Posts filed under Advocacy

Get Educated and Registered for the 2016 Election!

The following NJ Centers for Independent Living/REV UP NJ will be holding Voter Education/Registration events.

Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) - September 14th - Voter Registration Day, 629 Amboy Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837. 732.738.4388 or ctonks@adacil.org. Register to vote and get a free REV UP NJ t-shirt: adacil.org

Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) - September 2nd - Voting Rights/Registration- The Arc of Middlesex County, Raritan Center, Edison NJ, 732.738.4388, ctonks@adacil.org, adacil.org

Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) - September 6th - Voting Rights/Registration- Edison Workshop, Edison, NJ, 732.738.4388, ctonks@adacil.org, adacil.org

Resources for Independent Living (RIL) - Voter Education/Registration, October 11th - 1:30 to 3:30 PM, 351 High Street, Suite 103, Burlington, NJ, 609.747.7745

Center for Independent Living-SJ - Voter Registration- August 26th, 10am to 3:30 pm. - 1150 Delsea Drive, Suite 1, Westville, NJ 08093, 856.853.6490. Free water ice if you register to vote!

Heightened Independence & Progress - (Heightened Independence Project) September 10th, Voter Registration, 35 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ (outside of the HIP building) 201.533.4407

MOCEANS Center for Independent Living - 279 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740- Voter Registration/Education Workshop coming in September - 732.571.4884

Progressive Center for Independent Living - Voter Registration/Education Workshop coming in September - 3525 Quakerbridge Road, Hamilton, NJ 08619, 609.581.4500

Heightened Independence & Progress/Bergen - Voter Registration Workshop - Date to be announced. 131 Main Street, Suite 120, Hackensack, NJ 07601, 201.996.9100

Camden City Independent Living Center - Voter Registration events in September and October. Virtua Campus, 1000 Atlantic Avenue, Camden, NJ 08104. For information, please call 856.966.0800 or email vedasmithccilc@aol.com

DIAL, Inc. - Voter Education/Registration Workshop coming in September. 2 Prospect Village Plaza, First Floor, Clifton, NJ 07013, 973.470.8090

Posted on August 16, 2016 and filed under Advocacy, Voting.

REV UP New Jersey Disability Voting Campaign Officially Kicks Off in Trenton

Thank you to everyone who braved the heat and participated in the REV UP New Jersey Kickoff at the NJ State House. About 30 people heard speeches about the importance of the disability vote and our participation in the election process. Among the speakers were: NJ Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling of Monmouth County, Kevin Casey, Executive Director of the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities and Norman Smith, Associate Executive, Project Freedom.

The event was organized by Alliance Center for Independence and REV UP New Jersey and funded by the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities.

Posted on July 26, 2016 and filed under Voting, Advocacy.

Call the Trump for President Headquarters on July 14th!

In January, the Trump for President Campaign received a list of 16 questions related to disability policy and issues important to the 54 million Americans with disabilities. The questionnaire was put together by RespectAbilityUSA, a Maryland-based disability advocacy organization. The questionnaire was sent to all the presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle. Since that time, however, all but the Trump campaign have responded.

As of now, the Trump campaign has refused to answer the questions or acknowledge them in anyway. Since January, calls, emails and a visit to his campaign headquarters in Edison asking Trump to complete the questionnaire have gone unanswered.

As the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, his continued dismissal of our community should not go unchallenged! Join us on Trump Call-In Day and send a message that we will not be ignored. For more details, visit our Upcoming Events page.

This call-in day has been organized by the Alliance Center for Independence and REV UP NJ. REV UP NJ is comprised of disability agencies throughout the state, including NJ Centers for Independent Living, the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities, and Disability Rights NJ. To become involved in REV UP NJ, please sign up at our website: adacil.org/voting or visit our Facebook page: facebook.com/revupnj

REV UP NJ is part of a national movement to increase the participation of people with disabilities in the election process.

ACI and REV UP NJ are both non-partisan groups. We don't endorse or criticize any candidate. The purpose of our efforts is to educate NJ's disability community in voting and the election process.

Posted on June 28, 2016 and filed under Advocacy, Voting.

Join ACI in Protesting the Disability Snuff Movie, ME BEFORE YOU

The Alliance Center for Independence joins other disability rights organizations and advocates in condemning the movie, Me Before You, which opens in theaters this Friday. Me Before You is a story of a wealthy young man who, after becoming paralyzed, chooses to end his life through physician assisted suicide means. He does this in order so that he is no longer a "burden" to his caretaker, whom he falls in love with.

The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), Not Dead Yet and the Center for Disabled Rights in NYC object to the way the film portrays people with disabilities: that we are a burden to the rest of us, that killing oneself is better than living with a disability and that people with disabilities can not have a fulfilling life and make contributions to the community like non-disabled people.

Posted on June 1, 2016 and filed under Advocacy.

Advocates Hold Demonstration Against Princeton University

Over 40 advocates, including representatives from the Alliance Center for Independence, Liberty Resources, Inc., in Philadelphia, ADAPT of Philadelphia, demonstrated in front of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs at Princeton University on May 27th. This action was to protest the University's discrimination against students with disabilities and for its refusal to take action against Professor Peter Singer, who advocates denying healthcare coverage for babies born with "severe disabilities". Demonstrators were also there to support Rachel Barr, who recently staged a hunger strike to protest the Princeton's refusal to make appropriate accommodations.

ACI helped organize the demonstration, along with Alan Holdsworth of Liberty Resources, Inc.

Posted on May 31, 2016 and filed under Advocacy.