Advocacy Day for Access & Independence · April 1, 2020 · LIVESTREAM
UPDATE: As we receive updates on the spread of COVID-19, we are rethinking our annual Advocacy Day for Access & Independence. It will be held entirely virtually on the scheduled date of April 1, 2020. Advocacy Day isn’t possible without the participation of the community, which is why we are excited to expand our reach digitally with people all across the state and nation!

Advocacy Day for Access & Independence is the only event in South Carolina that's breaking down barriers for ALL South Carolinians with disabilities. Since its inaugural gathering in May 2014, support has grown to 25 organizations statewide all unified in an effort to ensure people with disabilities have equal access and opportunity. People with disabilities face unnecessary and discriminatory barriers to transportation, employment, and public access. Advocacy Day for Access and Independence will shine a light on these barriers in hopes of improving the lives of all South Carolinians.

Because this event is now a livestream, registration is not required.

How will a virtual event work?

Taking Advocacy Day for Access and Independence online is a huge opportunity to build the disability rights movement in South Carolina and reach an audience larger than ever before. We will be live-streaming Advocacy Day virtually through Facebook and YouTube, where participants can watch, leave comments, and start live conversations. State legislators and officials as well as activists from the disability community will be speaking about the barriers that South Carolinians with disabilities regularly face and the ways we can fix them. Viewers will also be walked through the process of contacting their representatives about the issues that matter to them, and they will be provided with powerful tools to make collective action easier than ever before.

What about accessibility?

As always, Able South Carolina is committed to making all of our programming fully accessible for all people, with and without disabilities. This virtual gathering will be a model of online accessibility and accommodations. CART live-captioning services and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will be available to all viewers throughout the event. Should anyone have any additional accommodations requests or concerns, we encourage them to contact us by calling 803.779.5121 or emailing advocacy@able-sc.org. Thanks to new innovations in technology, we are able to connect easier than ever with one another online. This is especially important for people with disabilities, who have access to virtual spaces, conversations, and opportunities like never before. We hope that through this virtual event and the many others happening during this time, people’s perspectives begin to shift about what accessibility and accommodations look like. They benefit everyone, and are much easier to use than one might think. To stay tuned, follow our SC Access and Independence Network and Able South Carolina Facebook pages.

TAKE THE #BARRIERFREESC CHALLENGE!

We challenge you to share a video or picture about what a #BarrierFreeSC means to you!
To Robbie (view his video here), it means disability leadership, competitive employment, and FULL community participation. What does it mean to you?
Take a video or share a picture with #BarrierFreeSC and tag us in it to be featured! 🔓

Need assistance? Contact Advocacy@able-sc.org