POWER THE DISABILITY VOTE Summit

WASHINGTON, DC – Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the disability community is mobilizing. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is proud to announce POWER the Disability Vote, a national, non-partisan Disability & Election Virtual Summit. On Monday & Tuesday, June 22 and 23 from noon to 3:45 pm ET on both days and will include panels, presentations, and a national call-to-action to mobilize disability voters and allies.

Disability groups across America are staring down the pandemic with a big question: given COVID-19’s impact on Americans with disabilities and growing numbers of voters who will acquire disabilities, will the Disability Vote be among the deciding factors in the 2020 Election?

YES – According to a 2018 Rutgers University study, 14.3 million people with disabilities voted in 2018, 49.3% of eligible voters with disabilities, compared with 40.8% in 2014. In 2020, over 35 million eligible voters will be people with disabilities, not counting those that may acquire a disability as a result of COVID-19. That number increases to at least 62.7 million when adding voters who have a household member with a disability.

“The surge in turnout among our increasingly visible, vocal, and active voting bloc is only one reason that we need to continue to build the power of the disability vote,” said AAPD President and CEO Maria Town. “We’re also thinking about how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant gaps and weaknesses in public systems on which people with disabilities, among many others, rely. If elected officials, including the President, want to be elected, and expect our votes, they must address our issues.”

Last year, AAPD began organizing the Summit to galvanize a recent trend among Americans with disabilities: an 8.5% surge in voter turnout in 2018.

AAPD has organized these voters since 2016 through their REV UP (Register! Organize! Vote! Use your Power!) campaign. Currently, over 30 states have partnered with the REV UP network. With the participation of these state coalitions, plus hundreds of Americans with disabilities and the organizations that represent them, AAPD’s POWER Summit will push the Disability Vote forward as the deciding factor of the 2020 Elections.

For information on POWER The Disability Vote, visit https://www.aapd.com/advocacy/voting/revup-summit/. This event was originally scheduled for January 13, 2020 as Elected for Inclusion – the Presidential Forum on Disabilities Issues.

AAPD is a convener, connecter, and catalyst for change, increasing the political and economic power of people with disabilities. As one of the leading national cross-disability civil rights organizations, AAPD advocates for the full recognition of rights for the over 60 million Americans with disabilities. AAPD’s programs and initiatives have been effective in mobilizing the disability community through communications advocacy; cultivating and training new and emerging leaders with disabilities through leadership development programs; increasing the political participation of Americans with disabilities and elevating the power of the disability vote through the REV UP (Register! Educate! Vote! Use your Power!) Campaign; and advancing disability inclusion in the workplace through the Disability Equality Index (DEI) — the nation’s leading corporate benchmarking tool for disability equality and inclusion. To learn more about AAPD, visit www.aapd.com.

AAPD’s REV UP Campaign aims to increase the political participation of the disability community while also engaging candidates and the media on disability issues. AAPD works with state and national coalitions on effective, non-partisan campaigns to address the concerns of people with disabilities, eliminate barriers to voting, promote accessibility of voting; educate communities about issues and candidates; promote turnout of voters with disabilities across the country; and engage candidates and the media on disability issues.