National Forum on Disability Issues
featuring
The 2008 Presidential Candidates (invited)

July 26, 2008
Columbus, Ohio

About the Forum

(BREAKING NEWS - 7/14 - Senator John McCain confirms participation in forum via satellite link from Arizona)

The National Forum on Disability Issues, featuring the 2008 Presidential Candidates (invited) is a historic, nonpartisan forum on national disability policy to be held on July 26, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio. The venue allows us to welcome well over a thousand Americans with disabilities and their friends and family (registration required) to attend the event, and to commemorate the 18th anniversary of our civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act. The forum will feature time slots for the presidential candidates to individually present their visions for the future of disability policy in America followed by questions by Judy Woodruff, news anchor and journalist ("The News Hour with Jim Lehrer"), who will act as the Moderator.

This presidential candidates forum builds on the success of our November primary-focused forum in New Hampshire, where the disability community made history with its first-ever disability presidential candidates forum with participation from seven presidential candidates, five of them in person.

In addition to a large live attendance, tens of thousands from across the country will tune in via simultaneous webcast. The forum will also be broadcast live start to finish over all Ohio radio reading services, giving access to the event to people with disabilities in Ohio who don't have a computer and aren't able to attend to attend the event in person.

Attending the Forum

The Conference & Technology Center in Columbus, Ohio will accommodate large numbers of attendees, but registration is required. Registration will close when our capacity is reached. Please only register if you are certain you can attend this event in person. Please print your confirmation screen after you successfully register and bring it with you to the forum as proof of registration.

View a list of hotels in the area

Webcast:

Please plan on joining us remotely if you can't come in person. Watch with your family, or set up a viewing party in your area and bring lots of folks together to watch as a group.

The National Forum on Disability Issues will feature a live, simultaneous webcast, complete with pass-through captioning and American Sign Language interpreting.

The webcast is made possible by .

Date, Time, and Location

Date: Saturday, July 26, 2008

Time: 12:30 pm ET - 3:30 pm ET

Location:
Conference & Technology Center
First Church of God
3480 Refugee Road
Columbus, Ohio 43232

Map to Event Location

Forum Sponsors

Hosting Sponsors ($1,500 level)

1. ACCSES
2. ADAPT
3. ADA Watch & National Coalition for Disability Rights
4. American Association for Retired Persons (AARP)
5. American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
6. American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
7. Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
8. Buckeye Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America
9. Disability Rights Montana
10. Epilepsy Foundation
11. Goodwill Industries International
12. National Association of the Deaf
13. National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
14. National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA)
15. NEXT STEP
16. Nisonger Center of the Ohio State University
17. Ohio Association of Adult Services
18. Ohio Association of Goodwill Industries (OAGI)
19. Ohio Disability Vote Coalition
20. Ohio Legal Rights Service
21. Ohio Olmstead Task Force
22. Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council
23. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
24. Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)
25. Special Olympics International
26. Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati (SBAC)
27. The Ability Center of Greater Toledo
28. The Arc of the United States
29. United Cerebral Palsy (UCP)
30. United Spinal Association
31. Wisconsin Disability Vote Coalition (WDVC)
32. VSA arts

Supporting Sponsors ($500 level)

33. Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago
34. American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
35. American Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)
36. Amputee Coalition of America
37. Autistic Self-Advocacy Network with The Autism Acceptance Project, The
38. Autism Society of Ohio
39. Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)
40. Yoshiko Dart
41. Dr. Daryl Ann Doane
42. Easter Seals of Ohio
43. Echoing Hills Village
44. Fifth Freedom Network
45. Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)
46. Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, Inc.
47. LADD, Inc. (Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled)
48. Little People of America (LPA)
49. Missouri Disability Vote Project, a project of Paraquad, Inc.
50. National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
51. National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer / Survivor Organizations
52. National Consortium on Leadership and Disability/Youth
53. National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
54. National Fragile X Foundation
55. National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN)
56. North Coast Rehabilitation Coalition - Cleveland, Ohio
57. Ohio Association of Centers for Independent Living
58. Ohio Association of County Boards/MRDD
59. Ohio Down Syndrome Advocacy Network (ODAN)
60. Ohio Governor's Council on People with Disabilities (GCPD)
61. Ohio Provider Resource Association
62. Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)
63. United Cerebral Palsy of Central Ohio
64. United States Society for Augmentative Alternative Communication (USSAAC)
65. The Arc of Ohio
66. The Whole Person, Inc.

Contributing Sponsors ($100-$499)

67. American Association on Health and Disability
68. American Society of Hematology
69. Cerebral Palsy Association of Ohio
70. Disability Network Ohio - Solidarity
71. Inter-National Association of Business, Industry, and Rehabilitation (I-NABIR)
72. Paul Steven Miller and Jennifer Mechem
73. Susan Golden (Kailua Kona Hawaii)
74. The Autism Legislation Project
75. The University of Washington Disability Studies Program
76. United Cerebral Palsy – Pittsburgh

Media Sponsors

77. Ability Magazine
78. Able Newspaper
79. Disaboom
80. International Association of Audio Information Services (IAAIS)
81. VOICEcorps reading service
82. WOSU Public Media

Becoming a Sponsor

We welcome you to become a part of disability history by becoming a sponsor of this event. An organization or individual can sponsor the forum at either the hosting level ($1,500) or at the supporting level ($500). Organizations sponsoring at $1,500 or $500 will be listed with their logos in promotional and program materials at their respective sponsorship levels.

We also welcome lower levels of contributions from organizations and individuals. Those who contribute $100-$499 will have their names listed as "Contributing Sponsors" of the event in program materials the day of the event.

To become a sponsor*, please send the following items to Anne Sommers at AAPD:

1. A written commitment from your organization, noting the level of sponsorship you will be providing
   
   
2. An organizational logo (highest resolution possible or vector file, if available)
   
   
3. Checks should be made payable to Ohio Disability Vote Coalition—Presidential Forum, and should be sent to:
   
   The Ohio Disability Vote Coalition
   c/o The Ability Center of Greater Toledo
   5605 Monroe St., Sylvania Ohio, 43560
   Attention: Kim Shankleton

*Note: We will continue to accept contributions and sponsorships until July 9, however those sponsorships not received by July 1 may not appear on banners or in program materials due to our graphics design and production deadlines.

Hotels in Columbus (with distance from the venue listed)