For Immediate Release
Local Contact: Luke Koppisch
Phone: 732.738.4388
Email: lkoppisch@adacil.org
EDISON - As part of a nation-wide Day of Mourning, disability rights advocates in the Edison area will be holding a vigil on Wednesday, March 1st to honor the lives of disabled people murdered by their families and caretakers.
“As part of a nationwide Day of Mourning,” Over 50 such murders have been reported in the United States in the last five years, over 20 in the last year alone. The total number of killings is likely higher than the amount which are reported in news media. We must address violence against people with disabilities and speak out against the dangerous cultural prejudice that says a disabled life is not worth living said Carole Tonks, Executive Director of the Alliance Center for Independence.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Carole Tonks, Executive Director, Alliance
Center for Independence Phone: (732) 738-4388 / E-mail: ctonks@adacil.org
Website: www.adacil.org
More than 700 people with disabilities, supporters, friends and organizations representing a wide variety of services throughout NJ will converge in downtown Trenton for the 6th NJ Disability Pride Parade and Celebration. The event will feature a variety of entertainers, all of whom have disabilities. These include folk musician Johnny Crescendo, singer/songwriter Cory Singer, integrated dancer Lindsay Tuman, Hip Hop artist Professir X and recording artist Lachi. NJDPP newcomers, include hip-hop performer King Tay, and comedian Mike Cotaya will also share their talents.
On July 14, the Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) in Edison and REV UP NJ, will organize a Call-In Day to the Trump for President Campaign Headquarters in New York City to demand that Donald Trump address the concerns of 54 million people in the United State with disabilities.
The disability community is outraged that the Trump Campaign has refused to respond to the questionnaire posed to it in January by RespectAbilityUSA, a disability advocacy organization based in Baltimore. All the major candidates for president on both sides of the aisle were sent the 16- item questionnaire which addressed disability issues and policy. Several candidates responded prior to dropping out of the race including Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton’s response to the question can be viewed on the RespectAbility website. With less than one week before the Republican Convention, the Trump Campaign has yet to respond.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2016 - Disability rights activists from New Jersey's centers for independent living, Liberty Resources in Philadelphia and ADAPT of Philadelphia, and other disability organizations representing people with disabilities, will be holding a demonstration at Princeton University on May 27, 2016. Time: 1 pm to 3 pm.
Demonstrators will assemble in front of the Robertson Building, located on 20 Washington Street on the campus. The Robertson Building houses the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs.
Activists want Princeton University to end the ongoing practice of institutionalized discrimination against students with disabilities, especially those with "invisible" disabilities. Organizers also want Princeton to publicly denounce Princeton Professor Peter Singer, who advocates ending the lives of disabled infants through denial of health care. Activists want Princeton to take steps to address what the activists describe as a culture of disability and oppression at the campus.
Middlesex County Freeholder Director, Ronald Rios, will be joined by Freeholder Charles Kenny, and Freeholder Charles Tomaro, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, State Transportation Officials, disability advocates, officials from the NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and residents of Woodbridge, Fords, and Edison, for a ceremony marking the recent installation of 12 audio crosswalk signals at intersections along Amboy Ave. in the Fords section of Woodbridge Township. Staff and volunteers from the Alliance Center for Independence will also be present.
The ceremony will take place at 10 am at the corner of Amboy Ave. and Ford Ave. (across from the 7-11) in Fords (Woodbridge Township).
Hillsborough, November 10 – The Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) and the Somerset County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is hosting an emergency shelter overnight simulation for individuals with disabilities on Friday, November 20th starting at 5 p.m. at the Hillsborough Municipal Complex, 279 South Branch Road, Hillsborough. Approximately 50 people with disabilities have volunteered to spend a night at the shelter, which will be staffed by volunteers from a number of Somerset County agencies engaged in emergency response operations during a disaster.
This is the 2nd emergency shelter simulation ACI has hosted. Last year’s simulation, which took place at Rutgers University, proved to be invaluable.
Participating agencies include the Somerset County Office of Emergency Management, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, local social service agencies and other stakeholders. Funding for the simulation is provided by PSEG.
In a special dance symposium commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Clement A. Price Institute is proud to present the AXIS Dance Company, one of the world’s leading and most innovative ensembles of dancers with and without disabilities. The symposium begins with a full performance by AXIS, co-presented by the Price Institute and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Tuesday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m.
AXIS Dance Company’s engagement by the Price Institute also includes two free community classes in New Jersey on physically integrated dance: Wednesday, Nov. 18, from 2:30-4:00 p.m., at the Paul Robeson Campus Center, Rutgers University-Newark in partnership with the Office of Student Life; and Thursday, Nov. 19, from 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Minnie B. Veal Recreation Center, Edison NJ, coordinated by the Alliance Center for Independence, a community-based organization that promotes independent living for people with disabilities in Middlesex County. The workshops are open to participants with and without disabilities.
