Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017: Year in Review

To say 2017 was an interesting and tumultuous year would be an understatement. This year we have seen the disability community under attack, defending against various legislation, policies, and actions by the current administration. From multiple attempts to repeal the ACA and cut Medicaid, to HR 620 … a bill that would weaken the ADA, to the tax bill, and the removal of disability rights guidance documents by the Department of Justice, people with disabilities are watching, speaking out, and fighting back.

In #CripTheVote’s second year, we were involved in the following activities:

-Posted a call for Medicaid stories by people with disabilities and published them online.

-Shared stories of activism by disabled people with advice for first-timers, definition of activism, and reflections on the relationship between identity and activism.

-Supported and welcomed a new offshoot of #CripTheVote in the lead up to the 2017 General Election in the UK: #CripTheVoteUK

-Published 3 guest blog posts


-Hosted 11 chats


-Started a series of spotlight chats with disabled candidates:


Including the spotlight chats, #CripTheVote has hosted 29 Twitter chats since our formation in 2016. All of this would not be possible without you. Whether you participated in a chat, guest hosted with us, or used the hashtag to share your stories and information, we are thankful for your involvement. You keep us motivated as we head toward the future. 

Looking forward, we plan to continue organizing chats featuring guest hosts from our community featuring issues that we care about. We also plan on identifying and highlighting disabled candidates who are running for office in 2018.

Please join us on January 21, 2018 as we host a chat on chronic pain and opioids with guest hosts Alecia Deon and Alex Haagaard. Details coming soon: https://www.facebook.com/events/1794096123936515??ti=ia

Be on the lookout for our second Disability Issues Survey in early 2018! Check out the results of the 2016 survey here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/p/2016-survey.html

Feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions or feedback: cripthevote@gmail.com. We’re also still hoping to meet and highlight disabled candidates at the local, state, and federal level. If you’re running for office, or know of a disabled candidate, let us know, and introduce them to #CripTheVote!

Happy New Year,

Gregg Beratan, Andrew Pulrang, and Alice Wong
#CripTheVote Co-Partners