Dear Directors and Network Members:
AUCD is a proud sponsor, along with 70+ other disability organizations, of the 2012 National Forum on Disability Issues (NFDI). This is the only non-partisan forum where President Obama and former Governor Romney are invited to speak specifically about disability issues. Having the Presidential candidates or their high level policy surrogates present will ensure the millions of Americans with disabilities and their families hear firsthand about the candidates’ stances on issues such as employment, transportation, healthcare, and education for people with disabilities and will also make sure that each campaign has to address the needs of people with disabilities and their families. We have had individual contacts with each of the campaigns but no final decision on who will represent the respective parties.
The NFDI is only four weeks away, and we both encourage you and your staff and trainees to participate, and to help us ensure the candidates hear the voices of the disability community and decide to come to Columbus on September 28 or send a high level surrogate. Following are some suggestions on how to use social media to get this message to spread quickly and to influence the campaigns as they both closely track and will watch social media and its impacts during the coming weeks before the election.
Consider taking the following four simple steps to participate in and spread the word about the NFDI:
· Register: The forum will be webcast live for free. Encourage everyone to register today at www.nfdi.org. This will be an excellent teaching and advocacy opportunity for self advocates & trainees as well as family members and staff! View individually or have a group watching party.
· Twitter: Encourage everyone who has a Twitter account to Follow the NFDI feed by going to twitter.com/nfdi and clicking on the follow button. The more folks that are following the twitter feed the more seriously it will be taken by the social media watchers in the campaigns. Also, re-tweet (RT) the messages of others and include the hash tag #nfdi2012, thus making sure all of the tweets will be able to be collected in one place or feed.
· Facebook: Friend us, and share the posts frequently with your audience: facebook.com/National-Forum-On-Disability-Issues. The more voices candidates hear from different sources, the greater their interest will be in attending and addressing disability issues.
· Invite: Encourage your staff, faculty, trainees, and other partners to compose an e-mail, send a letter, make a video, or take a photo and send it to the candidates. You are only inviting them to attend, telling them people with disabilities and their families matter in this election. More voices=increased likelihood the candidates will attend! View draft letters and get contact information here.
Just to be clear, this is not lobbying or pushing one candidate over another or promoting a policy or piece of legislation. It is a nonpartisan request for the campaigns to inform the disability community about their positions and plans in some very important areas to people with disabilities and their families.
Contact Kim Musheno (kmusheno@aucd.org) or me (gjesien@aucd.org) if you have any questions or other suggestions. Please feel free to forward to anyone who you think may be interested.
George
George Jesien, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1000
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tele: 301-588-8252, ext 207
Direct: 240-821-9370
E-mail: gjesien@aucd.org
Web: www.aucd.org
