Download a PDF of the report here - United Cerebral Palsy

ANNUAL
REPORT
2012
Political Engagement in the Disability Community
United Cerebral Palsy launched a new effort in 2012 to help engage the broader disability community in the political
arena. UCP appointed a new Director of Political Leadership and Strategy, Will Swenson, who is working to recruit an
online grassroots base of support for effective advocacy both in Washington and at the state level.
Swenson will develop resources to help educate the press and the public about how political developments could affect
people with disabilities and their families, and create new communications tools including videos and social media
campaigns to highlight some of the biggest problems facing the community—and the most innovative ideas for how to
solve them.
A centerpiece of those efforts will be the formation of a new 501(c)4 organization that will be able to take on a more
active role in political debates and will be a home for a range of advocacy efforts on issues ranging from health care
to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and education to justice issues. An early effort made by the group, called
Imperfect Union, was a video highlighting how Wisconsinites with disabilities rely on Medicaid for a range of services
and supports, which raised concerns about proposals to cut funding for the program. Similar efforts to connect large
and sometimes abstract policy issues to the everyday experience of individual Americans with disabilities will be a
central strategy of the organization moving forward.
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