FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mariana Nork
(202) 457-0046, x24


Colorado Resident to Be Honored
in Washington, DC on March 7

John Register to Receive a 2007 Paul G. Hearne/
AAPD Leadership Award

March 4, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC — The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is delighted to announce that John Register of Colorado Springs, Colorado, will receive one of two 2007 Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Awards. He will be an honored guest at the sixth-annual AAPD Leadership Gala on March 7, 2007 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson will make the award presentation to Register on AAPD’s behalf.

John Register is a veteran of the Gulf War, a silver-medalist in the Paralympic Games, and a former Olympic Trials athlete. While he was training for the 1996 Olympics, Register landed incorrectly after clearing a hurdle and severed a major artery in his left leg. He chose to amputate his leg and wear a prosthesis. Since then, Register has been a strong disability rights advocate who believes that participation in sports can enrich the lives of people with disabilities and change public attitudes towards the disability community.

As Associate Director of Development and Outreach for the U.S Paralympics, Register was instrumental in the launch of the U.S. Paralympic Academy in 2003, which exposes youth and young adults to a variety of Paralympic sports. The interaction with other physically disabled peers challenges the students to learn as much from each other as from the sports. Register also conceived of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Paralympic Military Program, which shows military personnel the powerful role that sports could play in rehabilitation.

As a member of the State Department's Advisory Committee on People with Disabilities, Register is working to foster positive relations with other governments and help them adopt progressive disabilities initiatives worldwide. It is his goal to grow the Paralympic sports programs by connecting state agencies, schools, businesses and community organizations, to touch the lives of youths in more than 40 states. He also hopes to make the use of recreational therapy a standard part of the military rehabilitation procedure.

This awards program was established in 1999 to recognize and carry on the work of Paul G. Hearne, AAPD’s founder and a renowned leader in the national disability community, and to realize Paul’s goal of cultivating emerging leaders to carry on the disability movement.

AAPD - the largest cross-disability membership organization in the country - organizes the disability community to be a powerful force for change…economically, socially, and politically. It was founded in 1995 by a group of cross-disability leaders to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act: equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503 • Washington, DC 20006
VOICE: 202-457-0046 (V/TTY) • FAX: 202-457-0473 • www.aapd.com