Democrats with Disabilities Blog

We’re not just content to rest quietly on our laurels! No sirree.

Effective publicty tactics provided lots of discussion at today’s officer meeting.  Just how are we going to continue giving the caucus membership a little boost?

And while the organization started in this area, traveling to Austin ultimately will be impractical for every DWD meeting. So, chapter formation naturally provided another topic of discussion. What process would interested people need to go through? 

Observing meeting proceedings of the Texas Stonewall Democrats during the convention, I then found myself thinking about how that organization currently and simultaneously has several active local chapters. I had even been fortunate to work with some on projects of shared interest. 

Those active chapters came into the convention hall wearing T-shirts emblazoned with their caucus logo.  Knowing who they were, our fellow Democrats understand caucus visability helps to successfully establish political clout.

So, another task will be to price the most cost-effective t-shirt printing possible.  Wearing them around the State (at Party events and community service events) reminds people we are everywhere!  A date for printing let alone a printer has not been finalized, but stay tuned to the email list! This is sure to be one of your prized t-shirts! 

When signing up, these new recruits can rest assured that their email address will not be harvested for spam. -Robin        

By unanimous consent, the convention’s Permanent Rules Committee approved creation of the Democrats with Disabilities caucus. 

During the convention, we were scrambling around a VERY expansive  building floor-plan, talking up mostly-supportive colleagues.

We only wanted everybody to know that living and breathing people needed effective self-representation on the SDEC. These two spots will help start ensuring that Party offices, campaign offices, and convention spaces are all reasonably-accessible under the ADA.

 Assisted by Chairman Boyd’s support, we accomplished an amazing goal. 

TDP now joins New York, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa (among other states) in providing meaningful opportunities for people with disabilities to participate within and throughout our own Party.  

Thank you to the vast majority of conventioneers who support an inclusive and effective Party for all Democrats.—Robin

WOW! The first-ever meeting of the caucus leaves me even more psyched for the future.

An easily packed room testified that Texas Democrats thirst for effective disability representation within our Party.  

Railroad Commissioner Candidate Mark Thompson REPEATEDLY reminded us that that people with disabilities ourselves must run for public office for real change. Even with temporarily able-bodied friends such as himself, State Representative Donna Howard, and Representative Elliot Naishtat, who are genuinely supportive, he reinforces that self-advocacy is the best tool.  

And State Representative Mark Strama then told how Catherine Wicker refused to wait for the change which she needed. Successfully lobbying State officials before she is old enough to vote, she passed the “Restroom Access Act” .It requires facilities without public restrooms to instead make their staff restrooms available to people only with medical documentation.

Several of us are bringing in additionally-powerful and intimate ’war stories’ of inaccessible and ultimately unusable campaign, party offices, and conventions.

People certainly do give vocal support to providing us with disability rights and legislation. But too often, those words can contrast with the lack of a concerted or connected effort to then consider how accommodations will be effectively provided or why they must be provided in specific ways.      

So, we know that an effectively accommodated society must start from within the Party.  An organized and concerted effort means it can be done.    

Circulating a petition around the convention which will officially get this caucus approved–and thus give it two SDEC seats, we quickly met many other people wanting in on this action. 

In all of the canvassing performed around the MONSTER convention center, I can’t recall a negative comment. 

They are instead concerned and incredulous that the TDP already did not have a disability constituency caucus. The little jumps and gasps which were so often being witnessed after our presentations honestly could not be faked! 

The TDP must join other state parties already with an established and proactive disability caucus.—Robin      

I just wanted to make sure everyone got a look at this great message from Colorado’s Democrats with disAbilities (note the difference in capitalization). It’s a comment to Gearing Up, but I don’t want anyone to overlook it. It looks like they have many of the same problems that we do. The rules of their state charter and, of course, the national charter make it clear that we shouldn’t have any access or participation issues. But when it comes down to getting it done… well, you guys know exactly what I’m talking about. If they can get it done in Colorado, we can get it done here. Joe, thanks for the encouragement.

By the way, Joe, several of those ADAPT members who protested and/or were arrested are members of the Texas Democrats with Disabilities! Let’s all give Jennifer McPhail and Sarah Watkins our congratulations!

Repost

Congratulations to the Texas Democrats with Disabilities from the Colorado Democrats with disAbiities! Our Initiative was approved by CDP’s Executive Committee in June, 1999. It got off to a slow start, but Baby, take a look at us now! With the help of Becky Ogle at the DNC, attorneys from Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition and a very determined group of members, State Party officers now pay attention. They gave us the same old crap that you have been getting about not being able to provide ASL interpreters - It’s not our fault that they did not put it in the budget! If you read the Colorado Platform (I’m guessing that Texas’ isn’t that much different), the Party wraps its arms around us. When I hear the complaints about how much money we cost, I explain that it is not their money. The money belongs to the Party and it says right there in the Platform, Rules and Bylaws that you love us - so there! If Democrats would start campaigning on our issues and the disability community had a candidate they felt truly represented them, that could be enough to swing an election. Let’s start with something simple lke the Community Choices Act. All four Colorado Democratic Representatives (with urging from DWD) have signed on to it - None of the Republicans have. When ADAPT went to DC o lobby McCain’s office to sign on, their rsponce was to have them arrested (Log on to http://www.democrats.org for full story). Why don’t candidates talk about that?

I’ve heard of other DWD groups in Florida, New York and California. Yes, we must go nationwide. We not only cross all racial, social and economic classes, we have no geographic boarders.

If you would like to be put on our Colorado e-mail list, let me know. j_beaver @ c o m c a s t . n e t [readers, please note that I have put spaces between the letters of his email address, otherwise he will get lots of spam]

Joe Beaver, Chair
Colorado Democrats with disAbiities

We’re starting to gear up for the State Convention. This will be our first chance to achieve our first goal: representation on the State Democratic Executive Committee.

What does having SDEC representation mean?
The SDEC is the governing body of the Texas Democratic Party. They decide how the state party operates, how the rules are made and enforced, and even provide guidance to legislators in the state house and senate. All of the other historically underrepresented minorities are represented on the SDEC, except for us. Having representation means having a voice in the state party. It means that we’re part of the planning for the conventions, which many of us had trouble participating in because of barriers to access. It means we get closer to being a part of the legislative process and have greater access to the elected officials who make policy that affects the disability community.

How are we going to do it?
We’re going to circulate a Resolution by Petition. The resolution will seek to amend the rules to add 2 representatives of the disability community to the SDEC. If we can get enough signatures, it will automatically pass and the rules will be amended. We’ll also be lobbying the Rules Committee, just in case we don’t get enough signatures.

How can you help?
We’re going to need people to help us get signatures at the convention. There are enough members of DWD who are delegates and alternates that we only need to get 50 signatures each. That shouldn’t be too hard. If you’d like to help, go to our contact page to email me.

We’ll be updating you more on the petition as we get closer to the convention. –Dave

The caucus meeting is almost here. Just a couple of more days!

Meeting with all of the other caucus members–and our speakers–will be VERY exciting.  Always loving conventions, this time is what makes the difference.   

Looking forward to it!-Robin

Two days ago we doubled our membership. Well, we’ve doubled it AGAIN!! I’ll be updating the web page to show the names of some of our new members. We have added a number of Democratic party officials, candidates, and long-time party activists. I’ll keep you guys in the loop. Look for a website update in the next 24 hours and more blogging (I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seat).

Another great 24 hours. We’re picking up a lot of members. We owe a lot to Sally Collins, who is doing some recruiting up in Dallas.

Doris, Sarah, and I went to the Senate District 14 informational meeting. We handed out a bunch of membership forms. We’ll see how many come back. The informational meeting was pretty interesting. Of the total number of people there, more than half were running for National Delegate. It’s good to see so many people still actively engaged in the process this late in the primary season.

While we were there, I asked whether any provisions have been made for voting by the disability community. Most people don’t realize that parliamentary procedure has only a few ways to vote: voice, raised hands, standing, and written/signed ballot. So how does someone who can’t speak, raise their hand, or stand vote? Not everyone will necessarily have all of those conditions, but it’s still an important issue. Parliamentary procedure requires a pretty quick response time. If you can’t participate effectively, your opportunity will pass you by. I’m not sure how we can resolve these types of issues. Within DWD we’re going to provide for an “addendum” to Robert’s Rules of Order (the basis of parliamentary procedure) that makes provisions for effective participation.

Doris, Sean, and I will be meeting with Jennifer McPhail (from ADAPT) and Ruben Hernandez (Executive Director of the TDP). We’ll discuss a host of issues relating to the disability community. At the top of our list is delegate apportionment–how can we ensure that the affirmative action goals of the national delegate selection plan are met. The disability community is alloted 21-27 national delegates. We also want to ask about how personal attendants will be credentialed at the state convention. TDP doesn’t have a clearly defined process just yet. They definitely want to make it work, but I don’t think it’s come up before. In past years, space wasn’t an issue. It will be this year! Also on the list of things to talk about will be our goal of getting seats on the SDEC. The list is longer, but I don’t know how much time we’ll get with him.

I’ll keep posting! If anyone is interested in blogging, send me an email (see the contact page).

The last 48 hours have been incredible! We’ve doubled our membership! Our members now include a Regional Director of the Young Democrats of America (Jessica Anacker), the Democratic Candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner (Mark Thompson), the Democratic Candidate for Texas House District 29 (Kevin Murphy), long time party activists, campaign staffers from both Democratic Presidential Primary contenders, and more. Many more.

Our national aspirations are becoming more realistic. We now have members from Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, California, Washington, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Invitations are being sent out to all of the delegates and alternates to the state convention. Invitations are also being sent out to speakers for the caucus.

For those delegates and alternates with disabilities who are attending the state convention, please let us and/or the state party know if you have any accommodation or accessibility needs. There hasn’t been a lot of forethought given to the subject.

Finally, the charter is almost complete. We’ve worked out some important issues. The meeting of charter members will be called very soon.

The charter is now in second draft. It’s pretty straight forward and clear, like a good charter should be.

We’ve resisted the urge to write specific disability rights positions and policies into the charter. We wanted to make sure that no particular disability was favored over another. Policy positions, issues endorsements, and the like will be handled through our committees. Those committees will pass their findings on to the membership for approval. Once approved, we’ll take them to the SDEC, DNC, candidates, and officeholders. If all goes well, we’re going to have seats on the SDEC so we’ll be able to introduce our issues directly into SDEC committees.

We sought to address the participation of the homebound, those unable to travel to meetings, and the sheer size of Texas. Teleconferencing is being looked into, but there are still issues surrounding authentication and verification of the participants. We’re hopeful that with so many possible new members from the state convention, chapters in other cities might help to solve our problem.

We also decided that DWD’s Chair and Vice-Chairs should be persons with disabilities. This will ensure that DWD remains in the control of the persons for whom it was created. There are other officer positions that are not restricted to those with disabilities. We want to include everyone who has a genuine interest in disability rights, advocacy, and their participation and representation in the Democratic Party. There are still some issues to resolve, namely, how will we determine who meets the definition of a “person with a disability”?

The charter will be finalized in the very near future. Once we have a final draft to present, we’ll call a meeting of the charter members. Charter members are those who joined before 11:59pm on Sunday, May 11, 2008 (you’ve still got time if you read this post today). Charter members will vote on the charter and our very first permanent officers. They’ll also be added to the Charter Members list that will go into DWD’s files along with the original charter.

I’ll have more updates about the charter and our caucus at the state convention in the next few days. Pass the word and help us build our membership! –Dave