ADA Legacy and Other Groups Pivots Focus from Preserve & Celebrate to Educate Day After ADA25; It’s Back to Work – But NOT Business As Usual
(PRWEB) July 28, 2015 -- Celebrations surrounding ADA25 continue this week, amidst planning sustainable, results-driven, civil rights actions for Americans with Disabilities - organizations challenge Presidential candidates to acknowledge the disability voting constituency. Only Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton and Scott Walker have mentioned voters with disabilities – not acceptable considering 56.7 million Americans have disabilities.
As disability activists, thought leaders, and organizers return to their hometowns, a few points of progress have been clearly noticed. The first is that since the passage of the ADA 25 years ago, young Americans with disabilities have created a new, and audacious wave of activism. This Disability Power & Pride movement, empowered by social media, has proven to be a powerful social leveling mechanism, and builds on the foundation that was laid by the work of the ADA that has come before. Groups like YO! Disabled and Proud have brought a new galvanizing energy to the movement.
The next sign of progress at this important milestone was the level of cooperation displayed among many disability groups across the nation, a strong through-line, as the ADA Legacy Bus drove awareness of the disability rights movement over 22,000 miles, across 30 states and to100 cities by the ADA anniversary.
From Federal Agencies like FEMA that created an emergency preparedness PSA, complete with captions, sign language interpreter and audio descriptions to Honey Maid’s new #ThisisWholesome campaign that features a disability rights attorney who is a wheelchair user, also captioned and audio described… government entities, business and organizations are energized by ADA25 moving forward.
The Mid-Atlantic ADA Center has developed two new resources: The Guide to Accessible Meetings, Events and Conferences and the at your service customer service film that features disability thought leaders giving tips on customer service. Both of those resources can be found at http://www.adainfo.org
Events of note this week:
July 28: Join 1,000 disability rights leaders for Congressional Briefing, March and Rally at US Capitol;
Grand Hyatt staging/March and Roll to the US Capitol (10 AM); Rally at the US Capitol (11 AM); Hill Visits (1PM); US Capitol Visitors Center Public NCD Congressional Hearing and Reception (2 to 8:30 pm)
July 29: Kennedy Center National Gallery (10am to 12)
July 31: Chamber of Commerce hosts the Disability Rights Museum on Wheels
For daily updates on ADA activities, http://visit visit http://www.ada25chicago.org/news
Individuals, organizations, government and faith communities are invited to sign the ADA25 Pledge
About The ADA Legacy Road to Freedom Bus Tour: Produced by The ADA Legacy Project, Disability Rights Center, ADA National Network, the Museum of disABILITY History, and the ADA Legacy Tour. The Tour began in July of 2014. It will enjoy its grand finale in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 2015, exactly 25 years after President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law! The ADA Legacy Bus will have traveled to 33 states by the end of July 26, 2015! The Tour is designed as a unique and dynamic chance to learn more about the disability rights movement, and what the ADA means/has meant for the American experience. The ADA Bus brings the work of the great photographer, Tom Olin to life. For those who are moved to action by this powerful display, we will also provide the opportunity to sign the ADA Pledge as well as other materials and community tools!
About The ADA Legacy Project: Its mission is to honor the contributions of people with disabilities and their allies by preserving the history of the disability rights mo
Mark Johnson, ADA Legacy, http://www.adalegacy.com/, +1 (404) 350-7490, [email protected]
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