Washington, D.C., August 28 – The 2020 Republican National Convention, which took place over the course of this week as a mixture of live and prerecorded events, gave prominent focus to people with disabilities in prime time speaking slots. By doing so, as with the previous week’s Democratic National Convention,…
Washington, D.C., August 23 – The 2020 Democratic National Convention took place over the course of this week, and several speakers with disabilities were featured over the first-of-its-kind virtual event. By doing so, the event helped to normalize disability, showing individuals with a variety of disabilities speaking about topics from gun violence to healthcare – issues of importance to all people in America. This is a massive change in politics as people with disabilities are starting to be seen and heard.
Indeed, after the 2012 DNC and RNC political conventions, The New York Times created a tool where people could put in a word to see how many times that word appeared from the convention stages during these major events. People with disabilities had been missing from both the stage and the conversation as the tool showed that the word was not even mentioned once per 25,000 words from the Republican convention and was mentioned .03 times per 25,000 times at the 2012 Democratic convention.
The 2020 DNC convention, in contrast, featured both conversations about disability as well as speakers with disabilities.
Washington, D.C., August 21 – On behalf of the Biden Campaign, former Olympic figure skater and Special Olympics Board Member Michelle Kwan reached out to the 1-in-5 people who live with a physical, sensory, cognitive, mental health or other disability on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It is more important than ever that we fulfill the promise of the ADA and build a more equal and inclusive society,” Kwan said at a national #ADA30 summit sponsored by RespectAbility, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. “That’s why [Biden] has introduced a plan for the Full Participation and Equality for People with Disabilities.” More than 10,000 people watched RespectAbility’s online summit.
Washington, D.C., August 21 – On behalf of the Trump Campaign, Lara Trump reached out to the 1-in-5 people who live with a physical, sensory, cognitive, mental health or other disability on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It is my and President Trump’s belief that every American should have the utmost chance to pursue his or her American dream.” Trump said at a national #ADA30 summit sponsored by RespectAbility, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. “We look forward to working with you all going forward to ensure the American dream is accessible to everyone.” More than 10,000 people watched RespectAbility’s online summit.
Washington, D.C., August 20 – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan reached out to the 1-in-5 people who live with a physical, sensory, cognitive, mental health or other disability on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I truly believe our state is stronger when all of our citizens are able to contribute to their communities and reap the rewards of those contributions,” Gov. Hogan said at a national #ADA30 summit sponsored by RespectAbility, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. “Our administration remains committed to doing everything we can to make sure that adults with disabilities can obtain meaningful work, and to ensure that our schools and public places are examples of inclusion in both attitude and action.” More than 10,000 people watched RespectAbility’s online summit.
Washington, D.C., August 20 – Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen reached out to the 1-in-5 people who live with a physical, sensory, cognitive, mental health or other disability on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“if you look over the last 30 years, we have made significant progress in the areas of education, in expanding services to people with disabilities, and in expanding opportunities,” Sen. Van Hollen said at a national #ADA30 summit sponsored by RespectAbility, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. “But as we take stock of the progress we’ve made, we also recognize that we’ve got a long journey still ahead to meet the promise of full equality and full inclusion.” More than 10,000 people watched RespectAbility’s online summit.
Washington, D.C., August 14 – With 80 days until the November 2020 election, Inclusive America, a non-profit organization dedicated to inclusion in government leadership, is leading a collaborative effort to push our nation’s leaders to reflect the rich diversity of the communities they serve. The national disability inclusion organization RespectAbility is partnering with Inclusive America to urge candidates to take the “Pledge for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”
The Pledge is built around four critical goals, including the selection of a national Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, greater transparency on civil servants and political appointees, adoption of new inclusion rules to improve federal hiring practices, as well as enforcing anti-discrimination policies throughout the federal workforce.
