Group Hosts Virtual Media Event to Coincide with This Week's 35 Year Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
As the country prepares to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the landmark civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with disabilities fear this year's milestone is more like a meltdown for disability rights. Actors with disabilities will join Disability Voices United for a virtual news conference to show how recent federal actions are gutting the very protections designed to guarantee their rights, independence and dignity.
Participants, including actors with disabilities and actors who have children with disabilities, say what should be a celebration of freedom has become a season of full-scale assault on disabled Americans-stripping away essential services, undermining inclusion, and sending a chilling message: our hard-won rights are disposable.
Actors with disabilities, their families and leaders from Disability Voices United will speak out and show how recent federal actions threaten to undo historic gains.
WHEN: Wednesday, July 23, 11am – 12pm, PT
WHERE: Virtual – ZoomQuick registration required: Please register here.
WHO: Actors with disabilities and family members, along with advocates from Disability Voices United.
— Tal Anderson – The Pitt, Atypical, As We See It
— Coby Bird – Locke & Key, The Pitt, The Good Doctor
— Autumn Best – Woman of the Hour, 4400
— Gary Cole, Parent – Midnight Caller, The Good Fight
— Kevin Iannucci – Champions
— Joe Mantegna, Parent – Criminal Minds
— Michael Patrick Thornton – Private Practice, A Doll's House (Broadway)
— Judy Mark, President, Disability Voices United
WHAT: Media event outlining the cruel irony of this week's 35th ADA anniversary, which comes as decades of hard-won gains are being dismantled – seemingly overnight.
WHY: This month marks Disability Pride Month and the 35th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a groundbreaking civil rights law that banned discrimination against people with disabilities. The past 35 years have brought tremendous progress by establishing new rights, protections and inclusion for people with disabilities. Instead of wasting away in institutions, disabled people are now our neighbors, friends and co-workers. Employers, schools, landlords, governments, and public buildings are also more inclusive.
A few of the recent federal actions that will dismantle disability rights and services:
— Congress passed federal spending cuts that slashes $1 trillion in Medicaid funding, programs that are lifelines for people with disabilities. As these cuts become implemented, disabled people are bracing for isolation, indignity and institutions.
— The U.S. Department of Justice eliminated its Disability Rights Section in the Civil Rights Division, which was key to ensuring that the civil rights of disabled people were upheld.
— The U.S. Department of Education laid off significant numbers of employees tasked with ensuring the right to education for students with disabilities.
— The Administration ordered an end to DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) programs funded by the federal government and has said that it will penalize programs that provide inclusion and accessibility.
— The Administration is restructuring federal education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which could lead to a reduction in special education resources.
— Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has promoted wildly false claims about autism and vaccines and has spouted ableist language about autistic people, including that “they'll never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date.”
“These recent federal actions mark a dramatic legal, legislative and cultural shift away from disability rights, just as we commemorate the country's landmark disability rights law,” said Judy Mark, President of Disability Voices United, a person with a disability and the parent of an autistic son. “What should be a milestone of progress is turning into a moment of betrayal.
“Thirty-five years after the ADA, our rights are not being celebrated-they're under attack,” Mark continued. “For people with disabilities, the ADA was supposed to open doors to a better life, but now those doors are being closed shut – and the government's silence on these rollbacks is both deafening and deadly. When Congress voted to slash $1 trillion in Medicaid funding this month, they weren't just cutting services, they were cutting lives short.
“We are not disposable. Our rights are not negotiable. And we will not allow government leaders to publicly celebrate the ADA while simultaneously setting it on fire,” Mark concluded.
About Disability Voices United
Disability Voices United is a grassroots disability rights organization directed by and for people with disabilities and their family members.
Contact: Marcey Brightwell398436@email4pr.com 916.320.6452
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SOURCE Disability Voices United
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