2017: Year in Review

To say 2017 was an interesting and tumultuous year would be an understatement. This year we have seen the disability community under attack, defending against various legislation, policies, and actions by the current administration. From multiple attempts to repeal the ACA and cut Medicaid, to HR 620 … a bill that would weaken the ADA, to the tax bill, and the removal of disability rights guidance documents by the Department of Justice, people with disabilities are watching, speaking out, and fighting back.

In #CripTheVote’s second year, we were involved in the following activities:

-Posted a call for Medicaid stories by people with disabilities and published them online.

-Shared stories of activism by disabled people with advice for first-timers, definition of activism, and reflections on the relationship between identity and activism.

-Supported and welcomed a new offshoot of #CripTheVote in the lead up to the 2017 General Election in the UK: #CripTheVoteUK

-Published 3 guest blog posts

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry Goes to Washington, DC by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry

Taking Ownership of Our Advocacy Successes by Liz Jackson

Discovering political activism through my DeafBlind Community by Kit Englard

-Hosted 11 chats

2/6 Twitter Chat: Disability Identity and Activism

3/12 Twitter Chat: Protecting the ADA and Disability Rights

4/2 Twitter Chat: Disabled People in Public Service

4/29 Twitter Chat: First 100 Days

6/11 Twitter Chat: Media Coverage of Disabled People in the Age of Trump

7/16 Twitter Chat: Death Penalty and Disabled People

8/13 Twitter Chat: Discussing Disability Issues with Friends and Family

9/19 Twitter Chat: Education

10/1 Twitter Chat: Healthcare Activism and Next Steps

11/12 Twitter Chat: One Year Since Election Day

12/3 Twitter Chat: Mental Health, Ableism & Elected Officials

-Started a series of spotlight chats with disabled candidates:

10/9 Candidate Spotlight Chat with Jen Longdon

10/10 Candidate Spotlight Chat with Chris Haulmark

10/12 Candidate Spotlight Chat with Carrie Ann Lucas

Including the spotlight chats, #CripTheVote has hosted 29 Twitter chats since our formation in 2016. All of this would not be possible without you. Whether you participated in a chat, guest hosted with us, or used the hashtag to share your stories and information, we are thankful for your involvement. You keep us motivated as we head toward the future. 

Looking forward, we plan to continue organizing chats featuring guest hosts from our community featuring issues that we care about. We also plan on identifying and highlighting disabled candidates who are running for office in 2018.

Please join us on January 21, 2018 as we host a chat on chronic pain and opioids with guest hosts Alecia Deon and Alex Haagaard. Details coming soon: https://www.facebook.com/events/1794096123936515??ti=ia

Be on the lookout for our second Disability Issues Survey in early 2018! Check out the results of the 2016 survey here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/p/2016-survey.html

Feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions or feedback: cripthevote@gmail.com. We’re also still hoping to meet and highlight disabled candidates at the local, state, and federal level. If you’re running for office, or know of a disabled candidate, let us know, and introduce them to #CripTheVote!

Happy New Year,

Gregg Beratan, Andrew Pulrang, and Alice Wong

#CripTheVote Co-Partners

12/19: Organizer's Forum on #TaxOnDisability

This information is from the Organizer's Forum. For more about the forum's monthly calls you can email: disabilitymovement@gmail.com or go to their Facebook page for the latest.

ORGANIZERS FORUM: #TaxOnDisability

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2017
1-2 pm Eastern time, 12-1 Central time, 11-12 Mountain time, 10-11 am Pacific time

Call-in: 1-515-739-1285
Passcode: 521847#

To join through your computer, go to: https://www.freeconferencecall.com/wall/organizersforum

Hear about the new tax plan being considered by Congress and what impact it will have on people with disabilities. Discuss the potential for organizing now and in the future to protect our communities.

Speakers:

Amber Smock, Director of Advocacy, Access Living and Convener, Disability Power for Community Integration

Kim Musheno, Vice President of Public Policy, Autism Society of America and Chair, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities

Annie Acosta, Director of Fiscal of Family Support Policy, The Arc
Please forward to your lists ASAP.

To give us an idea of who joins our calls, if you are interested in joining on Tuesday, please fill out this quick form! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform…

CART: The call will have real-time captioning (CART)! The website where you will be able to view the captioning is https://2020captioning.1capapp.com. Username: forum. Password: forum. Thank you to the National Disability Leadership Alliance for sponsoring the captioning of this call.

If you need additional accommodations to participate in the call, please let us know as soon as possible.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Organizer's Forum has a call on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, 1-2 pm EST (10-11 am PST).

NOTE: We have a listserv for discussion on these issues. It's organizersforum@yahoogroups.com; please go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organizersforum/ and click "Join this group!" We also have our separate announcement-only listserv to allow everyone to easily get notices about the Organizer's Forum, called disabilityorganizing@googlegroups.com. Please email us to be added.We also have a Facebook page! We can use this is a way to continue our conversation beyond the monthly calls. Please "like" Organizer's Forum on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php…

Background:

The Organizing Workgroup of the National Disability Leadership Alliance hosts these calls the third Tuesday of every month as a resource for disability organizers, in an effort toward building the organizing capacity of the disability community across the country. They generally follow the format of a Welcome followed by 2-3 experts in a given area speaking for a few minutes on their experiences, advice and challenges. The calls include a 20-30 minute question and answer period.
To ask questions via CART: Sign-in to the Chat function on the right side of the transcript and type your question. One of the call facilitators will read out any questions posted there.
Because we want to maximize the generously donated CART services, we will begin the call promptly at 1pm and end the call promptly at 2pm (eastern time).

December 3, 2017 Twitter Chat: Mental Health, Ableism, and Elected Officials

#CripTheVote Chat: Mental Health, Ableism, & Elected Officials

#CripTheVote Twitter Chat

Mental Health, Ableism, & Elected Officials

Sunday, December 3, 2017

4 PM Pacific / 7 PM Eastern

The co-partners of #CripTheVote, Gregg Beratan, Andrew Pulrang, and Alice Wong, are thrilled to have guest hosts Dior Vargas and Dustin Gibson join us for a discussion on mental health, ableism, and elected officials.

How to Participate

Follow @GreggBeratan @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility @NotThreeFifths @DiorVargas

When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote

If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check @DisVisibility’s account. Each question will tweeted 5-6 minutes apart.

Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat

Check out this captioned ASL explanation of how to participate in a chat by @behearddc
https://www.facebook.com/HEARDDC/videos/1181213075257528/

Introductory Tweets and Questions

Welcome to the #CripTheVote chat on mental health, ableism, and elected officials. We are excited to have guest hosts @NotThreeFifths @DiorVargas with us today! Our chat will be 75 minutes to give enough time for all our questions.

Please remember to use the #CripTheVote hashtag when you tweet. FYI: ableist language and mental health will be part of the conversation so please practice self-care if you become distressed.

If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote”

Q1 Community check-in. What a week (actually, what a year). How are you doing, especially in light of the recent vote by the Senate on the tax bill? #CripTheVote #TaxOnDisability

Q2 How do you define ableism? What are some examples of ableism in politics, including media coverage and conversations by and about elected officials? #CripTheVote

Q3 When people casually use ableist language such as ‘crazy’ and ‘insane’ to describe the current political climate or the behavior of politicians, why is this harmful to the disability community, especially people with mental health disabilities? How does this impact POC differently? #CripTheVote

On a similar note, check out this great article from @NOSeditorial by Ivanova Smith on intellectual disabilities & ableist insults/slurs: http://nosmag.org/stop-using-intellectual-disability-as-an-insult-trump/ #CripTheVote

Q4 Ableism is a anti-Black construct. What are some of the ways ableism and racism intersect and how can we confront ableism without being racist?

For more information, check out @talilalewis’s article on ableist language: https://medium.com/@talewis/disability-aint-for-ya-dozens-or-demons-10-ableist-phrases-black-folks-should-retire-d9f8483076e9 #CripTheVote

Q5 There is a lot of frustration and anger with the Administration and in particular the behavior & actions of the President. What are some constructive ways of resisting & protesting that aren’t ableist? #CripTheVote

Q6 Recently, 27 mental health professionals & psychiatrists published a book about the dangers of Trump. What's your reaction to these types of 'warnings' to the public? https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/diagnosing-donald-trump #CripTheVote

Q7 The Goldwater rule is the informal name of a rule by the APA that psychiatrists should not give professional opinions on the state of people they have not evaluated. Why is this rule important? Is there ever a time it should be breached? #CripTheVote  https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2017/03/apa-remains-committed-to-supporting-goldwater-rule

Q8 How does this type of public speculation and armchair diagnoses impact elected officials with mental health disabilities and other people with disabilities who may want to go into public service? #CripTheVote

Q9 The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is relied upon to provide common language for diagnostics. Is this a tool that we should be using? If not, why is problematic? #CripTheVote

Q10 How will legislation like the 21st Century Cures Act affect our community? What do laws like this tell us about politicians’ understanding of #MentalHealth & #Disability?  #CripTheVote

For more on the Act and the Murphy bill (which was folded into the Act): https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/wins-loses-21st-century-cures-act

http://autisticadvocacy.org/2016/03/asan-joins-letter-opposing-harmful-mental-health-bill/

This concludes the #CripTheVote chat on mental health, ableism, & elected officials. Thank you to our guest hosts @NotThreeFifths @DiorVargas!

Please keep the convo going. A Storify of this #CripTheVote chat will be up shortly.

You can find updates & info about our future chats here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/ Our next #CripTheVote will be on 1/21/18 about chronic pain & opioids with guest hosts @msdeonb & @alexhaagaard. Thanks again!

November 12, 2017 Twitter Chat: One Year Later

#CripTheVote Chat: One Year Later

#CripTheVote Chat: One Year Later

Sunday, November 12, 2017 - 7:00 PM Eastern

It has been a year and a few days since Election Day 2016. It’s probably safe to say that regardless of your political beliefs, the day’s outcome was a surprise to most of us. It’s also not too much of an ideological stretch to say that the year since has been fractious, disruptive, disturbing, and for many, including disabled people, frightening and threatening.

In this chat we want to give everyone a chance to look back at what their hopes and goals were regarding disability issues and culture before the Election … and also reflect on how they have changed or remained the same since then. Let’s vent, debrief, and support one another. Let’s also try to take a clear-eyed look at what’s actually happening, and discuss how to move forward into the second year of the Trump Administration, and all that comes with it.

How to Participate

Follow @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility @GreggBeratan.

When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote

If you are overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check the @DisVisibility account. Each question will tweeted there 5-6 minutes apart.

Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat

Check out this captioned ASL explanation of how to participate in a chat by @behearddc - https://www.facebook.com/HEARDDC/videos/1181213075257528/

Questions for the “One Year Later” Chat:

Q1: Community check in: How are you doing, one year after the 2016 Election Day?

Q2: How do you feel about the results from the election in various states this week? If you voted, how did it go and why did you vote? #CripTheVote

Q3: A year ago, what disability issues were you hoping would be on the agenda after Election Day? #CripTheVote

Q4: Which events or trends in politics in the last year surprised, concerned, or frightened you? #CripTheVote

Q5: Has your interest and activism changed this past year? If so, in what ways? What are you doing differently in your activism? #CripTheVote

Q6: In your view, what will be the top 3 disability-related issues for the next three years? #CripTheVote

Q7: What are you planning to do in the runup to the Midterm Elections on November 6, 2018? #CripTheVote

Q8: Why is it important to vote and become politically engaged during midterm elections? #CripTheVote

#CripTheVote Candidate Spotlight: Carrie Ann Lucas - October 12, 2017

#CripTheVote Candidate Spotlight: Chris Haulmark - October 10, 2017

#CripTheVote Candidate Spotlight: Jennifer Longdon - October 9, 2017

October 1, 2017 #CripTheVote Chat on Healthcare Activism & Next Steps

#CripThe Vote Candidate Spotlight Series: Jen Longdon, Chris Haulmark, and Carrie Ann Lucas

#CripTheVote Twitter Chat

Candidate Spotlight

October 9, 10 & 12, 2017

4 pm Pacific / 7 pm Eastern

With the mid-term elections coming up in 2018, #CripTheVote is starting a new series of Twitter chats highlighting candidates with disabilities running for political office in the United States. We are thrilled to have our first guests in this series, Jen Longdon, Chris Haulmark, and Carrie Ann Lucas.   

October 9, 2017, 7 pm Eastern

Jennifer Longdon

Candidate for Arizona House, District 24

October 10, 2017, 7 pm Eastern
Chris Haulmark
Candidate for Congress, Kansas, District 3

October 12, 2017, 7 pm Eastern

Carrie Ann Lucas

Candidate for Town Board, Ward 5, Windsor, Colorado

In the first half of the hour, candidates will answer questions by the co-partners of #CripTheVote and the second half will be open to questions from our community directly to the candidates.

Note: #CripTheVote is a nonpartisan online movement. We do not endorse any candidate and are featuring these individuals to encourage political participation and public service.

Please join us! Information on how to participate and the chat’s questions below.

How to Participate

Follow @GreggBeratan @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility on Twitter

When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote

If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check @DisVisibility’s account. Each question will tweeted 5-6 minutes apart.

Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat

Check out this captioned #ASL explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by @behearddc. #CripTheVote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lJ9YRAwOj4

Introductory Tweets for Candidate Spotlight Chat

Welcome to the #CripTheVote chat Candidate Spotlight with: [name] of [town/state].

Remember to use the #CripTheVote hashtag when you tweet.  

If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote”

Please note the first 4 questions are directed to the [candidate] and we’ll open it up to Qs from you #CripTheVote

QUESTIONS

Q1. Tell us a little about yourself and why you decided to run for office #CripTheVote

Q2. How is the campaign going so far and what have you learned while reaching out voters and the public? #CripTheVote

Q3. What are some disability rights issues you are concerned about locally, regionally, and nationally as a candidate? #CripTheVote

Q4 Why is it important for people with disabilities to engage in public service? What's your advice to people in our community? #CripTheVote

At this point, we’d like to open up the questions to the #CripTheVote with [candidate] who will reply as many as possible for next 30 min

The hour has flown by! This concludes the #CripTheVote candidate spotlight. Thank you for joining us.

Special thanks to [name of candidate] for sharing your time with us and all the best with your upcoming election! #CripTheVote

A Storify of this #CripTheVote chat will be up shortly. #CripTheVote

Please keep the convo going! You can find updates & more info here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/ #CripTheVote

10/1 Twitter Chat: Healthcare Activism & Next Steps

Image description: graphic with a yellow background and black text: "#CripTheVote, Twitter Chat Healthcare Activism & Next Steps, October 1, 2017, 4 pm Pacific/ 7 pm Eastern, Details: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/

This year has been a roller coaster on the attempts by Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Please join us for a discussion about healthcare activism with a look back at the Graham-Cassidy bill and a look to next steps in the future.

Information on how to participate and the chat’s questions below.

How to Participate

Follow @GreggBeratan @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility on Twitter

When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote

If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check @DisVisibility’s account. Each question will tweeted 5-6 minutes apart.

Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat

Check out this captioned #ASL explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by @behearddc. #CripTheVote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lJ9YRAwOj4

Introductory Tweets and Questions for October 1st Chat

Welcome to the #CripTheVote chat on healthcare activism, next steps & what we can expect in the near future.

We’ll briefly talk about #GrahamCassidy too. Remember to use the #CripTheVote hashtag when you tweet.  

If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote”

Q1 Community check-in: How are you doing? What disability issues have you been concerned about lately? #CripTheVote

#GrahamCassidy is a Senate bill that was the latest effort to repeal & replace the #ACA: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/25/553459455/-millions-may-lose-coverage-under-gop-health-bill-says-cbo-analysis #CripTheVote

It’s estimated that 1.4 mil PwDs would have lost #Medicaid if #GrahamCassidy passed https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2017/09/25/439524/least-1-4-million-nonelderly-adults-disabilities-lose-medicaid-graham-cassidy/ #CripTheVote h/t @amprog

#GrahamCassidy would have cut 4 trillion in spending on healthcare to states:  https://dredf.org/the-dispatch/2017/09/22/episode-one-flexibility-code-cuts-medicaid/ #CripTheVote h/t @DREDF

Q2 What was your response when you first learned about #GrahamCassidy? How would it impact you & your communities if passed? #CripTheVote

As of 10/1 the Senate will have to have 60 votes to pass a bill rather than a simple majority #CripTheVote http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-healthcare-deadline-qa-20170925-story.html

Q3 What bipartisan efforts do you anticipate in Congress on the #ACA? Are you optimistic, or feeling something else? #CripTheVote

Q4 What do you think the next GOP healthcare bill will look like? Your thoughts on other efforts such as single payer? #CripTheVote

Q5 What strategies do you want to see the disability community take defending  #ACA & #Medicaid as these attacks continue? #CripTheVote

Q6 What are some critical messages the disability community needs to send to policy makers about healthcare & the safety net? #CripTheVote

Q7 How do we get people to pay attention to the disability community & healthcare? Is there a disconnect? If so, why? #CripTheVote

Q8 There will be more bills like #GrahamCassidy in future. How do you cope, prepare, & take care of yourself in these times? #CripTheVote

The hour has flown by! This concludes the #CripTheVote chat on healthcare activism & next steps. Thank you for joining us.

A Storify of this #CripTheVote chat will be up shortly. #CripTheVote

Please keep the convo going! You can find updates & more info here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/ #CripTheVote