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AAPD to Hold July 23rd ADA Celebration on Capitol Hill
July 3, 2003
AAPD ADA Celebration 2003 Photo Gallery.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mariana V. Nork
(202) 457-0046WASHINGTON, DC - The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) will host an ADA anniversary celebration event featuring disability champions Chris Dodd and John McCain on July 23rd in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. The invitation-only event, which AAPD is co-hosting with Microsoft Corporation, will also feature grassroots disability leaders, national disability and business leaders, government officials, and AAPD's 17 interns who are working in Federal agencies and on Capitol Hill this summer.
Each year since it was founded in 1995, AAPD has sponsored an event to commemorate the ADA anniversary. For the first time in 2001, this event also incorporated Justice for All Awards, AAPD's way of recognizing individuals who have proven to be extraordinary champions of political and economic empowerment for people with disabilities. 2001 awardees were Senators Bob Dole, Tom Harkin, Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy, as well as esteemed grassroots organizers Mark Smith, leader of the Mississippi Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, and Sarah Triano and Daniel Davis, co-founders of the National Disabled Students Union. The 2002 awardees were Congressional champions John Conyers, Jr., Steny Hoyer, Pete Sessions and John Shimkus; Marissa Johnson, President of the National Youth Leadership Network; and Kathy Bushkin, President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation.
On July 23rd, AAPD will present Justice for All Awards to Senate Champions Christopher Dodd and John McCain; esteemed grassroots leaders Patricia Garrett, Sue Hetrick and David Jayne; and Thomas J. Tauke, Senior Vice President, Public Policy & External Affairs for Verizon Communications. Ms. Garrett is a nurse with breast cancer from Alabama who, after undergoing chemotherapy, received a demotion when she returned to work at the University of Alabama Hospital; this led her to bring an ADA employment discrimination suit that went to the Supreme Court and is not yet resolved.
Ms. Hetrick, an advocate with the Ability Center of Greater Toledo in Ohio, has helped to spearhead numerous advocacy initiatives at the local, State and national levels on issues ranging from Medicaid to judicial nominations to education rights for children with disabilities. Mr. Jayne, a grassroots leader from Georgia, has led a successful national campaign to challenge anachronistic Medicare policies requiring people with significant disabilities to remain homebound in order to receive medically-necessary private duty nursing services. Mr. Tauke, a former member of Congress from Iowa, has helped to make Verizon a model corporate citizen in its services for disabled customers and treatment of its employees with disabilities.
"Passion, commitment, strength of character and persistence are the characteristics that bind together the diverse recipients of this year's awards," says Andrew J. Imparato, AAPD's President and CEO. "It is our great honor to highlight the extraordinary leadership and talent these individuals have demonstrated in their effort to make America work better for everyone."
Welcoming remarks at the event will be provided by James Weisman, Chairman of AAPD's Board of Directors, and Jack Krumholtz, Director of Federal Government Affairs and Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Law and Corporate Affairs.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has been invited to make remarks on behalf of the Bush Administration.
As part of this ADA Celebration, Al Hunt, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal and panelist on CNN's The Capital Gang, has been invited to moderate a panel discussing policy progress and ongoing challenges as we mark the thirteenth anniversary of the ADA. Panel members will include a representative from the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.), and members of AAPD's class of 2003 Congressional Interns and Microsoft-AAPD Federal IT Interns, who are working on Capitol Hill and in federal agencies respectively.
The ADA Celebration will be July 23, 4:15-6:30 p.m., in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. Invited guests will include members of Congress and their staffs, the national print and broadcast media, and leaders from both the disability and business communities.
The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country's largest cross-disability membership organization, promotes the economic and political empowerment of all 56 million children and adults with disabilities in the U.S. It was founded in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). AAPD members have access to a full range of financial services through a federal credit union, a discounted mail order prescription program, and a quarterly AAPD newsletter. For additional member benefits, or to learn more about AAPD's advocacy efforts and major program areas, visit AAPD website.
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