The 2016 election is right around the corner, and the disability vote has the potential to make a big difference at both the state and national level. However, in order for that to happen, people with disabilities need to be registered to vote. The NCIL Voting Rights Subcommittee webpage includes a GOTV Manual to make it easy to reach your voter registration goals.

With power comes responsibility

Just this week, Fivethirtyeight.com published an article titled “One In Six Eligible Voters Has A Disability,” highlighting the fact that the number of eligible voters with disabilities has risen over 10% since 2012, while the number of voters with no disability has risen by only 8.5%. In the article, Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux refers to the disability vote as the “sleeping giant” that it is, and reminds readers that people with disabilities have the power to change election results. This can only happen if voters are registered and able to cast their vote on Election Day, so be sure to take advantage of all resources provided to help make the disability vote count!

Don’t forget! National Voter Registration Day is September 27! Become a partner organization.

We recently got word that H.R. 3765, the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2015, is expected to go to a full floor vote this month. This is a dangerous bill, and we need your help to make sure it doesn’t pass!

This bill would be a major setback for our community. While the new version of the bill removes the contentious criminal fine, it would still make it harder for people with disabilities to exercise our rights. The bill would give businesses that have denied us access for over 26 years additional time to comply with the ADA, while removing any incentive for businesses to come into compliance before receiving a notification. These businesses will face no consequences for their years of discrimination, while millions of people with disabilities will continue to be unable to participate in basic activities in our communities.

We need to ensure that this bill does not get passed out of the full House. We must make sure that EVERY Representative hears from their constituents and understands the dangers of this bill. Please go to the NCIL Action Center and send a message to your Representatives telling them they must vote NO on H.R. 3765!

For more information on this issue, see our alert from May and our update last week.

Draft Letter

Dear (Member)

I’m writing to you today to express my opposition to H.R. 3765, the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2015. This bill poses significant risks to people with disabilities around the country, and it jeopardizes our ability to access our communities.  [Read more…]

During the NCIL Conference in Washington DC, one of the main points of focus for NCIL’s ADA / Civil Rights Subcommittee was the attack on our civil rights taking place in Washington as we speak. It was exciting that some took us literally and started plastering the city with the “Don’t Roll Back Our Rights” stickers that were handed out to everyone at the Conference. But where do we go from here?

The Don’t Roll Back our Rights statement is the beginning of a campaign, which is perfect for where we are in this political season. As we focus on revving up the disability community with RevUP actions taking place across the country, educating our community on our responsibility to register people to vote and the power of the disability vote, the vision of “Don’t Roll Back Our Rights” becomes more clear.

H.R. 3765 and similar bills are dangerous to our community, particularly as they gain momentum in the House. When we started to focus on these bills right after their introduction, many folks in Washington thought that they would gather no momentum. We didn’t listen and we’re proud of it, because these dangerous bills are indeed gaining momentum.

This is the perfect time to turn our slogan into a campaign. Many of our legislators returned home to their districts just prior to our visit to Washington to work on their own campaigns and to help in others. This means we all have more access to them than we do during other years. Taking this into mind, now is the time to book meetings with your national legislators in the House and Senate when they are home. Fifteen minutes of face time is all it takes to educate them on our campaign.

During this time, legislators are crossing their districts hosting forums and campaigning for their jobs. SHOW UP! The more they see us the more likely we are to have our voices heard. During community forums and campaign speeches many legislators leave time for Q&A. You don’t even need an appointment! For a listing of these activities, visit your legislators’ campaign websites. (Many legislators have campaign websites, separate from the websites listed on house.gov and senate.gov). Better yet, call their district office or their campaign office to see when they will be in your area so you can attend an event. Make a point to ask if the event will be in an accessible location and if reasonable accommodations will be provided.

If you have an idea of when they will be campaigning in your area, offer to host them at your CIL!  [Read more…]

Tuesday September 27th marks National Voter Registration Day – a day when volunteers, celebrities, and organizations promote awareness of voter registration opportunities.

The REV UP Campaign is excited to participate in National Voter Registration Day. We encourage all of the state and local REV UP Campaigns to sign-up as partners and plan to hold voter registration events on September 27th.

• Sign up as a National Voter Registration Day Partner

Join the REV UP National Organizing Call on September 8, 2016!

To prepare for National Voter Registration Day, the REV UP Campaign is hosting a National Organizing Call on Thursday, September 8 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. On this call, we will:

• Review the role of the REV UP Campaign
• Recap National Disability Voter Registration Week
• Discuss how to prepare to participate in National Voter Registration Day
• Learn about Successful State GOTV Strategies & Engagement
• Set up state REV UP calls to support voter registration and GOTV efforts

RSVP for the REV UP National Organizing Call

The NCIL Mental Health Civil Rights Subcommittee has been working on federal mental health legislation over the past few years. We have covered this topic in the Advocacy Monitor. This is our update and request for help.

The House of Representatives passed an amended version of H.R. 2646 in June by a wide margin. The bill is now before the Senate.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed its own comprehensive mental health and substance use services bill, S. 2680, earlier this year. That bill can be called for a vote any time leadership decides to do so. NCIL supports S. 2680 as passed by the Senate HELP Committee. This bill reauthorizes mental health and substance use programs for the first time in over a decade. It is a truly bipartisan bill. We support it despite the fact that it does not provide a greater consumer voice and other provisions of our policy platform because:

• It builds on the community-based mental health systems, including peer support services (that many states have already invested in) instead of favoring coercive treatment.
• It acknowledges the important work done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in transforming mental health services over the past few decades.
• It recognizes the crucial role of the Protection and Advocacy system.

We recognize that the House addressed many of our concerns with H.R. 2646 prior to passage. However, we continue to oppose H.R. 2646 because it is bad for people with disabilities. Our concerns include the following:

• It creates a new Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use to change SAMHSA. The law gives a preference for doctors over others to administer the mental health and substance use support programs.
• It creates an unnecessary grievance procedure for Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) programs.
• It creates a number of advisory councils that do not recognize the importance of consumer input.
• It promotes institutionalization of children through an expanded Medicaid benefit.
• It limits mobility for elders and people with disabilities who use personal care services and home health care services under Medicaid through a new Electronic Visit Verification system requirement for states.
• It requires new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rules and influences the rules to lessen privacy for people with psychiatric disability through an unscientific “Sense of Congress.
• “It increases and extends funding for the involuntary outpatient commitment program for individuals with psychiatric disability.
• It directs funding to training when more money for services is needed.

We understand that a number of Senators have been trying to get amendments to S. 2680 regarding a number of topics, including amendments that would make the Senate bill more like H.R. 2646. Please contact your Senators. Ask them to support S. 2680, as passed by the HELP Committee with no amendments.