Advocates Rally to Get Out The Vote at Last Disability Day
Celebrating 18 years of disability advocacy, the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) hosted its final Disability Day at the Capitol on February 18 at Liberty Plaza in Downtown Atlanta. Over 3,000 people with disabilities and their allies came to draw upon the attention of their State legislators while giving voice to the issues and concerns of Georgia’s disability community.
This year, the theme of Disability Day was The Disability Vote – Feel The Power. 2016 presents an opportunity for the disability vote to take center stage as the country enters another election year.
In 2016, there are 36 million eligible voters with disabilities in America. In Georgia, more than one million people have disabilities and approximately 652,000 are of voting age. The goal of Disability Day was to focus on Georgia’s disability community and its impact on the 2016 general election cycle.
Keynote speaker Ted Jackson, a Get Out The Vote strategist and California Foundation for Independent Living Centers community organizing director, emphasized the importance of the disability vote. He rallied the crowd to get out and vote to make lawmakers recognize how policy and legislative decisions directly impact the disability community.
According to a Rutgers University School of Labor and Management study, voters with disabilities were the second largest minority-voting bloc in the 2012 presidential election.
But, “how often do you hear the word “disability” and our concerns discussed on the think tank sessions of the cable news stations?” Jackson asked the crowd.
Jackson informed the crowd that by adding three million more disability votes, the disability community, “would become the largest minority-voting bloc in America. And at that point the media and our elected officials could no longer deny the size of our electoral power.” (Read an excerpt from his speech on the importance of the disability vote in Expert Update on page 14.)
“We need to vote. Our voice matters,” said GCDD member Nandi Isaac of Macon, GA from amongst the crowd of attendees. Isaac has attended all 18 Disability Days. “A lot of people have disabilities and our issues are just as important,” she said.
Following Jackson, the crowd welcomed Governor Nathan Deal, who has been a guest of Disability Day since he took office in 2011. He continued to encourage the crowd to vote this election season and also spoke about the budget proposals for the disability community.
This year, Deal proposed a record $23.7 billion spending budget to the Georgia General Assembly. For the disability community, he announced that it includes adding 100 New Options Waivers (NOW) and over $11 million to support the increased rates for the Comprehensive Supports Waiver Program (COMP) waivers.
“We remain committed to serving people in the least restrictive environment as possible in order to obtain a high quality of life for everyone in our State,” said Deal.
Deal then presented a proclamation to GCDD Chair Mitzi Proffitt that declared that March will be recognized as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in the State of Georgia.
Senator Greg Kirk (R – District 13) reflected on Disability Day, an event he has attended for 16 years. “This is very near and dear to my heart. I know many of you in the crowd. I have worked with you and your families,” he said. “It is important that you continue to come down to the Capitol, meet with your legislators one-on-one, and let them know what you go through as a family when you have a child or a loved one with a developmental disability. Come and educate us so that we can make good laws, pass the ABLE Act and other things in the future to help take care of families.”
And no one understood the importance of family assistance more than Shandra Wilson of Douglasville. Wilson is a grandparent and attended to advocate on behalf of other grandparents and their grandchildren.
We are retired and already on a limited income,” said Wilson. “We need the support to make sure our grandchildren get what they need. There’s not a lot of housing, some of the children are on special diets and there are not a lot of integrated programs that can support our kids.”
Mittie Cooper, of Lakewood, agreed. “We are here to advocate that grandparents or other family members and guardians get the same support as foster care parents.”
In addition to family support, many advocates also came to support the passage of the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act. The legislation would allow for people with disabilities and their families to save money without losing their Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. It received support from other legislators who took time to address the crowd, giving a special mention to the ABLE Act.
At the time of this writing, the ABLE Act was coming up for a vote in the Georgia General Assembly.
Frequent guest of GCDD’s Disability Day Sen. John Albers (R – District 56) stated that along with Sen. Kirk, he will “support to pass the ABLE Act.” Sen. Butch Miller (R – District 49) visited and mingled with the crowd and Rep. Sharon Cooper (R – District 43) reminded the crowd to vote this election season.
“We are working together to better your life in Georgia because we want all Georgians to have the opportunity to work, to live independently, to play and to enjoy their life to their fullest capability in Georgia,” said Cooper. “You have to be involved in the legislative process. You have to have your voice heard.”
Additionally, GCDD Executive Director Eric Jacobson announced that this Disability Day would be the last one GCDD would host, but it will focus on the spirit of advocacy to continue making an impactful change for Georgia’s disability community.
“I am sad that is the last Disability Day,” Isaac said. “We need this day to advocate and make our voices heard.”
Similarly, GCDD Council member and longtime advocate Heidi Moore who was present with her son, Jacob, has attended all Disability Days at the Capitol.
“I remember Disability Day in 2005,” she said. “I, and many other advocates, spoke about the Katie Beckett Waiver to fight against the sliding scale that would affect many families. We advocated and fought for three years, and we won. It was that collective power of advocacy that makes Disability Day so important.
“So, it’s a bittersweet moment for us advocates,” she continued. “It was a way for people with disabilities, their families, caregivers and supporters to come and be together. It was a family reunion, of sorts. It is sad to see it end, but what GCDD is trying to accomplish in building relationships with decision makers is key to progress for disability rights.”
The focus will be placed on Advocacy Days, which the Council is aiming to grow. The incremental two-year phase-in of GCDD Advocacy Days has built stronger advocates who are likely to impact lawmakers more effectively.
“The purpose of Disability Day was to connect you with legislators. Our new framework for legislative advocacy will allow GCDD to support more intensive, targeted advocacy trainings and coordinate visits to the Capitol for more participants,” said Jacobson. “We realized that people want to be better informed about the issues they care about in order to be effective when speaking to legislators, whether at the Capitol or in their communities, and they want more opportunities to meet with legislators when the General Assembly is in session.”
This year, GCDD hosted seven Advocacy Days from January to March.
Before the crowd marched back to the Georgia Freight Depot for lunch, Dawn Alford, GCDD’s public policy director, briefed the crowd on what is happening in the current legislative session. (Read the complete legislative wrap up on page 16.)
Disability Day kicked off at the depot where attendees made signs, viewed exhibits and participated in activities that included:
• Voter registration
• Demonstrations of accessible voting machines designed for persons who are blind, low-vision, deaf, hard of hearing or wheelchair users.
• Georgia Disability History Archive: a project of the Georgia Disability History Alliance, a coalition of advocates and organizations working to preserve and celebrate Georgia’s rich disability history. (See more about the Alliance in the right hand sidebar.)
Trace Haythorn, GCDD Council member and parent advocate, led a moment of silence honoring Georgia’s “Fallen Soldiers” and recently deceased disability advocates. To keep the spirit of Disability Day at the Capitol alive, GCDD is also seeking memorabilia from the past 17 years of the advocacy event for the Georgia Disability History Alliance.
“We want to make sure all of the history of the disability movement here in Georgia is told,” said Jacobson. “There is an opportunity for further generations to know the work that you have done not only these last 18 years, but the last 50 years.”
Georgia Disability History Alliance is an alliance of advocates and groups working to preserve and celebrate Georgia’s disability history. History links us with our past and helps us understand who we are. From families seeking to understand their personal history to researchers searching for answers, having access to disability history resources impacts many people and extends beyond the boundaries of our State. We are each stewards of this rich history and have a role to ensure that it is available for generations to come.
Visit our website at www.historyofdisability.com. Please consider donating memorabilia from any of the previous Disability Days to our history archive in care of GCDD.
Read the complete spring issue of Making A Difference:
