Year-end Reflections on Accomplishments/Goals

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.

And hi everyone, welcome to the show. I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and here we are getting ready for for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. First, I want to thank everyone globally around the world. Oh my goodness, so many notes, so much following up. I really appreciate it. You know, we have— it was 17, now 18 countries listening to the show, and China being the largest. Which would make sense. But some companies— only some countries— only one person. And you know what I always say, one person in Saudi Arabia can be that person to get something started. And I mean it when I say that. No matter where you are listening from— South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, China— doesn't matter where you are. Even if you're one person, that's how everything gets started, with that one person. But thank you so much, and thank you for being with me all year. I love all of you. And Richard Roberts, my friend from the State Department, Gyeong-young in South Korea from the State Department, Cheryl Harris in Tunisia, Vinya Min in Kazakhstan, and all my new friends in Nigeria and Austria. To all of you, I really wish you a very, very happy new year. And I want you to know, you, the U.S. State Department, are helping me change lives by having me visit these countries or having me talk about this virtually, about quality of life for every single person living with a disability. So Yoshiko, hey, here we are at the end of the year, Yoshiko, and you know, Yoshiko, DART, I love you, and I know, Yoshiko, you'll be with me next year listening to the show in the room you're in right now saying, "Hello Joyce, lead on." I know you are, and I love you. I'm so blessed that you're my friend. And hi, Mark, our lead sponsor for the year. And if you don't know, oh my goodness, AAPD has this glamorous best thing happening in March, and then Basel on later in the year. But in March, David Holmberg, is receiving a big award. So I've been talking to everyone about this, and we got to get everyone fired up, uh, to see David, the CEO of Highmark, receive that Corporate CEO Champion Award, because they have been the sponsor of this show for years. So I am always excited about this show. You know, I've been doing this for a long time. We're at the end of the year. I have 3 disability rights leaders on just to talk about the past year, things that happened that are important, things they wish had happened, things they wish would change, and their hopes for the new year. And I love this show. Do you know I always get the most comments about this one show by email? This one show. So who better than Maria Towne, President and CEO of the American Association for People with Disabilities, Holly O'Donnell, President and CEO of Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and our anchor person is actually going to be on and not have to call in on the half hour, and that would be Perry Jude Radesik, CEO of Disability Rights Pennsylvania. All three of you on the show, welcome everyone, and I am going to start with you, Maria, who, Maria, I'm sure all people in the United States want to thank you for your leadership at AAPD and, you know, how much you're fighting the fight and leading policy, working with, you know, the disability, not only community, but business community. So I just think the world of you. So Maria, what do you personally see as the greatest accomplishment for the disability community in 2021?

Well, hi Joyce, this, this is Maria. I'm so excited to be here. Happy New Year. And I, I just have to let you know how grateful I am for your support as an AAPD board member and as a friend. 2021 was an interesting year. You know, this is the year that Many people said the world started to open back up, and that wasn't really true for many, many people with disabilities. And so it's been a tough year for the disability community, but there have been some really incredible victories and accomplishments that we've achieved. I'll go in kind of some kind of a chronological order. When this year started, we were 9 months into a COVID pandemic. There wasn't widespread access to the COVID vaccine, and we finally saw Congress approve a COVID relief bill that included funding for home and community-based services to keep people with disabilities out of institutions and to transition people with disabilities out of institutions if they were already there. This is a life-saving measure, and it's something that the disability community had been pushing and pushing and pushing for in 2020, and we kept up the fight in 2021. And, um, finally got some results. And I think too, you know, we saw the inauguration of President Biden, and from the very beginning of this year, we have worked to hold the Biden administration accountable. And you see that in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Executive Order, and the fact that all federal contract workers have to be paid $15 an hour, including those who are on AbilityOne 14 contracts. You see agencies really working to integrate disability in everything they do, and that's, that's a direct result of our advocacy. So, that's the first accomplishment. Another huge accomplishment, which was much more recent, was the fact that AAPD, along with Bazelon and many, many other organizations, worked together to save fundamental aspects of disability civil rights. CBS had put forward a cert petition to the Supreme Court that asked the court to consider whether or not disparate impact was allowable under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Disparate impact involves discrimination that isn't explicit. And we all know as people with disabilities that most of the time The discrimination we experience isn't people actually saying, "Oh, we won't let you in because we hate disabled people." It's much more subtle. And I know both Holly and Perry Jude can speak to this much better than I can. But we were able to work with CVS to get them to withdraw their cert petition and save 504 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. And it's incredible. The last thing I want to mention is that I think we've seen some really incredible improvements in disability representation in the media. And policy change is one way that we kind of make good in the world, but you can't legislate attitude. And this year we've seen people like Lauren Ridloff, Black, deaf Latina playing a superhero in a Marvel film. We've seen Lolo Spencer, a young Black woman who's a chair user, have a role in a Mindy Kaling comedy on Hulu. These are figures that I could only try, attempt to imagine when I was growing up as a disabled woman. I'm just so excited about what's to come and how I hope that our nation and our world will be able to understand what disability is more easily and accept it more easily than we currently do.

Yes, I so agree with you. And I just want to say those are great accomplishments. That one where we work with Bazelon and everything, all of them were equally great, but wow, that was like really powerful. I mean, I think that's the first time I've seen the disability community be able to come together and really face a formidable opponent, being CVS, being a huge corporate, you know, organization, and have that impact. And, you know, my hats off to you and Holly and all the other groups that worked so, so much on that to see it happen. I agree with you. I'm also happy to hear about that $15 pay also goes to the people in AbilityOne. That's good. I'm really happy to hear that. That's great news. The agencies under AbilityOne also have to have that as their minimum pay. That's really great because that's how it should be. Then we have Holly O'Donnell, another great CEO. She is just the most wonderful person. I mean, she's just like Maria, a good friend, and she, but she is also so passionate about the Bazelon Center and enthusiastic, and it's refreshing to be with a CEO that is as enthusiastic and pleasant as she is. And I am also so proud to serve on the board of the Bazelon Center on Mental Health Law, as I do on APD and Disability Rights PA. But I want to start going back. Holly, what about you? What, what are some of the accomplishments you saw this year in the mental health community?

Thanks so much, Joyce. I hope you have a good holiday and happy new year. And thanks for having me. And Maria and Perry Jude, I'm happy to join with you all today. So, in terms of the accomplishments in the mental health community, it's important to know that a lot of what we accomplished was in partnership with a lot of other advocates. And so, on my list are many of the things that Maria mentioned. So, you know, I think one, the funding for community-based mental health services through the American Rescue Plan was critical and a huge accomplishment. Two is during the pandemic, there really is a greater public discussion about mental health and not just awareness, but real discussion by employers, by lawmakers, and by advocates. And we are seeing advocates really take hold of platforms like social media to really move this conversation beyond awareness and beyond stories, but to having, you know, opening up doors and changing legislation. And it's really important. And, you know, third is all the initiatives that have come up across the country to create emergency response models for people at times of great distress. And a real focus on police alternatives. And particularly for people with disabilities who are Black and Brown. And that is really important. And another thing that's been successful that that we feel good about is that there's an elevated conversation about including peers, people with lived experience in these policing alternatives. And we're really pleased with that as well.

I just wanna say, Holly, you have done a fantastic job at Bazelon. You have been a great leader and we're very lucky to have you. And I'm glad that you are joining us today. And now we move on to one of my favorite people, Perijude Radesic, and you're gonna recognize the voice right away because she's on every half hour on my show with news. And do you know that we are the only, only media source in the country where you could go every week and hear what is happening in the federal government or state government or issues or when we have to vote and what we have to do and what we're facing. Is on this radio show, and the person that does all that research, uh, is Perri Jude Radesik, who I just love. She is the CEO of Disability Rights of Pennsylvania, a friend, and a real disability advocate and leader in this country. And I wanted someone on that works also at the state level. So, uh, Perri Jude, welcome to the show.

Joyce, thank you so much for having me alongside the really terrific leaders in our disability community, Maria Town and Holly O'Donnell, and of course yourself, and happy New Year to you and your listeners. Let's hope 2022 will be better than 2021. So let me start off by giving you that state perspective, and I appreciate you allowing me to do that. And I think what we saw here in Pennsylvania was really progress made because progress was made at the federal level. And so it's the impact of federal programs, of federal action that allows Pennsylvania to move forward in 2021. So what do I mean by that? Well, certainly navigating the pandemic, right? Maria started to talk about the pandemic here. People with disabilities had to figure out how to continue to navigate the pandemic. And in Pennsylvania, we were able to do that more effectively because the federal government passed laws that put money into our state and other states across the country to establish vaccine hotlines, which helped in turn to increase the vaccination rate. In Pennsylvania right now, 82% of Pennsylvanians have at least one dose of these vaccines. So that was very helpful to have funding from the federal government. And very, very soon, the state will be releasing those funds that Maria talked about, that historic investment in home and community-based services. So really, we have the federal government to thank for helping people with disabilities navigate the pandemic. I think the other thing related to the federal COVID legislation is how much it helped people with disabilities and our families. I mean, we talk anything from the direct stimulus payment to individuals, the Child Tax Credit funds that lifted so many Pennsylvania children out of food insecurity, increases in SNAP benefits, things that really helped people with disabilities manage their finances and manage their lives over the course of 2021. And then to show you how a federal agency can make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities, Amtrak just at the end of last year entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Here we are 31 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. So, Amtrak finally enters into a settlement with the Justice Department to resolve claims from a lawsuit related to inaccessibility at their train station. And here in Pennsylvania, 5 Amtrak stations are now in process of becoming accessible as a result of the Justice Department resolving those claims. They're working on Johnstown right now. But Coatesville, Downingtown, Lewistown, and Parksburg are all set to be part of that settlement agreement and to increase accessibility for people with disabilities. So really, Joyce, I think the message here for Pennsylvania and for your listeners is the impact of federal programs, federal agencies here in our state and across the country.

That is so true, and that makes me so happy to hear that. About Amtrak. That, that is great. I'm glad to see that's actually happening. As you said, it's— think how long that is taking. But it does start at the top, just as it does with everything else. And that's really a good point that you stressed. So, Maria, we had a lot of, as you said, great accomplishments. But what are some things that you hoped would happen that did not?

Well, one of the things that I really hoped would happen is equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. You know, we know what it takes to create accessibility and equity. We know how to make websites accessible. And I mean, truly, until just a few months ago, it was almost impossible for some people with disabilities to independently access the COVID-19 vaccine, even though disabled people are at higher risk of COVID You know, at AAPD, we helped fund this COVID-19 vaccine tracker that looked at how people with disabilities were being prioritized in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and the accessibility of the vaccine website. And I have a lot of privilege in general, but particularly as a disabled person, and it took me 5 or 6 tries to sign up for COVID vaccine appointment, and that was relatively quickly. It was It was just a mess, and in many ways continues to be a mess, and it didn't have to be this way. One of the other things that I hoped would happen, and I am still hopeful can happen, is that more employers, local, you know, cities and counties, and many others, even community organizations, would continue to create remote access even when they began offering in-person events and offices reopened. I've heard from so many people with disabilities even recently that they're just very concerned that they will have less access after the pandemic ends and that their voice will not carry as much weight because even our way of interacting with one another is different in remote environments than it is in person. And I'm seeing, you know, too many entities just say, "Nope, we're not going to offer remote access anymore. You know, that was just a one-time deal. Come back in person." And while, you know, there's a new infrastructure bill passed, hopefully our infrastructure is going to get much more accessible. That's not going to happen immediately, and people are going to be required to go back to work in person. It's actually one of the reasons I'm really proud that the AAPD gala in March will be a hybrid event. We're going to offer options for people to attend in person and remotely, and we have never done that before. And I think it's going to create access for a whole lot of people, and I just wish more organizations and other entities were following that trend. There's a whole lot more I could say, but I will leave it there.

No, you know what, Maria, I'm really glad that you talked about this because it is so troubling to me that, you know, when this pandemic started, I would have— as everyone knows, you know, my whole life is employment with Bender Consulting Services, working with public but with the private sector a lot. On finding employment for people with disabilities in all business disciplines, project managers, you know, people in HR, IT, all across the board. But many of these people prior to the pandemic were more than qualified to work at positions I had, but what would I hear all the time? Well, Joyce, will they move here to Pittsburgh? Because if they won't move here, then, you know, no, we can't we can't, uh, move forward. Or if I'm talking in Denver, well, Joyce, will they move here to Denver? Because if they won't move here, then we can't talk to them. You know, for example, the person lived in California, but no, they have to— now, mind you, imagine being, you know, a person junior level and experienced, for example, or even any level, but told, get up from your household, move everything to another state for this $45,000 a year job or $50,000 a year job. And so what would happen? People weren't being hired. Oh, if they're not here on site, they won't be productive. I mean, I could tell you a million things I've heard over the years. And then came the pandemic. All of a sudden, The door opened and people started getting jobs that weren't in the same state, you know, so that Highmark, for example, has people working for them in California, all different parts of the United States. And this was the greatest thing. And honestly, people even said to me, wow, finally, this is going to help Joyce Bender get these people hired. And I said, yes, isn't this great? What happens now? Not Highmark, but with many of the other companies I work with, oh, well, you know, we're gonna be going back. You have to be on site. You have to be at the company on site. And, you know, everyone the same, everyone's gonna have to come back. And yet, Maria, I don't know who it was. I don't know if it was Emily Liddell. I don't know who it was, but someone said to me, Well, it took a pandemic for us to get to work from home, for us to get to work. It took a pandemic where they would include us. And it did, it took a pandemic to say, yes, you can work from your house. So I hope that doesn't happen because that's gonna once again shut the door on a lot of people. So you hit my hot button, Maria, when you said that, as you can tell. It's very, very frustrating.

And just to add one thing really quickly, the same is also true for education. You know, prior to the pandemic, there were numerous students with disabilities, particularly students with chronic illnesses or who had undergone surgeries, who would have to miss days and days of school because they were immunocompromised or another, you know, or something else. And it wasn't that they couldn't engage with schoolwork, it's that they couldn't attend school in person. And having remote education be widely accessible meant that students with disabilities didn't have to stay behind a year because they missed too much school. They weren't penalized because of panic absences. They didn't have to spend their summers, you know, trying to make up work. And so I just, I want to make sure we're not forgetting about disabled students and particularly disabled kids who this affects too.

Right. I agree. I agree with you 100%. How about you, Holly? Was there— what didn't happen that you wish did happen for the mental health community over this past year?

I mean, it really was a remarkable year as we're you know, thinking back to this time last year. And I think, you know, there's sort of the— so much of the unknown and living in the ambiguity. And I have thought a lot about, you know, things that we wanted to see and sort of that are long-term. And the Bazelon Center does work, legal advocacy that is You know, it takes a long time. And we saw progress, but we would like to see a lot more on ending the cycle of people with psychiatric disabilities between, you know, jails and prisons, psychiatric hospitals, emergency rooms, and homelessness. And we're pleased with the progress, pleased with that the Department of Justice issued a letter of findings in April of 2021. But we have a long way to go there. And also, talking about our education system, we, you know, we've done a lot of advocacy to end policing in schools. And, you know, that's something that there was progress, but we have a long way to go. And, you know, I think also we want to make sure that all the information, the communication, the opportunities with the vaccine can— it's confusing. And that we make sure that people continue to have accurate information so that people aren't isolated and they can, you know, in a safe way, go about living life in the community. So, we didn't see as much of that as we would like to, but we'll continue to work on it.

Right. Yeah. We have so much to do, but you did make progress. It just is, especially when you talked about that school to prison and jails and just how, as you said, people with mental health disabilities end up being homeless and people don't understand and really discriminate and treat people terribly. But with what you're doing at Basilone, We're going to continue that fight. We're going to continue improvement as we go along. How about you, Perry? Did you see roadblocks, or what did you see?

There are roadblocks in Pennsylvania for people with disabilities that happened in 2021. You know, Governor Wolf had— our governor in Pennsylvania over 2 years ago had said that there were— we have We have 4 state institutions for people with developmental disabilities that are still open. And the governor over 2 years ago said 2 of those are slated to close. And, you know, people have choice. They can go to another institution or move into the community. And the pandemic had slowed closure and transition out of those institutions. So for 2 years now, we've been struggling with transitioning people out of those institutions during a pandemic. It's just gone really slowly. In the meantime, there have been state legislative efforts to stop the closure of these two institutions. In fact, just this week, Joyce Bender, a bill in the Pennsylvania State Senate would essentially halt the closure of those two institutions slated for closure by Governor Wolf. And so there's a lot of work to be done in Pennsylvania. To make sure that people do not have to face unnecessary institutionalization. And now the state legislature is getting involved in it, so that's a roadblock. I would say the other thing that's been a roadblock is the great resignation that has found its way to home and community-based services. When people who are direct support care workers can go to, you know, a place like Wawa or Sheetz, which are our gasoline station convenience stores, and make $1 more an hour with benefits, or go to warehouses and make $10 more an hour with benefits, people are gonna leave their jobs and go to a place that gives them better pay and better benefits. And so we're seeing this great resignation in home and community-based services. And the only thing that I really see getting in the way way of that resignation are these federal dollars that will come into Pennsylvania to help stabilize that workforce. And it's, it's really, it's, it's that money has to happen now. Build Back Better has to happen now so that we get that historic investment into our home and community-based services. So those are the kinds of things that I see as roadblocks, Joyce.

Yeah, and boy, that, that example you gave, that is really scary for people that use personal assistance. I mean, to not, to not know if they're going to be there available. I know because one of my employees, Lee, had— it was the Fourth of July weekend and different things were planned, and what's the person's not gonna— that had been coming for a long time, sorry, they quit, they're not coming, they found a better opportunity. He was devastated. He has cerebral palsy, he's in a wheelchair, but he needs assistance. And then they couldn't find people. He actually had someone that's a friend of his in his building helping him. And this went on and on. And then finally, they had people, but it is like a revolving door with people that work in that area. And Maria, I would have to say you probably have heard about that because you're so connected to so many people that use personal assistance.

Absolutely. And Tara Jude is totally right. I, you know, wanted to say amen as she was speaking. There are so many things that contribute to this huge workforce shortage of direct support professionals. In addition to the need for increased wages and access to benefits, many states do not pay family members who are working as caregivers equal rates. It's assumed that as a family member, you would already be providing some of that support. So, you're not paid as highly. So, in addition to the workforce shortage around direct support professionals, we see lots of family members of disabled people leaving the workforce in order to make sure that their loved one can remain at home and receive adequate support. And We put so many burdens on disabled people and our friends and family in order to get our basic needs met. And I do agree, I think passing the Build Back Better Act would make huge strides towards ensuring that no one is faced with these impossible choices. But just the other day, I heard from a friend who's was just left at their house, not able to leave, like not able to get clean or to eat because their worker didn't show up, but their worker's life has been impacted by COVID. And so, it's really going to take a whole lot to improve this system. And I think it's possible if something like Build Back Better passes.

Yeah. Oh, I mean, you know, that's such a terrible situation right now that, uh, with the shortages. But as you said, Maria, consequences, consequences happen from steps employers and agencies take with what they have been paying people along the way. So Maria, what are you hoping to see happen next year in addition to a fantastic gala on March 9th?

Well, I, I want to see the Build Back Better Act passed as soon as possible, hopefully in early 2022, um, and I am hopeful I hope that we will be able to continue to— I hope that the disability community will continue to advance our advocacy in so many ways, from policy to legal advocacy to culture and media, as well as mutual aid. I want to continue to see disabled leaders from all across the country supporting one another, building our movement, you know, in Washington, D.C., in the states, in rural communities and beyond. And I just, I'm so hopeful that we're going to see even more of that in 2022.

Me too. I want to ask you a question about that, Maria. Do you think we're building up up young people moving into the disability advocacy world enough? Because I always think it's so important that, you know, we have fresh people such as yourself, leaders in the disability community. You know, do you see that happening? Like, do you see people coming out of college or high school or community college, wherever it is, getting more and more involved as disability rights advocates?

I do. I do.

I see more and more young people with disabilities embracing that word disability, embracing proud identities as people with psychiatric disabilities and chronic illnesses. You know, through the AAPD Paul G. Hearne Award and our internship program, I have the real privilege of working with a number of young disabled people who are just so dynamic. One young leader that I am— it's truly a change agent. Her name is Jennifer Lee. She was involved in the AAPD internship program in 2021, this past year. And a number of our interns this year were Asian American. She worked in her internship class and in her college to found the Asian American Disability Initiative. And they are hosting events, working on a toolkit that looks at, you know, cultural understandings of disability within different Asian communities, how that intersects with other identities like LGBTQIA identities. And, you know, she just went out there and did it. And I'm seeing more and more of that in Gen Z. And I think it's incredible. What I do want to see more of is the disability community supporting people who are acquiring disabilities potentially later in life, particularly for people who are experiencing Long COVID, which has been identified as a disability in federal policy. And, you know, we don't know a lot about Long COVID. We don't know how it will impact individuals over an extended period of time, like 5 to 10 years. But these are people who are new to the disability community, and I want all of us to make sure that the messages that they're receiving about their lives is that their lives are worth living, that they can continue to make meaningful contributions to their families, their communities, their workplaces. And, you know, here are the tools that exist to get access to accommodations and benefits. And what's happening right now is that our systems are, are once again making it really hard for people to access what they need in order to thrive, and I want to see that change.

Yes, amen to that. And I'll tell you, when you were talking about that, I'm sure that you probably all read or saw the article, um, that I'm sure went viral from The Washington Post about COVID that talked about how so many people are losing their jobs because of this COVID fog. And just this morning, I spoke to the CEO of Allegheny Health Network, Cindy Hundorfeen, and she was talking about there are all of these ongoing problems with COVID you know, pulmonary, heart, whatever, but this one this COVID fog. And so, you all know what that's like. It's sort of like short-term memory loss, just the ability to not think clearly or focus. People are getting fired over this. And so, you know, the disability community is going to really have to get more and more involved because none of us really knew or know the impacts of this terrible virus and what it can do to everyone. So, Holly, we'll probably see talking about that a lot at Bazelon. And I've been mentioning about the AAPD Gala, and Holly, when is the Bazelon Center Mental Health Gala?

So, the Bazelon Center Gala is a really important one in 2022 because it will be the 50th anniversary of the organization. And we are having it on September 22nd, 2022. It will also be a hybrid event, so in person in Washington, D.C., and then also online.

Oh, that's awesome. Well, it is fabulous. I mean, you knocked it out of the park last year. Like, you you and Maria have something in common, and that's Jason Maida. That was a great gala. It really was. And again, if you get a, you know, the website, which the website, Holly, what is our website?

It's www.bazelon.org. And then for folks that are interested in learning more about the 50th celebrations that we'll be having throughout the year. It's www.bazon50.org.

Well, that is really— we are— I'm so excited about that. That is really great. And, yeah, we'll have to make sure everyone knows about that nationally. And by the way, AAPD, if you want to know about the gala, it's aapd.com. So, how about you? What do you hope to see? Joyce Bender.

So, you know, at the Basson Center, we're really hoping that Build Back Better is passed. And also, we'll spend a lot of time providing folks with, you know, tools so that they can leverage the funding. We also are really hoping to see more support and services for children. The pandemic has been really challenging. And even though so many children are back in schools, getting all the resources and services that they need has been really difficult. And so, we will continue to bring cases. And then, I was going to— you already scooped me on it, but I was going to talk about the 50th celebration, which is something that we're really looking forward to next year.

Well, you can talk about it more if you want to. You're allowed. But that is a big deal, 50th anniversary. That is a big deal. And again, right in Washington, D.C. Where is it going to be held?

At a place called the Showroom, which is downtown.

The Showroom. Uh, well, get it on your calendars. Get it on your calendars now. Uh, it's September September 22nd, is that what you said? Do I have— yeah, September 22nd. Um, lock it in place now. Perry, how about you, Perry? We're not going to talk about a gala since we don't have one, but I guess that's what we can accomplish. We can hope to accomplish someday we have that Pennsylvania gala. Uh, but Perry, what about what you— what do you hope to see? Happen next year?

Well, you know, 2022 is just— we're just a few days away from the start of the new year, and like Holly and like Maria, we so— we need Build Back Better. We need that legislation to make it through the Senate. There are so many important components of that legislation that would be helpful to the state, including Pennsylvania, and so I'm hopeful that that, you know, they will figure it out and put Build Back Better on President Biden's desk for him to sign. I think the other thing I'm hopeful about is that, you know, at least in Pennsylvania, the people will see through some of the efforts to restrict voting rights in our state. This has been happening in some states across the country. Whether it's audits on the 2020 election. Like, the 2020 election was settled. In Pennsylvania, it was a fair, safe, and secure election. But yet there are people who still— lawmakers who still want to talk about it as if it wasn't. And so there are bills in our state legislature that would do an audit, an Arizona-style audit And it's worse than that. It's worse than Arizona in that there's privacy concerns here where they're talking about gathering Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers of all voters and hand it over to a private company. So I think we have to push back on that and other efforts to restrict mail-in ballots and to increase voter ID and to do signature matching. All of this is bad news for people with disabilities. And here in Pennsylvania, we're going to have to push back on that in 2020.

2022. Oh yeah, right, that is so true. Yeah, you were talking about voting. I just want to talk for a moment, Maria. Rev Up is so important. Could you quickly tell everyone what that is?

Yes, I can, and I'm so glad that Terry talked about, um, the attack on voting rights that are happening across the country. REV UP is one of AAPD's initiatives. REV UP stands for Register, Educate, Vote. Use your power. And through REV UP, we work to engage in voter registration efforts across the country to make sure that people with disabilities know their rights and have easier access to the polls. And through Rev Up, there are numerous disability voting coalitions in both states, counties, and some cities. And there's growing attention to Rev Up Pennsylvania right now. These Rev Up coalitions often host issue forums and candidate forums. They work to make sure that candidates standing for election are aware of the priorities of the disability community. And our goal at AAPD is to have a Rev Up Disability Vote Coalition in every state. And so, if you are out there and want to get involved in Rev Up in an existing coalition, or start your own, check out aapd.com/revup.

Thank you. And yet, Perry, we're doing it this year. We're getting it going, Rev Up. So, you know, in Pittsburgh, so in Pennsylvania, so, you know, I'll be calling you, getting you involved in that. And I just want to say once again, sometimes we don't take enough time to thank people for what they do. And I personally want to thank you, Maria Hawley and Perry Jude, for all of your hard work. People don't realize sometimes how much time and effort you put into fighting for all of us people with disabilities, but I do, and I want to thank you. And everyone listening to the show, you need to know they are doing this for all of us. And if you want someone to hear this show, remember, go to Spotify, uh, and you can subscribe to the show Disability Matters with Joyce Bender on Voice America. I'm telling you this because for the people that don't get to hear it during the daytime but want to hear the show, which many people listen on demand, make sure you tell them this was a great show. So make sure you tell them about it so they can hear it. So, uh, Maria, what message do you have for our listeners? What New Year's message do you have?

Hope is a discipline. 2022, like 2021, will continue to have a lot of ambiguity. There's going to continue to be a lot of hardship and pain, but we have to be disciplined in our hope. Hope and in our advocacy. And if we all commit to having that disciplined hope, we can make change happen in 2022.

Disciplined hope. Oh, that is so good. I love that. Gria, what a great point that is. How about you, Holly?

So, my message is for everybody to communicate. And to do that by reaching out to a friend, a neighbor, a family member, so that as we continue through this pandemic, we remain connected and continue to advocate for the issues that are so important to us, because there is opportunity going into 2022.

Such communication. I believe it, that 100%. How about you, Perry Jude? What's your message?

Whatever 2022 brings, I think all of our organizations at the national level and at the state and local level will be there for the disability community, especially in Pennsylvania, we'll be there. So, I say bring on 2022 and let us get get to work.

That's right, let's get to work. Uh, well, we end every show with a quote from a famous civil rights leader, uh, every year, every show, every week. And, uh, this year I lost someone very important to me, Mary Brocker, and she was the president of my company And Mary lived with depression for 40 years. And when she didn't want to get up, many times when we were traveling, she just didn't want to get up when we were at the hotel. And she would say, "But I've made a decision. Choose joy." And that is my quote to end 2021. Choose joy. This is Joyce Bender. VoiceAmerica.com. Talk to you all next year. Happy New Year.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please 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.