ADA
Watch and the National Coalition
for Disability Rights operate with an all volunteer staff
and board. We need your support to continue to inform the grassroots,
educate the media and the public regarding threats to the ADA and the
human rights of people with disabilities.
Your contributions to us are
tax deductible. NCDR is a 501(c)(3) TIN: 54-1995856.
Click here
to contribute now by credit card:
To contribute by mail:
Please
make all checks payable to NCDR and mail to:
National
Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR)
1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20004
We do hope that you will
consider making a substantial financial contribution to help us
sustain our coalition efforts to defend and strengthen disability
rights.
We know you are aware of the
threats our community is facing as the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) and other federal protections are being gutted in the courts at
an unprecedented pace. Even the recent “win” in the Supreme Court’s
5-4 Tennessee v.Lane decision was clouded by the
majority opinion which upheld Title II of the ADA only as it applied
to “cases implicating the accessibility of judicial services.” The
narrow scope of this decision means that our adversaries will continue
to target the ADA for attacks.
In fact, they already are. In
Tennessee, the Attorney General quickly moved to deny class-action
status for the six plaintiffs in Lane and to deny damage claims
under the ADA for discrimination by the State. In Washington, DC,
legislation to weaken the ADA is moving forward in Congress and
well-funded lobbying efforts by those opposed to the ADA continue. And
the national media – well, it still doesn’t get disability as a
human rights issue, not a “charity” issue.
While many of us – yourself
included – are involved in doing what we can to fight back and
preserve the dream of equal opportunity and justice embodied in the
ADA, it is clear that only a unified and well organized grassroots
effort will be able to turn back this assault on our rights.
Here is our vision for such an
effort:
An alliance of hundreds of
national, state, and local nonpartisan organizations, foundations,
and policy think tanks united to defend and promote the ADA.
A rapid response network
organizing grassroots action, contacting Congress and the media as a
result of breaking disability rights news and information.
A national grassroots and
media campaign designed to get the message to educate
policymakers and the public about our movement’s history as well as
current threats to the ADA and other disability rights protections.
An organization – not
dependent on federal or corporate dollars – that can take on
cutting issues such as the Administration’s executive-level and
judicial nominations, voucher program’s impact on children with
disabilities, lax ADA enforcement in the Justice Department, and
more…
Along with other people with
disabilities and advocates from Washington and around the nation, we
have been a part of founding and growing an organization that, even
with scarce funds and an all volunteer staff, has already shown the
potential to bring this vision to life.
We need your help to build
this organization and with it, the tools needed to compete with
our well-funded opponents. Together, utilizing the broad base of
support that makes us a community – people with disabilities, parents,
providers, advocates, lawyers, educators, and more – we can put a
human face on our law and stem the tide of mischaracterizations and
attacks on disability rights.
The National Coalition for
Disability Rights (NCDR) is a nonpartisan alliance of hundreds of
disability, civil rights, and social justice organizations united to
defend and strengthen the human rights protections for children and
adults with physical, mental, developmental and cognitive
disabilities. Founded as ADA Watch in 2001, the coalition
formed in response to escalating attacks on the ADA in the courts,
Congress, from the Administration, and in the media.
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and our friend, the late
Justin Dart, Jr., served as the founding Chair of the ADA Watch National Advisory Council which now includes Tony
Coelho,Judy Heumann, Bob Kafka, Pat Wright, Curt Decker, Wade
Henderson, Janine Bertram Kemp, Ralph Neas, Lee Page, Marcie Roth, Nan
Aron, Tony Young, Marca Bristo, Nancy Starnes, Mike Oxford,
Anne-Marie Hughey, Andy Imparato, Ron Bassman, Pope Simmons, Shereen
Arent, Michele Pollak, Kyle Glozier, Jamie Ruppmann, and other
leaders.
National organizational
members include disability organizations such as the Disability
Rights Education and Defense Fund, National Council on Independent
Living, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), The Arc,
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems, ADAPT,
National Organization on Disability, United Cerebral Palsy, American
Association of People with Disabilities, Justice for All, Bazelon
Center for Mental Health Law, Paralyzed Veterans of America, National
Spinal Cord Injury Association, and the National Association of the
Deaf. Civil rights and social justice organizations include the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Alliance for Justice, People
for the American Way, and many others.
Generous funding pledges from
organizations to date include Curt Decker and NAPAS; Lee Schultz
and IndependenceFirst; Tim Harrington and the Ability Center; Tom
Earle and Liberty Resources; Michael Cooper and the Endependence
Center; The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Carol
Westlake and the Tennessee Disability Coalition; and many others.
We are proud of what we
have already accomplished with the support of our community:
Last year, the
Washington-based Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC) rated
ADA Watch/NCDR third among national progressive advocacy
organizations – and well-funded ones at that! – for media coverage
of one of our efforts: The Campaign for Fair Judges.
More important even than frequency of coverage, was the number
one ranking we received for coverage that focused on policy
rather than partisan politics. We believe this says a lot about
our coalition efforts and about what we can do in the future!
Many other ADA Watch/NCDR
initiatives have received extensive national media coverage.
Coverage of our work on Supreme Court cases, reports on Federal
programs and their impact on disability rights, ADA Restoration, and
more has been included in the New York Times, Wall Street
Journal,Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press,LA
Times, Columbus Dispatch, and many others. Recently, we
also organized or participated in press conferences that included
Sen. Tom Harkin on Judicial Nominations and Sen. Ted Kennedy on the
Fairness Act: Civil Rights Restoration.
Long before the
Tennessee v. Lane case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court,
ADA Watch/NCDR and our coalition partners began to put this case on
the public’s radar screen. Quotes from our leadership, as well as
our op-ed columns in the Boston Globe (“Disability Rights
are in Jeopardy”) and the Commercial-Appeal (“Tennessee
as ADA Spoiler”) – one of the largest newspapers in Lane’s home
state – brought national attention to this case.
Words weren’t the only tool
used by ADA Watch/NCDR to underscore the critical issues at stake in
Lane. We also joined former U.S. Attorney General Dick
Thornburgh, NOD and AAPD in filing our amicus curiae briefin support of Lane and the other plaintiffs. Additionally,
we organized a “Crawl” up the steps of the Supreme Court which
received national press attention, as did ADA Watch/NCDR’s press
conference with Congressman Steny Hoyer and other disability and
civil rights community leaders. ADA Watch/NCDR continues to work
closely with DREDF, NAPAS, Bazelon and other organizations to
provide accurate and timely legal information to the grassroots,
media, public, Congressional staff, etc.
A narrow majority in the
Reinquist Court has repeatedly justified the rolling back of civil
rights laws (and thus undoing the work of a democratically elected
Congress) by citing “States’ Rights.” Commenting on decisions such
as the Garrett case in the Supreme Court, Republican Senator
Mike DeWine of Ohio, stated in a floor statement that, “I am deeply
troubled by the Court’s lack of deference to Congress.” ADA Watch/NCDR,
individually and in coalition with our partner organizations, has
worked to educate the disability community, Congress, and the public
regarding the impact of “States’ Rights” and “New Federalism”
ideologies on disability rights and civil rights laws. The
frightening influence of these extreme philosophies that were once
used to justify slavery, pushed by such organizations as the
Federalist Society, have led to a narrowing of the Federal
powers regarding disability and civil rights.
We have a clear mission.
From evaluating judicial nominations and legislation to monitoring
Supreme Court cases. From educating the public by using the media to
producing grassroots action from our growing coalition. We have made a
difference.
Now, more than ever, ADA
Watch/NCDR needs your help to expand our coalition’s reach and take
our efforts to a new and greater level.
As we look to the future, your
organization’s contribution – as a “Founding Member” or at another
level of support – will help us continue in these efforts, as well as
to launch the Disability Rights Tour, our national road
trip that will promote the history of the ADA and build the grassroots
effort necessary to defend our civil rights. The Tour will
include exhibits of Tom Olin’s photographic history of the
disability rights movement – moving images that have been displayed at
the Smithsonian – as well as benefit concerts, ADA town meetings, and
more.
I look forward to hearing back
from you and welcome your continued leadership and feedback as we move
forward with our efforts to promote equal opportunity and social
justice for all Americans with disabilities.