>> SLIDE 1 The National Council on Independent Living presents – Harnessing Your Power To Advocate For Change Elevate Logo - Campaign Training for People with Disabilities. Graphic features Capitol Rotunda in NCIL blue (periwinkle). >> SLIDE 2 Thank you to our sponsors! Run for Something Action Fund logo www.RunForWhat.net ActBlue logo Sign up for ActBlue! https://secure.actblue.com/pending_entities/new >> SLIDE 3 Guest Speaker: Vilissa Thompson Vilissa Thompson, LMSW is the Founder & CEO of Ramp Your Voice!, an organization focused on promoting self-advocacy and strengthening empowerment among disabled people. Being a Disability Rights Consultant, Writer, & Activist affords Vilissa the opportunity to be a prominent leader and expert in addressing and educating the public and political figures about the plight of disabled people, especially disabled Black women and femmes. Image: Photo of a young Black woman with her hair parted and hanging down straight. She is smiling and facing the camera sideways in her wheelchair. She is outside under the tree branches while wearing a white and black dress. >> SLIDE 4 Harnessing Your Power to Advocate for Change Copyright © • Property of Vilissa Thompson, LMSW • Ramp Your Voice!, LLC • All Rights Reserved >> SLIDE 5 My Origin Story >> SLIDE 6 My Journey Into Political Spaces - Watched state and national debates on TV; as well as well Sunday morning political talk shows with my Grandmother - AfAm Studies minor - Model UN delegate in undergrad - Discovered macro social work in graduate school - Secretary for county Democratic Party for 5 years - Consultant for Sen. Warren’s disability policy in 2020 >> SLIDE 7 Barriers I Observed in Political Spaces >> SLIDE 8 The Barriers - Being “the only” or a handful in these spaces - Disability issues not centered or considered at all - Ableism within the political sphere - Lack of support and protection provided to/for disabled candidates - Lack of diverse, inclusive disabled narratives >> SLIDE 9 A Lesser Tapped Group - A powerful voting bloc - Our issues are deep within the social and political issues you and your candidate care about - Retaining and supporting disabled candidates can no longer be an afterthought >> SLIDE 10 Local/State vs National Campaigns & Politics - Failure to engage disabled issues and constituents fully - Discussing and understanding disability issues with an intersectional lens - Not all of us - disabled candidates or constituents - are white, cishet, Christian men >> SLIDE 11 What Can You Do? >> SLIDE 12 What Can Be Done to Improve Engagement & Representation? - Do you understand the issues of the community from the intersectional disability lens? - Even if you’re a part of the community, that doesn’t automatically mean you “get” it - privilege is a heck of an obstacle to push beyond - Are you intentional about your engagement with the community at-large and within your constituency? - How are you tackling ableism within your campaigns, talking points and issues centered, and among staff? >> SLIDE 13 Where You Can Find Me Making the “Good Trouble” in Activism - http://rampyourvoice.com (Ramp Your Voice logo) - Vilissa@rampyourvoice.com (email logo) - /RampYourVoice (Facebook logo) - @RampYourVoice & @VilissaThompson (Twitter logo) >> SLIDE 14 The National Council on Independent Living presents – Harnessing Your Power To Advocate For Change Presented by: Dom Kelly Senior Fundraising Manager and Disability Council Lead at Fair Fight Action Elevate Logo - Campaign Training for People with Disabilities. Graphic features Capitol Rotunda in NCIL blue (periwinkle). >> SLIDE 15 Trainer: Dom Kelly Dom Kelly is the Senior Fundraising Manager at Fair Fight Action, a voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, and a passionate disability justice advocate. He also founded and leads Fair Fight Action’s Disability Council composed of prominent disability advocates and policy experts from across the country. Dom is one of a set of triplets with Cerebral Palsy and has been involved in disability advocacy since he was four years old. Image: A white man with brown hair on his head wearing a light denim collared shirt, standing in front of a tree surrounded by green leaves. >> SLIDE 16: Agenda What drives you? - Identifying the problem - Building your case - Getting buy-in - Understanding power - Making the ask - Effecting change >> SLIDE 17 What drives you? - What wakes you up in the morning? - How would you like to see the world around you change? - Who are the people doing the work you care about? - Why should other people care? >> SLIDE 18 What drives you? Image: Three triplet boys sitting on a couch. The boys are wearing matching outfits - white longsleeve shirts, dark blue jeans, and white shoes. >> SLIDE 19 Identifying the problem - What’s inside your sphere of control or influence? -- These are things that should ideally be solvable -- They should have solutions that are attainable -- Data to back them up >> SLIDE 20 Identifying the problem Image: Three circles - a large purple one, a medium blue one, and a small green one - on top of each other. Pointing to the small green circle are the words "What you can control." Pointing to the medium blue circle are the words "What you can influence." And pointing to the large purple circle are the words "Everything else--outside of your control and influence." Source: Education Week >> SLIDE 21 Identifying the problem - What’s inside your sphere of control or influence? -- These are things that should ideally be solvable -- They should have solutions that are attainable -- Data to back them up - Try to focus on one problem or issue - You shouldn’t have to tackle it alone >> SLIDE 22 Identifying the problem Image: A survey question that reads "Are you currently or have you ever been employed with or volunteered for a political campaign, elected official, government office, or political organization?" followed by the choices "Yes" or "No" Image: A survey question that reads "Have you ever faced ableism or lack of accessibility in that work or volunteer experience? Please explain." Followed by a space for someone to answer the question we a prompt that reads "Type your answer here..." with a submit button that reads "OK" at the bottom. Image: A survey question that reads, "Please rate the following statement: 'If a political candidate or elected official uses language or exhibits behavior that I perceive as ableist, it will stop me from voting for that candidate, regardless of party affiliation." Followed by the numbers 1 through 5, with 1 being "Strongle Disagree," 3 being "No opinion" and 5 being "Strongly Agree." >> SLIDE 23 Identifying the problem - 86% said they faced barriers to inclusion in political and nonprofit spaces - 89% said they wouldn’t donate or volunteer to an organization that says or does ableist things - 80% said they would reconsider voting for a candidate who says or does something ableist, regardless of party affiliation >> SLIDE 24 Building your case - Change doesn’t happen overnight - You want to be able to give evidence that what you are advocating for is worth the resources - Build up a solid case for why stakeholders should care about your issue >> SLIDE 25 Building your case - Find smaller opportunities that you can point to later when you make your big ask. - You can advocate for seemingly smaller things while you’re building your case for more. Image: On the left is Stacey Abrams, a smiling Black woman wearing a blue shirt with a grey sweater on top. On the right is ASL interpreter Persis Bristol, smiling and wearing a blue shirt with a white jacket on top and signing the word "Hello." >> SLIDE 26 Building your case Image: A tweet from Fair Fight that reads, "GEORGIA: @RealNatlADAPT is on the ground providing access to the polls for any voters needing accessible transportation. If you are in need of transportation assistance, fill out this form below. Thank you for voting!" next to a ballot emoji and a peach emoji. Below that is a link to a Google form above the date and time the tweet was sent - 8:59 AM on January 5, 2021. >> SLIDE 27 Getting buy-in - Find your allies internally - Don’t go it alone – bring other people into the process -- Strategize, plan, and run your ideas by them -- Be open to feedback and criticism - Share your progress with those people as you strategize >> SLIDE 28 Getting buy-in - Find people outside your workplace to buy in - Build your team of trusted advisors – friends, mentors, former colleagues. - Don’t be afraid of starting again from scratch >> SLIDE 29 Understanding power “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.” -Alice Walker >> SLIDE 30 Understanding power - Every one of us has power and influence and people who influence us - When advocating for change, it’s helpful to know who you’re targeting and who their influencers are - Power mapping is a tool that helps identify key decision makers and leverage their relationships to help advocate for change >> SLIDE 31 Understanding power Image: An example of the power mapping tool. In the middle is a circle with the word "Decision Maker" with arrows pointing out of it to other circles that include words like "Friends," "Family," "Staff," Advisors," that point to smaller circles with words like "Business Associates," "Church," and more. >> SLIDE 32 Making the ask - Be clear about what you are asking for - Have all your data and evidence prepared and ready to present - Clearly articulate your Why Statement >> SLIDE 33 Making the ask Image: A visual template for the Why Statement that shows the word "To" followed by a blank line. Above the blank line is an arrow pointing toward it along with the text, "your contribution." After the first blank line, it says "so that" followed by another blank line with an arrow pointing to it and the words, "your impact." Source: Hubspot >> SLIDE 34 Making the ask - Be explicit about what you are asking for; don’t leave anything up for interpretation - Be prepared to answer questions, especially around resource needs -- For example, if you’re advocating for hiring ASL interpreters for all your candidate’s events, press conferences, etc., be prepared to come with estimated costs >> SLIDE 35 Effecting change - Bring others into the work - Build a coalition/collective impact (if applicable) - Make sure you are managing up effectively - Don’t be afraid to reassess and change course if things change >> SLIDE 36 Effecting change Image: A screenshot of the Fair Fight Action website with a press release dated August 20, 2021. The title of the press release says "Fair Fight Action Disability Council: The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Protects Disabled Voters" in white font on a solid purple header. The body of the press release is cut off, but what is visible says, "ATLANTA — Members of Fair Fight Action’s Disability Council, comprised of disabled activists and policy experts from around the country, are calling on Congress to immediately pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (HR4), legislation that would restore, update and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) to prevent states and localities across the country from enacting discriminatory voting rules. U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (D-Alabama) introduced the groundbreaking voting rights legislation on Tuesday in Selma, Alabama in front of the..." >> SLIDE 37 Contact me Dom Kelly domkelly4@gmail.com Twitter and Instagram: @the_tattooedjew linkedin.com/in/dominic-edward-kelly/