Idaho's Hands Around the Capitol 2020

Event Date(s): 
Wednesday, July 1, 2020 to Saturday, October 31, 2020
Description: 

Join us for our exciting, groundbreaking online campaign beginning in July and continuing until the end of October. We are Celebrating 30 Years of Community Access, Independent Living, Employment and Activism through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

When the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world and in Idaho, plans for Hands Around the Capitol 2020” were revised. The need to celebrate, engage, and educate remains, so we changed our plans to create a series of online events, beginning in July and continuing until the end of October. We need your involvement to bring our online campaign to life.

The ADA is a law that makes sure we, as people with disabilities, are treated the same way as others. We cannot meet in person this year, so we will come together using social media. We are going to use social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to share our stories of how the ADA empowers us to live the lives we want. We will also tell the stories of the people who made it all possible.

The ADA has expanded opportunities for 304,000 Idahoans who have disabilities by reducing barriers, changing perceptions, and increasing full participation in community life. However, the full promise of the ADA will only be reached if we remain committed to continuing our efforts to fully implement the ADA through education and outreach. Some of our goals and activities include:

  • Provide online events, activities, presentations, and interviews to learn about the ADA to understand the history and importance of the ADA in our lives and communities, as well as its limitations and what we can do to go beyond.
  • Increase awareness around the ADA regarding access, employment, and assistive technology; independent living and political impact; intersectionality and disability.
  • Engage and educate our young and upcoming leaders.
  • Meet activists, athletes, musicians, dancers, academics, educators, and everyday folks who share a common vision of disability rights and independent living.
  • Ensure all posts, interviews, and activities are accessible for the use of screen readers, incorporating alt-text on all pictures, the use of captioning, sign language interpreters, and oral description for video presentations, including live and recorded interviews.

Example of Activities

  • Conduct interviews with leaders in the ADA movement past and present, about intersectionality, disability justice, emerging young leaders, voting, employment, transportation, assistive technology, ideas to eliminate physical and attitudinal barriers, independent living, community access and housing.
  • Lunch With LeAnn.” LeAnn invites guests to share their lunch break with her over Zoom. She has an upbeat interview style, and keeps viewers engaged. The 10-minute interview on a variety of topics is hosted on her weekly Zoom program. Stay tuned for LeAnns interviews with our sponsors, who will discuss their services and opportunities that you might be interested in.
  • Promote existing trainings on ADA regulations through the National ADA Network.
  • Open Arms Dance Project is organizing 4-5 flash mobs where they will dance at different locations, highlighting accessible and non-accessible public areas and facilities. Open Arms Dance Project is a multi-generational and inclusive modern dance company welcoming people of all ages, with and without disabilities.
  • Advertise and promote our event schedule through an online conference platform. We are exploring the accessibility features of using a platform such as Eventbrite.
  • Conduct a t-shirt campaign to show the impact of the ADA in Idaho and beyond. While we cannot gather in person around the capital, we can create a similar effect as we link thousands of our pictures together in digital ways. One way we are going to share our stories will be by sharing pictures of us wearing our t-shirts. We will collect these pictures by email, and then post them on social media using our Thanks To The ADA” hashtag: #ThanksToTheADA.
  • Everyone is welcome to participate and you dont have to be a person with a disability to participate in our t-shirt campaign. We will also create a video of all the social media images shared during the event. Our goal is to share stories with as many people as possible. This means you can share anything we share too. To participate, you will do the following:
  1. Wear your t-shirt.
  2. Take a picture of you (or your group) somewhere, or doing something, that connects with the ADA experience you want to share. If pictures have bad resolution we cannot use them, so please try to set your camera to the highest quality settings. Ideas of things you can do:
    • Pose with your service dog in a business
    • Using your assistive technology
    • Using a form of effective communication like:
      • reading large print or Braille menus, using a video phone,
      • working with a sign language interpreter,
      • watching a video with captioning,
    • Using accessible features like:
      • Accessible transportation
      • Audible/vibrating pedestrian signals
      • Accessible parking spaces, curb cuts, ramps, sidewalks
      • Accessible playground equipment or lifts into pools, accessible trails, boating docks, fishing peers,
  3. Write a short explanation of the picture and what you are doing or how the things in the picture help you. Try to make it only a sentence or two.
  4. Include the first names of those in the photo or if you are a group of people identify who you represent.
  5. Email the description and the image to the 30th Anniversary of the ADA Celebration through the months of July to October 31. Send to  this email: idaho30yearADA@gmail.com or post on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/handsaroundthecapitol/
  6. These pictures will be posted on social media and linked through our ADA hashtags (#ThanksToTheADA #WhatTheADAMeansToMe  #ADA30Idaho).
  • Our events will also use popular hashtags themes such as: Motivational Monday: #MotivationalMonday, Tech Tuesday: #TechTuesday, Hump Day: #HumpDay, Lunch With LeAnn: #LunchWithLeAnn, Throw Back Thursday: #ThrowBackThursday, Feature Friday: #FeatureFriday,  Photo Of The Day: ##PhotoOfTheDay,  Fun Day Sunday #FunDaySunday
  • Create a video in October of all the social media images posted throughout our campaign for broader distribution, including government agencies, donating organizations, and local, state and national organizations that advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.

Please contact Dana Gover for more information  idaho30yearADA@gmail.com. Stayed tuned for more information on Facebook.

 

A BIG THANK You  TO OUR SPONSORS!

  • Ada County Highway District (ACHD)
  • Atomic Homes powered by Epic Realty
  • Amoureux AT Consulting LLC
  • BlueCross
  • Consortium of Idahoans with Disabilities (CID)
  • Disability Action Center Northwest (DAC)
  • Idaho Access Project
  • Idaho Assistive Technology Project
  • Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence
  • Idaho Commission For the Blind and Visually Impaired (ICBVI)
  • Idaho Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ICDHH)
  • Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities
  • Idaho Department of Commerce
  • Idaho Department of Vocational Rehabilitation
  • Idaho Home Choice
  • Idaho Housing and Finance Association
  • Idaho Human Rights Commission
  • Idaho State Independent Living Council (SILC)
  • Intermountain Fair Housing Council
  • Life A Center for Independent Living
  • Living Independence Network Corporation (LINC)
  • Northwest ADA Center-Idaho
  • Open Arms Dance Project
  • Unclaimed Property

 

 

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