Disability Matters with Joyce Bender - July 28th, 2026

At Highmark Health, we believe what makes us unique makes us better. Our differences broaden our perspectives and foster a variety of skills to complement each other, creating a stronger and more vibrant workforce. It's this belief that earned us recognition as the Best Place to Work for the 10th year for individuals with disabilities in a survey by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN. We'll continue to celebrate and benefit from the inclusion of all people. To find out more, visit highmarkhealth.org. Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone, welcome to the show. I am ready to have a great show today because I have a great star. But I wanted to first give you a few facts. We have now gone up to 142 countries with listeners. Remember when it used to be 17 or 25, whatever it was? 142. Say, "Always pick a country that I mention." And today, that would be Hold on, I have to find them here. There they are. They're number 4, Spain. Congratulations on the World Cup. And Spain, I am learning Spanish through Duolingo. However, I am not taking a chance of saying the wrong thing since I have all these listeners. Oh my God, you were nowhere near number 4, the United States, Singapore, Brazil, and Spain. Once more, congratulations. I saw your country exploding with happiness, um, and I'm happy for you. I am. So congratulations. So I wanted to say that first, want to focus on you, but then I wanted to talk about— wait a moment, where are they? Here they are. Here they are. Zambia. Zambia. Zambia has one listener. One. And one can make a difference. It starts with one. So, you know, you go to other people in your country and tell them about this radio show. Because I know when I travel to Indonesia and South Korea and Japan, Kazakhstan, Panama, here's something we had in common, especially across Asia, and that would be pervasive shame. And I'm going to take a guess that it's going to be like that in many countries. So That's why you need to go and spread the news. Quality of life, respect, dignity for people with disabilities. So thank you. One listener, you get it going, you get a lot of listeners for us. So thank you to all of you countries and listeners throughout the world. Really moving up and that's really great. And also, of course, in the United States. What can I say? I have such great listeners in the United States. So loyal. I mean, I'll go someplace and someone will say, "Are you Joyce Bender?" And I'll think, "What? How'd they know?" And they know because they know my voice. So there you go. If I ever want to be incognito, I'll have to change my voice. But thank you, all of you. And special shout out to Yoshiko as we have been celebrating Disability Pride Month. You know we love you. Yoshiko, we love you. And Highmark, thank you so much, Highmark, for hiring people with disabilities. This, folks, is where the rubber meets the road. I always tell people if they say, Joyce, it's so wonderful what you do, and I say, okay, hire people. Don't tell me that. Hire people. If you think it's wonderful, hire someone today, as Highmark does. So thank you, Highmark. And today we have someone on I love and that I respect, and I'm so fortunate that I can say she's a friend of mine because she is really a superstar dynamo, and that would be Maria Towne, CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Maria, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Joyce. Thank you for having me.

I always love to have you, Maria. And so in case you don't know, Maria would be the top person, leader in the United States because AAPD is a cross-disability group that works in policy. And this is the group that the White House would call, Congress would call, the news media calls and does to, you know, if there's some policy issue or news issue. So Maria's the person And such a great person to be in that role. But Maria, as you can see, we have listeners throughout the world that do not know you. And I just want you to go over a little bit about your journey, you know, like where you lived as a child, where'd you go to school. I also have wondered when you went to school, what was it like for you living with a disability?

Yeah, so hello to all of your listeners around the world, and I will say felicidades to Spain, which is congratulations in Spanish. And I will also applaud the listener in Zambia because to your point, Joyce Bender, all it takes is one person to make a difference. So I'm originally from Louisiana, which is a state in the southern United States, and I'm from the southern part of that state. And for the most part, I went to public schools growing up. So thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, I had the right to go to school just like any other kid. And I was what's called mainstreamed. So I was educated in integrated classrooms with my peers without disabilities. And I had access to the regular curriculum. And I was really lucky. My brain kind of worked really well at school and I did very well at school, but I did have accommodations. And I did get special education services throughout my entire educational journey from kindergarten to 12th grade. And the, you know, the thing for me that was— I don't think I realized what it meant at the time— was I was really the only visibly disabled student in my classrooms for my whole life. And I thankfully was never bullied. I wasn't made to feel ashamed of my disability, but I also wasn't made to feel proud of my disability either. And the primary message that I got about my disability or about being disabled was that I needed to try really hard to pass as non-disabled. And, um, and so, you know, while I was in school, I was also getting physical therapy on a regular basis, um, and a whole bunch of other stuff that was really designed to, uh, you know, make me walk all the time, make me walk better. And so, like, I can't think about school without thinking about, like, oh, in this grade I had serial casts. I don't know if you know what that is, or like in this grade I used this type of walker and in this grade I used crutches instead. And then I transitioned, like my journey of education is also a journey of like kind of trying to walk independently. And just for your listeners, you know, now I primarily use a mobility scooter and that was really difficult for me because, um, you know, so much of my life the goal had been to walk Y'all, in all caps. And I was really wearing my body out. And I realized that if I could use a mobility aid, that it would allow me to just do so much more and feel good while I was doing it. And there are a lot of people, especially with congenital disabilities or even folks who have something like a spinal cord injury where they can first start out using a manual chair, but then they have to progress to a power chair power chair, where the use of more involved mobility aids is a really difficult choice because of how ableism makes us feel ashamed. And so, you know, school was generally a very positive experience for me, but I did not realize until later in life when I kind of got connected to disability community just how much of myself I was denying to myself because I didn't yet know about disability pride and disability community. Wow.

That is an amazing explanation. You know, I always wonder, Maria, why? Why is it about disability? And you know, I live with epilepsy, so I always say, yeah, you're okay with me, but if I had a seizure, you would Clear the Room.

Right.

Why do you think people have this feeling about people with disabilities, the feeling of you should be ashamed or try to be, you know, non-disabled or act as if you're non-disabled? Why do you think that is?

I think there's a variety of reasons. I think that people get scared of things that they don't understand and that they don't know. And unfortunately, while disability is a natural part of the human condition and truly like one of the most natural things about being human itself, people don't know a lot about disability. And so they— their first response is to be afraid rather than to be curious. And even if they are curious, sometimes that, that curiosity is shamed or condemned, you know. And in the United States, we're seeing a push against teaching certain histories. We're seeing a push to force people experiencing homelessness, into institutions. And oftentimes, policy decisions like that are really just to get people who are disabled off the street because we don't want to see them. And then I also think that, interacting with somebody with a disability reminds people of how fragile their function and their life are and reminds people of their own mortality. And folks don't like being reminded of their own human frailty, right? And so I think that that's part of it. You can't articulate those kinds of things to children. And so when kids are in school, the way that those negative stigmas and stereotypes get communicated is, you know, "Don't look at her. Don't talk to her." You know, we don't— We don't talk to people like that. And anyway, I, but I think that that's the big thing. I think that people with disabilities remind folks without disabilities that actually you're only temporarily able-bodied, if ever, right? Yeah. What do you think about that, Joyce?

Well, what you made me think of when you were saying that, about they don't want to see us. What that made me think of was the ugly laws and those ugly laws. Yeah. In the late 1800s, but it was through— some of them went up through the—

1973.

There you go. How it all started, that congressman that got that passed, the Ugly Laws included people with disabilities.

Yes.

Think about that. I remember when I was at a conference and a gentleman was there from Northrop Grumman that is well known, but I'm not going to use his name right now. But when that Ugly Laws got brought up, he cried. Cried in front of everyone. Because he said he had a visible disability and he said, "That says it all. That says it all." And it's hard to believe that there was such a terrible thing, but there was. So I think it's the combination of, "I don't want to see you. You don't fit. You aren't beautiful the way a non-disabled person would be. I do think that thing you said though about it reminds me of my own mortality. I actually went to a CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company years ago. And how I got to see him is he was friends with a prior boss of mine. "Oh, I'm happy to meet you." "Yeah, Bill's told me all about you." I excited to meet you. I said, I'm going to ask you a question. I just started, you know, a few years ago, this company finding employment for people with disabilities. Why do you think people do not want to hire them? And he said, well, off the record, that's why I can't say the company name or that. Yeah. Yeah, off the record, because it makes you nervous when you see people, for example, in a wheelchair, and it makes you feel like, I don't want to see that. I don't want to see that. That could be me. That could happen to me. So I, you know, I think it's a combination of the things you said, but we're working to change that. And here's the thing, we're proud of who we are. So there you go. That's the way it is. But anyway, Maria, we are in the midst of a crisis right now. And then I'll go back to talk about AAPD. But this is on my mind because I just received an email about it. And that's Olmsted.

And yes.

Maybe you could share with our listeners first, what is the Olmstead Act?

Well, it's, it's not an act, and that's a common misconception. It's the Olmstead decision. And so when people refer to the, to Olmstead, they're referring to a Supreme Court decision from the, from 1999, I believe, and the Olmstead decision was, is a Supreme Court decision that is the result of a woman named Lois Curtis and another woman named Elaine Wilson, two women who had intellectual and developmental disabilities who were institutionalized from the time that they were children, basically saying, we want out. And, you know, when Lois was in an institution as a young woman, she found a payphone and called the Georgia Protection and Advocacy Organization, and, um, they wound up suing the state of Georgia. And so Olmstead actually refers to the name of the person who was running the Georgia Health and Human Services Agency. It really should be called the Lois Curtis decision because she's the one that made it happen., and what the decision says is that you cannot forcibly institutionalize people with disabilities, that people with disabilities have a right to live in the community in the most, in the most integrated setting appropriate. And the, the decision affirmed the, what's called the community integration mandate that is in the Americans with Disabilities Act. And so the Supreme Court decision is very important because it has basically caused states and other systems and institutions to redesign how they serve people with disabilities so that now the expectation is that folks can live in their homes and in their communities and live with the families that they love and not have to be served in a nursing home or a state facility or another kind of institutional setting.

Maria, who makes that decision? Like, in the past, who made those decisions that, okay, you're gonna go, you're gonna be in a nursing home, or you're gonna be in an institution? Who made those decisions?

It was usually either the state, you know, or someone's family. And when you think back to, you know, prior to really the late 1990s, there weren't a lot of systems in place that really facilitated people with disabilities living in the community. And so You know, if families needed help, the only option that was available to them often was to put their loved one in an institution. And, you know, with Lois Curtis, even after the Supreme Court decision happened, the infrastructure that she needed to support her life and thrive really didn't exist, right? It had to be created. And so even, even after fighting and winning the right for community integration, Lois, um, did live in an institution a few more times. And even today, the, the system for home and community-based services, um, the system that actually makes community integration work, is very fragile, very underfunded. And people with disabilities live, um, with a lot of precarity, you know. If Medicaid is really the only way that folks can get direct support providers or personal care attendants paid for, and states are cutting Medicaid left and right. I recently moved to the state of Maryland, and they are cutting their state budget for self-directed services. Which means that the adults and children with disabilities who rely on those services are really worried about what's going to happen in their future.

Okay, so I have a question about this. Yeah, the different listeners have asked about Medicaid is what is used in skilled nursing homes. You know, there are people that go in and it's Medicaid. It's not private funds. It's, you know, Medicaid. So if they cut Medicaid, what's going to happen? All those nursing homes would lose money.

Yes.

Yes.

Hospitals— I mean, hospitals around the country are already closing, Joyce, because of cuts to Medicaid. But so Let's take a step back and talk about what Medicaid is really quickly for all of your listeners. Um, in the United States, Medicaid is a federal and state program that provides healthcare and many other kinds of supports for people who are low income or experiencing poverty, or people with disabilities. And, um, When someone who is low income goes to the hospital to get treatment, Medicaid is the program that's paying for it. If a person with a disability needs help eating, Medicaid is the program that is paying for that assistance. If someone needs support to live in a group home and isn't paying for it out of pocket, out of their own personal money, Medicaid is the program that's paying for it. If a person with intellectual disabilities needs customized employment with a job coach, Medicaid's also paying for that. So anytime that there are cuts to Medicaid, so there are so many things put at risk. And like you said, Joyce Bender, um, if Medicaid is cut, nursing homes will close. We're not going to be able to provide enough staffing for nursing homes or group homes. We're also, um, we're already seeing hospitals close. More hospitals are going to close.

Okay, so here's what I don't understand. The nursing home has this extremely powerful lobbying group, um, and they're just not doing anything about it?

I mean, no, they, they are. You know, the healthcare lobby is also really strong, and I think I think a lot of entities fought. So let me, let's go take one more step back again. In July of last year, Congress passed a bill that's called HR 1 or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And let me tell you, there is not much that is beautiful about this bill. And what this bill does is it cuts, about $1 trillion from Medicaid over the course of 10 years. And these are the largest cuts to the program in its history. Um, so the, the reason that Joyce Bender, you're talking about Medicaid cuts is because right now the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services just put out a proposed rule that introduces work requirements into Medicaid. And one of the ways that these cuts will happen is through introducing these administrative and bureaucratic burdens onto individuals who need Medicaid. And, and not being able to meet those administrative burdens, not being able to jump over those hurdles, will cause a lot of people to no longer be eligible for the program. So, in 2017, I believe Arkansas introduced work requirements and 18,000 people lost access to Medicaid, not because they weren't eligible, but because they could not complete the paperwork required to verify that they were working. And so no one gets an increase in employment. Medicaid actually, um, helps people get and keep jobs. I want to be very clear. And people lose their healthcare. And so that listeners— this is why Joyce is asking me about Medicaid cuts, because the United States is currently facing a lot of them. And for folks in the United States, AAPD has an action alert out about this proposed rule from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. You can go to our website at AAPD.com/action and submit a comment that will get sent to that agency. And we need, we need as many comments come in as possible so that CMS knows that people with disabilities don't want work requirements in Medicaid.

Yeah, and I hope everyone knows, take action. Don't complain about it and not do anything. You have to take action. The way Maria just said to. And Maria, AAPD, you know, you're the CEO of this largest cross-disability policy organization in the United States. Could you talk about it a little bit? And then after you talk about it, one crown jewel, I think, is the internship program. But first, if you could just describe for our listeners around the world or in the United States that aren't familiar with it, what is AAPD? What is your main mission?

So AAPD is a national cross-disability, disability-led organization that works to increase the political and economic power of the more than 70 million disabled people across the United States. By disability-led, everyone on our staff has a disability, and they're all— we all have different disabilities. The vast majority of our board are people with disabilities, and our board chair is always someone with a disability. And that is important because historically, and I think still today, organizations that do work on disability have not been led by disabled people, and that's a problem. Joyce Bender: Um, as a cross-disability organization, we don't focus on a single disability type or diagnosis or experience. We work on issues that impact people with disabilities broadly, and by disability I mean blindness, mobility impairment, cancer, chronic illness, depression, other psychiatric and mental health disabilities. Um, And, you know, when we talk about 70 million people in the United States, that's a huge community. And so AAPD really works to build the collective power of disabled people across the United States. And I couldn't be more proud of the organization and the work that we've done.

Yeah, it is. It is a great work.

And Joyce, I have to say that's a huge thanks to you. You are our current current vice chair of the board. You are a former board chair, um, and Bender Consulting has been an enormous supporter of AAPD for a very long time, and we are so grateful.

I believe in it, that's for sure. So Maria, tell everyone about that great internship program. And before we go any further, AAPD.com, you go there, there's a donate page Now you just heard Maria talk about this, what we're having to do to fight the fight. But you know what? Can't do that without resources. And I don't care if it's $5. Hopefully it would be more. We'd love to say, uh, $500,000. But listen, you're going to have a disability. You are the temporarily able-bodied. And you are going to face these same things, or someone in your family could. And Maria, am I right? You go to AAPD.com, donate. Okay.

Yes.

Please donate. Please. We need you. We need your help. Okay, Maria, tell us about the internship program.

So the internship program is a program that selects students and recent graduates with disabilities to participate in paid internships in Washington, D.C. and remotely across the country. Um, we have a summer internship and a fall internship, and interns are placed in internships in disability-serving organizations, in federal agencies, on Capitol Hill, and in some for-profit companies. And on Fridays, they spend the day with AAPD learning about key issues in the disability community. Interns are also provided with free housing, a technology stipend, their travel is covered. We try to remove every barrier to participation that we can because we know that people with disabilities often do not get access to pivotal career development opportunities like their peers without disabilities.. And the goals of this program are career development, community development, and leadership development. And we have now run this program for 23 years, and in my opinion, the results speak for themselves. Joyce Bender, I know that you are an expert on disability employment, so you will really appreciate what I'm about to say. 75% of our summer internship alums are employed full-time earning $35 an hour or more.

Oh, that is awesome.

Isn't that incredible?

Oh, that is awesome. And once again, here's an example of a great program, uh, that we have at AAPD. And just so you know, that's remarkable. I'm telling you, when I think about what I face every day with these barriers to employ people with disabilities. What a wonderful thing. And I've met many of them. I really like them. And, you know, all different types of disabilities, including significant disabilities. That's what I really like. I like that. So kudos to you, Maria, for that. I'm sitting, I'm thinking about something you said that I want to go back to. When you were talking about Olmsted is a decision, not and ACT, um, what is the difference in power? I mean, if a state would say, okay, we are, you know, a red state, or a state that just says, hey, we're not going to pay for this, you're going back to an institution, or whatever, what is the difference in power between Um, so Joyce, that's a good question, and this may be a question that we need to ask Mathis on the mic eventually.

Um, so I, and I actually, I realized that we did not like kind of close the loop on Olmstead and why you were asking me about that. So the reason Joyce is asking me this question is because, um, the, The Department of Justice put out a memo last month that says that the Olmstead decision is not enforceable and that the community integration mandate in 504 is not enforceable. And so they, they're basically telling states, we are not going to enforce the Olmstead decision. We are not going to monitor Olmstead violations. And the important thing to know is that even with this memo, the law or the statute that creates the community integration mandate, the statute upon which the Olmstead decision is based, is still law. The law hasn't changed. You as a disabled person in the United States still have your rights. You can still work to enforce enforce them and protect them. Um, the thing that has changed with this memo is the Department of Justice saying we're not going to be the ones to enforce it, and that is a really big shift because Department of Justice enforcement of Olmstead has been one of the primary drivers of community integration, uh, policy and progress in the United States. So in terms of what's the difference, again, a Supreme Court decision is an interpretation. It is not the statute. That's, that's the law. That's the Americans with Disabilities Act. Um, in terms of what's more powerful, that's tough. You know, laws, um, get passed by Congress, and members of Congress are elected by the American people. Supreme Court justices, there's 9 of them, and they are not elected by the American people. They are appointed by, by the president and ultimately, you know, confirmed by Congress. So I don't know if it's fair to say that laws are stronger than Supreme Court decisions. That's what my gut says. But I actually, you know, the, the right for LGBT people to get married in the United States is because of Supreme Court decision. So both of them have a lot of power. And I think it's really important that we actually have the ADA as law and the Olmstead decision to reaffirm one another. But I don't know if I can answer your question, like, which one is more powerful. It's a tough question.

Yeah, and I'm still I'm not understanding, uh, I'm sorry to go back to all this, but you know, I've been thinking since you were talking, I'm still not understanding. Well, how— who pays for an institution? Where do they get that money? Who pays for that?

Institutions get that money from, from two places. They get that money from private citizens, right, when people pay out of pocket to, you know, institutionalize their family member, um, or the individual themselves, right? Like, if, um, if someone is under guardianship and is placed in an institution and they're— they've got a trust that pays for that, but so there's some of it's private citizens' money. And then the other place that, um, pays for institutions is insurance, and it's mostly Um, there's both private insurance and public insurance like Medicaid. Uh, but I think it's such an important question that you ask. A lot of taxpayer dollars, right? Because Medicaid is taxpayer dollars. A lot of taxpayer dollars pay for institutionalization. And I think whether you're disabled or not, if you are a taxpayer who thinks that institutionalization is wrong, You should say so, and you should not be okay with the institutional bias that exists in our Medicaid system. And even though I've, I've told you already that Medicaid is really the only insurance provider that will pay for direct support professionals in your home, that pays for home and community-based services, there is still— it's still easier to get Medicaid to pay for institutional care than it is to pay for self-directed care. Um, so this institutional bias that we have in the United States is— it's nasty and it should not exist. And taxpayers who don't like institutionalization should tell their government officials that, because a lot of this is taxpayer dollars.

Because think how horrible this would be if Medicaid does not pay for it. Is, you know, we were talking about skilled nursing homes. What if Medicaid is not used to pay for that? What's going to happen to everyone? Everyone's going to be out on the street, or I don't know what. But this is so terrible because people are going to die from this. There's no doubt.

They will. They will. They will die.

Yeah, people are going to die.

And just to— that is the worst consequence. I also think a lot of people are going to have to quit their jobs because if Medicaid is cut and people can't get care, if folks— if we want to prevent people from winding up on the street, it means that there's got to be a family member or a friend who quits their job to provide support. And it's the same thing with this Department of Education business. If children with disabilities can't go to school It means that their parents can't work, right? And so I— cuts to Medicaid are not only a healthcare issue and for people with disabilities a rights issue. Cuts to Medicaid is an economic issue, um, and I— it will harm our economy if these cuts move forward at the rate that they're moving.

That's why we all have to speak up. Remember when Maria said at the beginning, 70 million? Okay, let's take half.

Right, right.

When people say it's not that much, okay, we'll take 35 million, we'll take 30 million. If all those people protested and all those people, you know, reached out to their Congress, we would see a difference. I know here in the state of Pennsylvania, uh, Governor Shapiro is all over this, uh, but it's— I don't know what'll happen. But then I know there are states that are not— they're not all over and they don't care. And yeah, just what Maria said, I have employees right now that use personal attendance or people I have placed that use personal attendants. And guess what? That's paid by Medicaid. What's going to happen if I don't have anyone to feed me or help me get dressed and go to the restroom? What's going to happen? I'm not going to have a job. That's what's going to happen. And I may die and I'm going to, you know, get, you know, I'm just, I'm just so upset about it. It's just— even medication. Okay.

Even medication.

People with epilepsy. What's going to happen? That's why I said people are going to die. I'm trying to imagine me not having this medication. And well, you know what happened to me. And this is what would happen to me. I would fall down. And I would get seriously hurt. But I do have medication and I pay for part of that medication. But there are people that will not be able to do that. And it would just be, it would be horrific if that happened. And of course, it's going to be the poor, the disenfranchised that this is going to impact the most, which is terrible. But we do, since we're saying get out there, do something, hey, We have coming up Disability Voting Rights Week, September 14th through the 18th. So Maria, what is AAPD going to do to lead that charge?

Yes, Joyce, I'm so glad you brought up Disability Voting Rights Week. Uh, this is a week that is led by AAPD through our Rev Up Voting campaign, and everybody should know that Bender Consulting Consulting leads Rev Up Pennsylvania. Joyce, what does Rev Up stand for?

Register, educate, vote.

I know, use your power is the UP.

Yeah, use your power, use your power, use your power. And you do have power, you have power with a vote.

Yes.

And, uh, guess what, Maria, we're even going into those skilled nursing homes registering people. They're not—

that's great.

To vote. Uh, but yes, let's hear what AAPD is doing.

So Disability Voting Rights Week is a week for people to mobilize and come together and recognize the power of the disability vote. Joyce, did you know that there are over 40 million eligible voters with disabilities? That is 1/6 of the entire US electorate.

Wow.

Yes, we are a political constituency that has the power to shape elections, that has the power to shape what policies get prioritized. And so during Disability Voting Rights Week, um, REV UP coalitions and partners across the country host disability candidate forums for any of the elections that are happening in their area. They host disability voter registration drives. They do things like get resolutions and proclamations from their city governments and governors, and they were just doing a lot of work to elevate the importance of people with disabilities in our elections and highlighting the impact that disability civic engagement can make. Um, and just in the past, like, quarter, Rev Up and AAPD, I believe, have hosted 51 different disability voting events in 15 states that have reached 3,500 voters.

Oh my goodness, wow.

Yeah.

Well, so how many Rev Ups do we have?

Right now we have 23 formal state Rev Up coalitions. So we just recently welcomed Rev Up Michigan, which is really exciting. You know, I really hope that one day we'll get to a formal Rev Up coalition in all 50 states, and we are soon to We're just about to cross the halfway mark.

Oh, that is so great.

So listeners, if you're in the United States and want to either start or get connected to your Rev Up Coalition, you can go to AAPD's website, aapd.com, to learn more about Rev Up and get connected. You can also email revup@aapd.com.

Yeah, and so 40 million. So we could go out with shirts saying, hey, 40 million, we'll take 100. Come on out there, 40 million. How many can we get out of 40 million? And listen, I'm not kidding you. If this really would happen, that we could get all people, a large group of people registered to vote, Think how much power we would have. You know, the disability vote. And you know, with the elections, I know Maria worked at the White House during the Obama administration. And Maria, I think you agree with me that having votes is power. I mean, in elections.

Yes, having, having a vote is power. And You know, we often talk about voting as the most sacred right for Americans. We need to make sure that there are no barriers to voting and that people can cast an independent ballot in a way that is accessible to them. Um, and there are many people with disabilities who can't vote. Maybe you're under guardianship, or you might be under 18 years old, and you, even if you can't vote, you still have power. There are so many different ways to shape the conversation about issues in your communities, even if you can't vote, but it's about getting civically engaged, and then maybe you help register people to vote. Maybe you help educate people on what their rights to the, to the vote are and what accessible voting looks like. And then, of course, we want as many people who are eligible to vote and who want to vote to be able to vote in the most accessible way possible.

Yes, we have brought on at Bender Leadership Academy for one month an intern that I— that he was like I was his aunt. And now, which I'm not really his aunt, but from when he was a little boy, I was so close to him and he became Mr. Politics. He actually ran for an auditor position locally. Him! Teddy! What is he, 21? And he won. So he's coming in for a month to go out and help us strategically campaign to get people registered. And just what Maria said, if you're interested, And we'll help you. Like, if you need to talk to someone, you can call us.

And we need to give a shout out to Laura Powers for her leadership, right?

Yes. Yes. Yeah. Awesome.

She's so awesome. And she's an AAPD alum.

There you go. Mm-hmm. Well, that is so awesome. Yes, she is great. She's, she's great. So, Maria, you're part of the after the ADA generation, I want to know, do you believe we're moving forwards or backwards when it comes to not just leaders, but leaders that are going to get out there and speak out like Bob and Judy and all those people? Because boy, I mean, talk about going backwards. What do you think?

I think in terms of leaders, we are absolutely Absolutely. Moving forward, I think that there are so many disabled leaders who are doing work right now to protect our rights, to defend our rights, to advance our rights, and to really advance disability justice. And a lot of people might say that, you know, the disability movement is fractured or splintered, and I I don't actually think that that's true. What I think is happening is that we have more diverse leaders. We have different— because very different avenues for leadership. And I think about, you know, things like social media and the ways that people are getting connected these days that, you know, folks have so much more disability disability representation than even what I had as a child. You know, you asked me what it was like growing up. Well, the primary disability representation that I had was Helen Keller. And now you can find, you know, if you, if you're someone with a rare disease, you can find other people online who have your condition and find community that way. So you feel less alone. There are lots and lots of people doing great work deep in communities to really build networks of mutual aid and shift people's quality of life. And so I think that it can be really— when you look at all of the attacks that we are encountering on basically a daily basis,— it is understandable for folks to think that we are losing ground, but I would encourage everyone just to kind of expand their aperture a little bit and look broadly at how many people are openly identifying as having a disability, how many people are, you know, talking about disability online, what's happening at the state and local level. Because we talk about how all policy is disability policy, and that's not just true for federal policy. It's true at every level of our government. It's true in every size and shape of community. And so I just, I think that there are so many incredible leaders. And for all your listeners, I would ask you a question. Who do you consider a disability leader in your community? That Joyce and I should know about, um, that we may not know about because we aren't in Burundi and we aren't in, um, the Czech Republic. So yeah, who, who in your community do you look to for disability leadership, and do people look to you for leadership in disability?

Oh, that is a great question. You know, you can get back to mariaaapd.com or benderconsult.com, Joyce. So yeah, that is really a good question, Maria. So Maria, what do you, what are you the most excited to see about the future of AAPD?

I am excited to see the ways that we can connect people with disabilities to one another grow. I am excited to see our work on things like artificial intelligence grow. And I'm really excited to witness all of these interns that we bring in every year just make incredible impacts in our community. Right after I get off of your show, Joyce, I'm going to an event where one of our interns is a panelist about the future of care in the United States. And you know this as someone who is a part of a lot of people's journeys, um, it is such a great honor when people share their journey with you, right? Like, it's not that you or I or AAPD is doing anybody a favor. The fact that, you know, folks want to be a part of Rev Up or want to be a part of the internship program is a huge expression of trust and responsibility for us. And so it's a real— I get really excited to think about the ripple effect that all of this work has, not just for AAPD, but really across the country.

Yes, I agree with you. Well, Maria, what message do you have for our listeners?

What message do I have for your listeners? I think I've said this to your listeners before, but it was a couple of years ago, so I'm gonna say it again. Hope is a discipline, and it is not this like abstract, intangible thing. Hope is— it's a discipline that we can choose every day if we want to.

Hope is a discipline. It reminds me of Mary with Choose Joy.

Choose joy. Yes.

I always say choose joy or hope and you won't be disappointed.

Yeah.

That is so awesome. Once again, AAPD.com. Make a donation today. Follow. You can subscribe to a newsletter whenever you get involved. Maria Town, CEO. If you do have a conference, national or state, get in touch with AAP.com and get Maria out there. The more people that know her, the more they'll hear this wisdom from her. And we end every show with a quote. And this month I have been honoring Judy Heumann.

Mm-hmm.

So our quote is, disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives. And how true is that going to be when we think about Medicaid?

Absolutely.

And in the words of Mary Brooker, when you get up tomorrow, choose joy, and don't forget about Rev Up Disability Voting Week. Get out there September 14th through the 18th.

That's right.

Thank you, Maria. Thank you. As we celebrate Disability Pride Month, it's wonderful to have you on. Have a great week there in D.C. and I'll, I'll see you tomorrow.

Thank you so much, Joyce. I'll see you tomorrow.

All righty. Bye-bye.

Bye.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join Join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America variety channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.