Contact: Mariana V. Nork
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AAPD Honored Congressional Champions on Capitol Hill

Event with Reps. Danny Davis and Jim Ramstad, The Honorable Rick Lazio, and Grassroots Leaders Corey Rowley and Bob Kafka Celebrated 16th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

AAPD ADA Celebration 2006 Photo Gallery.

July 26 marked the 16th anniversary of the passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In recognition of this important legislation, AAPD, which is the largest cross-disability membership organization in the U.S., hosted an event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

This event featured disability champions Representatives Danny Davis and Jim Ramstad and The Honorable Rick Lazio, as well as grassroots disability leaders, national disability leaders, government officials, and AAPD’s interns who are working in Federal agencies and on Capitol Hill this summer.

AAPD, which was founded on the fifth anniversary of the ADA, promotes public policies that advance the goals of the ADA: equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. Each year, AAPD sponsors an event to commemorate the ADA anniversary, at which it presents Justice for All Awards as a way of recognizing individuals who have proven to be extraordinary champions of political and economic empowerment for people with disabilities.

At the event, AAPD presented Justice for All Awards to Congressional champions of disability rights, Representatives Danny Davis and Jim Ramstad; Corey Rowley, Pennsylvania SILC Executive Director; Bob Kafka, ADAPT National Organizer; and The Honorable Rick Lazio, Executive Vice President of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a former member of congress. Participating in the award presentations were Senator Tom Harkin and AAPD executive committee member Cheryl Sensenbrenner.

Additionally this year, AAPD also presented a Thomas Paine Award to MIT Professor Ted Selker. Making the presentation on AAPD’s behalf was Rep. Jim Langevin.

And as an additional highlight of the events, AAPD presented certificates to its 2006 class of Microsoft-AAPD Federal I.T. Interns and Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation–AAPD Congressional Interns., and speakers included Reps. Major Owens and Charles Rangel.

In 2001, the Justice for All award recipients were Senators Bob Dole, Tom Harkin, Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy, and esteemed grassroots organizer Mark Smith. 2002 Justice for All honorees were Congressional champions John Conyers, Jr., Steny Hoyer, Pete Sessions and John Shimkus; Marissa Johnson, President of the National Youth Leadership Network; and Kathy Bushkin, President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation. 2003 Justice for All Award recipients were Senate champions Christopher Dodd and John McCain; disability rights leaders Patricia Garrett, Sue Hetrick and David Jayne; and Thomas Tauke, Senior Vice President, Public Policy & External Affairs for Verizon Communications. In 2004, AAPD presented Justice for All Awards to House champions: Congressman Major Owens and Bob Ney; grassroots and civil rights leaders Harriet McBryde Johnson and Hillary Shelton, NAACP; and Bank of America Sr. Vice President for Diversity, Annette Kellermann, for the work she has done to ensure the bank’s branches and ATM machines are accessible. AAPD also presented an AAPD Thomas Paine Award in 2004 to disability rights activist Brad Williams. And in 2005, AAPD presented Justice for All Awards to two Senate champions of disability rights, Jim Jeffords and Gordon Smith; to Nicholas Donofrio, IBM Executive Vice President, Innovation and Technology; and to renowned author and journalist Jeffery Deaver. AAPD also paid a special tribute to Yoshiko Dart.

For additional information regarding the history of AAPD’s ADA celebration events as well as photos of past events, please visit the AAPD website.

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
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