Political Engagement in the Disability Community

United Cerebral Palsy launched a new effort in 2012 to help engage the broader disability community in the political arena. UCP appointed a new Director of Political Leadership and Strategy, Will Swenson, who is working to recruit an online grassroots base of support for effective advocacy both in Washington and at the state level.

Swenson will develop resources to help educate the press and the public about how political developments could affect people with disabilities and their families, and create new communications tools including videos and social media campaigns to highlight some of the biggest problems facing the community – and the most innovative ideas for how to solve them.

A centerpiece of those efforts will be the formation of a new 501(c)4 organization that will be able to take on a more active role in political debates and will be a home for a range of advocacy efforts on issues ranging from health care to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and education to justice issues. An early effort made by the group, called Imperfect Union, was a video highlighting how Wisconsinites with disabilities rely on Medicaid for a range of services and supports, which raised concerns about proposals to cut funding for the program. Similar efforts to connect large and sometimes abstract policy issues to the everyday experience of individual Americans with disabilities will be a central strategy of the organization moving forward.