Was signed into law. This landmark piece of legislation is the reason that millions of americans cannot be denied a job simply because they live with a disability. And its also the reasons that americans with disabilities are guaranteed the same basic rights as every other person welcomeded to spaces across our country. From our schools, shopping malls, Public Schools and restaurants. There is no question that over the past 29 years, our nation has broken down many obstacles which used to confront people with disabilities. But the truth is that we still have a long path to travel before we can finally say that americans with disabilities has fully achieved equality and justice. At this moment. More than one out of every five disabled americans live below the poverty line, and as is too often the case, it is people from traditionally marginalized communities, including women and people of color who continue to suffer the most. A painful reminder, the disabled community, like our nation as a whole. Ron face deep issues on race and gender. I bet everyone in the room recognizes this is a time of disabled americans of every background come to fight devalue share by everyone in the progressive community. Thats since entering the white house, President Trump has helped lead a sweeping assault on disability rights. His mission has threatened regulations by the department, under president obama to protect students of color and his allies in congress tried to overturn critical safeguards of the ada. Here at the center for American Progress, we understand that expanding opportunities for americans with disability from the issues we cover, education, health care, criminal Justice Reform to the environment. Thats why last year launched the first dedicated disability project at any think tank in the country. Were impulsely proud of everything our team has flished under the relationship or rebecca, and the work that we will do. And today were thrilled to release an advancing Economic Security for people with disability which strives to ensure that every american living with disability has a fair shot at finding success and dignity. Now i have the great pleasure of turning the program over to our keynote speaker for the morning. An amazing leader shes had her career toward this exact mission. Claudia gordon. Claudas charged with limiting Communications Barriers for americans living with disabilities. Before her current role, she served for seven years within the administration of barack obama, advising the president on disability parties and acting as a lee ahsan. And as the first deaf, black woman in american history, she graduated from law school and were so grateful that she could join us this morning. So please help me give a warm round of applause to ms. Clauda gord gordon. [applaus [applause] great. Good morning, everyone. So many familiar faces here. Happy 88, 29th anniversary i always look forward to this time of year. Its truly an honor to be here with all of you, and thank you so much for that introduction. Happy one year anniversary, to the Disability Justice institute. Remember one year ago today, i with as here watching the excitement of this program getting inaugurated and completely unprecedented in our community to have some sort of organization like this fighting for our rights. So also, congratulations to that for the amazing work thats happened so far. Want to recognize Rebecca Coakley for her leadership and now id like to add on to that, the three of us, former Obama Administration colleagues, our Journey Continues together because of our passion in this cause. And i also would like to recognize the amazing young lady, iva, your name precedes you and we finally got to meet today. Congratulations on this report that youve created. I dont have a lot of time. We have an incredible panel coming up so i will try to be bri brief. So in keeping with the theme of the report i want to talk about myself as a black woman, an immigrant to this country from the Beautiful Island of jamaica, to the rough inner city streets of bronx, new york. That was in 1980 no, 1983. Moved to new york, south bronx. Im the product of a single mother whose educational attainments, they didnt go beyond eighth grade. If society and the system had operated as designed without any disruption or disruption, i would not be here today. In fact, my life would surely be drastically different. I would not be the economically independent, taxpaying, educated lawyer and disability rights activist advocate that i am today much less both a resume that includes someone who has worked in Senior Leadership position in the nonprofit sector. In the federal government, thats where i worked at the white house and currently in the private sector. Without that disruption to the system of oppression, none of those things would be possible today. I still shudder when you think about what my life would be like for me today. If i hadnt have been able to escape the compounded oppression, particularly reserved for people like me, who just happen to live at that intersection of multiple marginalizati marginalization. From the day i still remember, 1980 just overnight i lost that ability to hear. Society seemed to figure out my life and my words, my destiny. Or so they thought. For example, i was removed from school. I was kept at home in isolation. I just spent my time twiddling my thumbs and doing housework and other tasks, but thanks to my hardworking single mom i was obviously to move to new york and finally continue their education at a school for the deaf. Even there i was still forced to disrupt the myths that were used to justify the unequality treatment. I was denied rights and privileges. For those who, even though they were deaf like me, they fit a certain social norm that i happened to not fit. I did an entire tedex talk about owning otherness and i spoke about that topic. And i still talk about that today, what it feels like to be an outsider within. So the example that will be mentioned today, well, a few examples, i have just too many to mention, but looking back on high school and my experience this there, i was told i should probably go to a local community college, i might be able to work at Something Like mcdonalds, eventually. Little did that School Counsellor know i did work at mcdonalds, but my time was i hated, absolutely hated. Theres nothing worried about working at mcdonalds, but i knew that i was relegated to the worst shift and disgusting duties having to wash the pile of dirty dishes after breakfast shift ended, having to always clean the bathro bathroom. So i have to thank mickey ds. They held me back from the cool stuff flipping the hamburgers or making the french fries. So when the counsellor came up with that nation i might have thought, oh, hey, yes, ill definitely settle for this. This is cool, but, no. I knew i was destined for more, for better the. My vocational rehabilitation counsel counsellor obviously as a person with disability i was eligible for vocally head support and she was adamant about me going to a fouryear college. She looked at me and thought i was capable, or not capable or worthy of that investment when it was time to based on my diagnosis and assessment, maybe i might have a mild learning disability, but thankfully, my mom and i as i am and as an immigrant, what that meant, with my stubbornness and desire to go to howard university. We kept that fire with us and thought for the support that i would need and that i deserved. And i did enroll in howard and i graduated with honors, by the way. There are so many stories at that i could share today, but those two really simply serve to illustrate society and the different systemic pervasive low expectations in education and employment, for people with disabilities. Even within those very systems, theyre designed to serve us. That oppression exists. Its harmful. Today were celebrating the 29th anniversary of the signing of the ada. Employment, Economic Opportunity and empowerment thats the Unfinished Business of the ada. There are others, but really, thats one of the key Unfinished Businesses of the ada. Thanks to organizations like cap and many of you here in the room today, i see my former colleagues off the oobcp. Obamas compliance, because under the Obama Administration we believe that a federal contractor or subcontractor who happens to earn great profits from taxpayer dollars, they should play by the rules. That means hiring, accommodating and promoting people with disabilities. Therefore, we set out an Ambitious Mission to strengthen that regulation, including adding 7 as the goal because what gets measured gets done. I was heartened by the recent passage of the raise the wage bi bill. With the goal to increase federal minimum wage to 15 an hour by 2025 and for the First Time Ever in the house or the senate now we have a vote to get rid of that, oh, that subminimal wage, that archaic requirement that allows employers to pay people that subminimum wage. Sometimes pennies. So, hurry for that. We still have more work for that bill, to get that passed in the senate, but this is progress. People with disabilities deserve an equal wage for their work. Now with ada being 29 years old when i think about that, you have to realize thats an entire generation, a whole generation of young people who have grown up in this country with access to education. The ability to participate in public accommodations and really gin join owe site to join society. Theyve never known any different. I meet young deaf people, at one time you didnt have a cell phone, an iphone in your pocket to text with people. I had to call my sister or my mom on a pay phone to come get me. You remember. [laughter] now, young people 29 years, they dont know about these basic things that they take for granted. Because its now the norm. They dont know any different. But when they decide to enter the job market too many of them find that door is still closed. We must continue to help push that door open and leave it open. Our youth and young adults deserve a chance to go as far as their hard work will take them. I like to quote president obama. He tends to really stress this quote. He said here in america success should not depend on the circumstances of birth, but the strength of our work ethics and the scope of our dreams. And also, i am reminded of dr. Martin luther king, he understood the simple truth that social justice that something in the dna that brought us here is that social justice. But social Justice WithoutEconomic Opportunity is meaningless. You have to think about that. Civil rights must complement and align with real Economic Opportunity, otherwise the laws, the registrations, the bills, the policies, theyre just words on a piece of paper. Too many within our Community Still today are led to feel that the American Dream is just an empty promise. Because theres so many hurdles, so many barriers in their way. When they try to get even just a foot in the door to start gaining Financial Security, that can come from having a good job. And lets be clear on somethi something, truly improving the Financial Security and wellbeing of people with disabilities means then also pushing beyond just jobs, but also fixing all of those other problems, like health care, housing, transportation, so then employment isnt dependent on those things, whether or not they have them or dont have them, which means they can or cannot get to work. They have to work hand in hand. So we cant just focus solely on employment in isolation and i believe that the report released today addresses that topic. So its not simply about disability agenda. Its really much more holistic than that. What are the things that we need, that north America Needs like paid family leave, child care. People with disabilities need that as well. Womens issues, disability issues, theres an intersection there. We become parents, caregivers, as well, just like anyone else. We need that holistic approach. It is necessary for us to stand with people with disabilities and advance this economy, we need that. In closing, yes, today were living in an unprecedented challenging time, but its important to remember before progre progress, progress cant always happen in a straight line. Progress often feels like one step forward two steps back. Civil discourse is vital to our success. And those who seek to inflame our public opinion, to demeaning offensive comment tri and rhetoric, will only end up demeaning themselves. Reasonable people can see a problem and come up with different approaches to solve the problem. We wont always agree. We wont always be on the same page, but we must strive to be agreeab agreeable. After all, when we think about disability issues, republican parents of children with disabilities share the same hopes hopes, dreams and aspirations as democrat ic children of parents with disabilities and really, all parents. They all want their children to be able to grow up and be capable, selfreliant, and a working member of society. And that their children will grow up, will be recognized for their inhent, sel inherent values. I believe that will continue to transform the ada promise and it will become a reality. I believe it. In fact, i know it because look around. I see all of you here and its overwhelming. Failure, giving up, thats not an option for us. Too many lives depend on this and depend on our work. So thank you all. Thank you cap, rebecca, thank you for all that you do, all the advocacy that happens in this room even. Thank you. Lead on. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] morning. Happy 88. I want to start off, my name is rebecca cokley. Im the director of the nation. The center for American Progress here first i wanted to start off by just thinking neera and claudia for an amazing kickoff. Both of your support to this work, to this team has been so meaningful since its inception. We couldnt do it without folks like you around about this daily mmi as of the important work both that weve done and the work we have ahead here id love to introduce our amazing panel that comes with a variety of types of experience in the employment and economics abilities based as it relates to the experience of americans with disabilities. Starting with with Crosby Cromwell who is the founder and as this day one . This is week one of flexibility, which is a search firm targeting seniorlevel folks with disabilities in todays of color which is phenomenal. Its the first of its kind to focus on the senior sector which i know a number of us are really thrilled to see that launched this week so congratulations, crosby. Taryn williams, this is a first trip to even come up and director of the poverty to Prosperity Team here, the center for American Progress. The director of programs at the American Association of people with disabilities and the ever so dapper mr. Neal carter who is the cofounder of nu view consulting. Lets be honest, we know this has been kind and exciting week for the Disability Community. There have been number of challenges the folks at facebook if a really honest, these have been things have been festering and our community for a long time. We heard neera address it. We heard clottey address it there while that we still have far to go, honestly any framing of an economic narrative around the rights of people with disabilities and around what true Economic Empowerment would look like is a collectible if it doesnt take into account the various intersections that are folks face, whether its hidden disabilities, around disclosure, folks live at the intersection of the with able listen and racism, homophobia, xenophobia. Have you seems all come up . This isnt new. We know this is a new but how bad have you all see this come up in your own career path or in the work you have all been doing . You guys cant press your finger to nose and say not it. I would say that, so i may quit a woman. I have a disability. I was born with cerebral palsy. Im also 30 so im sort of right at the start of ada generation. I think that actually might experience in the workplace in the world at large has largely been one of privilege and a lot of that has to do with whiteness as was economic status. I come from an upper middleclass middle class family. Everybody is college educated. It was never a college of will you go to college. I am sort of, i come from an interesting standpoint in terms of i didnt really have to think about my disability as a fact of my life experience. Certainly in an employment context until i was maybe in my mid20s, early to mid 20s. It was framed as as a personal thing that had to navigate, and it was sort of you just have to find a different way to do things but you will be able to do the same things and achieve the same things as all of your peers which is a great framework but it did let me off the hook of confronting all these intersections in any sort of real way, especially when you to my employment status. I have sortt of gotten a very skewed perception of what Economic Security and about is for disabled people. I will send somebody will who runs, takes initiatives and my current employer, one of the things i think comes up how these various intersections and impressions, is that you can have dispensed to spend of colr program and people love to talk about that. A liquor throughout the data of what percent and her cohort of people is culkin what percent is lgbt, what percent is both complex and thing. But then not have your programming acknowledge reflect that in any way. You are still putting marginalized folks in the system that was designed for and by privilege white people. Then you are surprised when that doesnt go well. Whe