared first on AAPD.

By Rachita Singh and Lilian Aluri | August 27, 2021

Whether you’ve used this summer to continue staying indoors or to safely start venturing outside, there’s a good chance that many of you had a book or audiobook with you. If you’re searching for the next book to add to your list, or hoping to start reading more this fall, AAPD is here for you! Here are some reading recommendations shared and reviewed by AAPD’s staff, interns, alums, and friends. We hope that this list can help fuel your next relaxed reading session with stories written by and for the disability community:

The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public (The History of Disability) by Susan M. Schweik

“It is important for anyone to understand the history of their community. The Ugly Laws does just that: shines a light on the history of [Disability] policy in the United States. Through a detailed analysis, Schweik explains the social context that led to these laws and their lasting impact on society – from disability studies to law and the arts.” Annika Grassl, 2014 AAPD Summer Intern

Formats: Paperback, Hardback, Kindle

What Happened to You? by James Catchpole and Karen George

“What Happened to You? is the kind of book I wish I had as a disabled child. Its story is fun while also helping address the complex emotions that children with disabilities feel when asked personal questions about their disabilities over and over and over again. I think it does a great job at letting its reader know in a non-confrontational way that no one is privy to private medical information about disabled people. I use it to help the people in my life understand my perspective and I think it is a helpful resource for any disabled child or adult. Plus it [has] got some lovely artwork and some pirates to boot.” Sophie Poost, AAPD Staff

Formats: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle

Three Best Friends by Robbin Miller

“Three Best Friends is a children’s picture book for children ages 6-9 years old. It tells the story of the protagonist, a wheelchair user, who is excited to play on the new community playground with his two able-bodied friends. After the ribbon is cut, the protagonist can not move his wheelchair feely along the wood chip flooring. He struggles intensely as the kids are staring at him. The readers will find out how the protagonist joins his two best friends in the new playground.” Robbin Miller, Disability Rights Advocate

Formats: Paperback, Kindle

Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life by Harriet McBryde Johnson

“Too Late to Die Young is a brilliantly witty collection of stories that together form the memoir of Harriet McBryde Johnson, a physically disabled attorney, activist, and writer. Johnson takes you to a college dorm showdown with Ronald Reagan’s staff to reflections on liberty in Havana to fighting for accessibility at the Democratic National Convention, all while rocking an unconventional body and relying on personal attendants…Whether you’re a disability history nerd looking to learn more about the MDA’s Jerry Lewis telethon or trying to inspire the fire in yourself to advocate, you’ll find that here. Even if you’re looking for a fun, relatable summer read, you’ll find that here. Whatever you’re hoping to get out of this read, you will not be able to put it down once you pick it up.” Emeline Lakrout, Disability Download Subscriber

Formats: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle

Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong

“This anthology is a collection of powerful first-person stories from disabled individuals, ranging from accounts of disability advocacy on the national and local level, eulogies of queer disabled folx, testimonies of discriminatory healthcare in Indigenous communities, explorations of crip time, and so much more. This book discusses disability through storytelling, an empowering and triumphant moment of disabled individuals taking control of their own narratives…Ultimately, I can only imagine that any reader who opens up this anthology will leave having a much wider appreciation for the immense scope of the disability community; this book is a sampler of sorts, a sneak peek into the vast diversity and nuance that lies within the confines, or lack thereof, of a disability. All in all, I would present only my highest recommendation for Alice Wong’s Disability Visibility, a must-read for AAPD’s summer reading list!” Jennifer Lee, 2021 AAPD Summer Intern

Formats: Paperback, Audiobook, Kindle

Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher

“Mama Zooms is a story of the magic and freedom that wheelchairs bring their users told from the perspective of a young son of a wheelchair user. The beauty of the book is how it normalizes disability. It weaves an imaginative story without adding any outside stigmas or glamour to disability. Being a wheelchair user is seen as not a good thing or [a] bad thing, just a normal thing. It’s a cute wholesome story for the whole family.” Sophie Poost, AAPD Staff

Formats: Paperback, Audio, Hardcover Be sure to check out Emily Ladau’s book, Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally, releasing September 7, 2021.

Our reading list will return in 2022, tell us what books you would like to see in the next list! Submit your recommendations here!

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Infrastructure relates to the facilities, resources, and tools that people use to operate on a daily basis and go about their lives. While infrastructure can refer to physical facilities like trains, buses, buildings, roads, power grids, etc., it also includes human and care-related. Alongside the necessities of water, electricity, and transportation, people rely on services related to nutrition, healthcare, childcare, education, and more. All that is under the umbrella of infrastructure, making it necessary to pay attention to its quality and accessibility – especially for people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities make up over a fifth of the U.S. population. Despite the fact that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed over 30 years ago, the current infrastructure of the nation is still inaccessible and still leaves people with disabilities behind. Hopefully, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will begin to change that.

On August 10, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1 trillion package with bipartisan support. This act is a negotiated and reconstructed version of the American Jobs Plan that was introduced in March 2021. American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is disappointed that the bill does not contain critical home and community-based services (HCBS) funding, a major part of the American Jobs Plan, and prioritizes physical infrastructure over human infrastructure. However, we are pleased to see that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will support much-needed accessibility mandates across many types of community infrastructure. If passed by the House of Representatives, this package will enhance the accessibility of transit systems, alongside other provisions, like investing in broadband Internet services, that will improve the lives of people with disabilities. 

Here is a breakdown of the parts of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will specifically impact the disability community if passed by the House and signed into law. The act provides funding to address transportation access, digital equity,  and climate change.

Transportation Access – Given that many people with disabilities refrain from driving a personal car, public transit is essential to the disability community. Yet, traditionally the transportation system within the United States has disadvantaged people with disabilities, especially disabled people of color and those living in rural areas. Accessible, reliable, and affordable transit enables people with disabilities to access important opportunities in education, employment, healthcare, housing, and more.

• Dedicates $39 billion to modernize transit and improve accessibility for aging adults and people with disabilities, with $1.75 billion specifically for the All Stations Accessibility Program that will make rail stations accessible to all users and fully compliant with the ADA;
  – Also demands that a person with a disability be included on Amtrak’s board of directors
• Gives $250 million in transit-related grants that specifically enhance the mobility of aging adults and people with disabilities;
• Mentions addressing barriers to employment in transportation and transportation infrastructure construction industries for individuals with disabilities;
• Dedicates $5 billion toward improving airport terminals, with preference given to projects that expand accessibility and ADA compliance;

Digital Equity – As the world becomes increasingly remote, being connected to the Internet is more important than ever. Many people with disabilities lack equitable access to Internet services, Internet browsing devices, and the digital literacy that is needed to keep up with the world today. This increases existing disparities between disabled and non-disabled people and further denies the disability community of even more opportunities. The broadband investment and the Digital Equity Act can help the disability community, alongside other marginalized groups, increase their educational, economic, and health benefits.

• Invests $65 billion to help ensure every American has access to reliable high-speed Internet;
  – Extends the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, now the Affordable Connectivity Program, and expands its eligibility so that low-income families experiencing economic hardships in times other than emergencies can still receive support help accessing the Internet
• Helps to close the digital divide by passing the Digital Equity Act;
  – Includes $2.75 billion to establish two grant programs that promote digital inclusion and increase equitable access to Internet services 

Climate Change and the Environment – Finally, the bill invests in combating climate change, increasing community resilience, environmental remediation, clean water, and clean energy. Individuals in the disability community are 2 to 4 times more likely to be injured or killed in major disasters and emergencies. Power outages not only cause monetary losses but can lead to harmful impacts on the health and lives of many people, especially those in disadvantaged communities and people with disabilities who rely on medical technology to survive. These investments are especially important for the disability, BIPOC, and low-income communities as they are more vulnerable to extreme weather events and more likely to live near areas with harmful radiation and unsafe drinking water.

• Provides $21 billion in environmental remediation to address pollution that harms the public health of communities across the country 
• Invests $65 billion in clean energy transmission, significantly upgrading our aging electrical grids, as well as $55 billion in clean drinking water, including dedicated funding to replace lead service lines and remove dangerous chemicals
• Commits over $50 billion for climate change resilience to protect against droughts, floods, wildfires, etc.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a crucial start to addressing inequities that the disability community faces, many of which have been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The investments proposed will impact and benefit individuals with disabilities in a myriad of ways. The Infrastructure Act does ultimately provide funding for much-needed advancements in infrastructure that can increase equitable access to education, work, community living, healthcare, and more. If passed, this legislation is a first step to creating a more inclusive nation. AAPD endorses the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and will continue advocating for a final budget reconciliation that will include the full $400 billion investment in HCBS. Over 8 million Americans need daily support, a number that is on the rise due to the COVID-19 virus, and full funding for HCBS would increase access to vital services that improve the quality of direct support jobs.  

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At first, I didn’t plan on writing stories with disabled characters. I didn’t even plan on writing science fiction and fantasy. When I tell people this now, it sometimes surprises them because these days my work often has one or both of these elements. But when I signed up for my first fiction class all those years ago, my only objective was to learn how to tell good stories. All the things that are distinctly me in my work, that is to say my artistic voice, I didn’t have yet. That grew with me.

Artistic voice is something that is in every art form. It’s that style or flare that makes your body of work distinctly yours – like how Van Gogh’s paintings and Aretha Franklin’s singing are instantly recognizable. It’s your signature, your curiosity, drive, and talent molded into a distinct expression.

But I didn’t consider any of this when I wrote my first stories. Instead I did what most budding artists do – consciously or not – I tried to imitate what I read and admired. So I wrote about the internal struggles of men in failing relationships, nervous women and vengeful murderers. Characters who were nothing like me, but similar to so many of the ones I’ve read and watched. At the time, the idea of having a diverse cast of characters was a daunting idea. And to make some of those characters disabled? Never even occurred to me. 

The thing about my writing in those days was I knew that my stories weren’t good yet. I was often told in critique sessions that my imagination exceeded my skill, that my fictional worlds were hard to picture and my “what if” questions weren’t believable. I would read stories in professional, highly competitive magazines and see the vastness of the gap between the quality of those stories and mine. 

I didn’t find this disheartening though. If there’s one thing that going to physical therapy for years has taught me it’s that progress is sometimes slow, but if you’re stubborn, you’ll get there eventually. So I kept taking local classes, going to monthly writing gatherings, and meeting other writers. I slowly began telling more and more science fiction and fantasy stories because it has always been my favorite genre and I liked the other writers I met who were writing it too. They saw what I was trying to do with my stories and they took my work seriously, even though my stories were still not particularly good. (I’m still friends with most of these writers today and they have amazing careers of their own too.) I began going to speculative fiction conventions and without realizing it, I joined an artistic community. 

And finding your community is just as important as finding your artistic voice.

It was through this community that I was introduced to the discussion about race, gender, and class in stories and how we need more diverse stories. It was here that I started listening to the discourse about disability representation in fiction, movies, and video games. At the time, most of the discourse was critiques on what mainstream media got wrong about disability and the harm it was doing to the people with those disabilities. 

Stories about disability from disabled writers are extremely important. They offer a way for audiences who may not know about a particular condition to learn what it’s like to live with it, such as Mishell Baker’s Borderline and its descriptions of borderline personality disorder. By meeting and connecting with fictional characters that are different from ourselves, we learn to be receptive of similar people in real life. 

I believe this wholeheartedly. Except I didn’t want me or my work to be defined by my cerebral palsy. I still don’t. Up to this point, I resisted the idea that I needed to write about disability just because I myself was disabled. I am many, many things besides my diagnosis and I disliked how people automatically assumed that the character with a limp in one of my stories was a reflection of myself. I never was interested in explaining what it was like to have cerebral palsy to a faceless audience. 

However, I couldn’t shake the sense that there was a void in the disability stories I was reading, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was missing until I was asked to write a personal essay for Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. 

By writing “The Stories We Find Ourselves In”, I realized what I was looking for was stories that sent disabled protagonists on adventures, stories that treated disability like just another facet of their character, where disability wasn’t their motivation or something to be overcome, explained, or changed. 

It was only after finishing that essay that I realized that if I wanted to see the stories I asked for I needed to write them myself.

In recent years, there’s been more movies, video games, comic books, and novels that have disabled characters that are complex and autonomous. Sometimes they are depicted successfully, sometimes not. The upward trend though, is exciting to see. But there’s still so much farther we need to come to normalize disabled characters. 

And I want to add my voice to help shift the tides of storytelling. 

Sometimes it takes awhile to find the type of art you want to create and the message you want to send out into the world. Sometimes you don’t realize you’re missing something until it’s pointed out to you. Sometimes, you are a disabled writer who wants to promote a specific idea about disability representation. 

And sometimes you’re not. 

My artistic voice has grown, developed, and changed over the years and I hope it continues to do so many years to come. These days I’m mostly known for writing speculative fiction with disabled representation, but not all my stories feature protagonists with disabilities, just like my life is not centered around my own disability. Sometimes, I’m concerned that having a disabled character in a story where none of the characters are particularly likable or moral, will feed into harmful sterotypes, but people with disabilities can be complicated, and our representation should be too. Sometimes I just want to try a new style of writing that doesn’t rely on the fantastical. But every story I write is part of my growing body of work, they are contributing to the conversation within the science fiction and fantasy community about diversity and inclusion.

The thing about artistic voice is it can be anything you want it to be. It’s a summation of your artistic exploration, curiosity, community, and perseverance. There are a million and one different ways to be an artist and billions of different expressions of that art. In the end, finding your artistic voice comes down to creating the art that you want to see in the world which no one else has made yet. 

A.T. Greenblatt is a Nebula Award winning writer and mechanical engineer. She lives in Philadelphia where she’s known to frequently subject her friends to various cooking and home brewing experiments. Her work has been nominated for a Hugo, Locus, and Sturgeon Award, has been in multiple Year’s Best anthologies, and has appeared in Uncanny, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, and Clarkesworld, as well as other fine publications. You can find her online at http://atgreenblatt.com and on Twitter at @AtGreenblatt

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