UCP endorses Disability Pride Month and AACCENT Act
Amid the whirlwind of activity in Washington in recent weeks, UCP was proud to support a proposed resolution to officially recognize July as Disability Pride Month
The Disability Pride Month resolution was introduced in conjunction with last week’s 32nd-anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The House version has 12 original cosponsors, and the Senate version is being led by Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-MINN, and Rob Portman, R-OH.
Special thanks go to UCP Policy Committee Member Andrea Stoesz, Director of External Affairs at Gillette Children’s, who first invited us to support the resolution. Read a copy of the resolution.
UCP has also endorsed Sen. Bob Casey’s Augmentative and Alternative Communication Centers to Establish National Training Act.
If approved, the AACCENT Act will establish three national resource centers coordinated to improve access to AAC information, tools and supports for AAC users and their families. Each center will be overseen by an 11-person advisory board comprised of people from diverse backgrounds who use AAC to provide guidance and oversight to the center. The bill would authorize $35 million over five years to fund the three centers. There are currently no national AAC resource centers.
If you want to know more about how to support these measures, contact UCP Communications Coordinator James Garcia at jgarcia@ucp.org.
Inaugural UCP Latinos with disabilities conference – Sept. 21-22, 2022
The date is set for UCP’s inaugural Conference on Latinos with Disabilities. The two-day virtual event takes place Sept. 21-22 from noon to 4 p.m. Eastern each day. Admission is free.
While many of the topics addressed at the conference will be of interest to the general disability community as well, the event will highlight the distinct ways that Latinos with disabilities, their families and service providers shape the community.
One in six Latinos lives with a disability in the U.S. Because nearly one of five people in the U.S. today is Latino, the question of how well this fast-growing community is served by our healthcare system is of vital importance to our nation’s future.
For more information, contact UCP Communications Coordinator James Garcia at jgarcia@ucp.org. If you’d like to help sponsor the conference, contact Michael Ludgardo at mludgardo@ucp.org.
Special thanks to our premier sponsor, Waymo, and our supporting sponsor, ANCOR. Register today.
