by Melanie Brunson and Sheila Styron
When individuals call ACB's national office for help with legal or access issues, they could often benefit from assistance from someone closer to home who can personally work with them to resolve an issue, attend a hearing, or provide other direct advocacy, counsel, or training. Some of the most frequent issues include:
- Problems related to Social Security, SSI, or SSDI benefits;
- Questions about technology, and assistive technology;
- Medicare and Medicaid issues;
- Housing issues, such as discrimination against guide dog users in rental housing, accessibility issues, availability of rent subsidies, Section 8 vouchers;
- Transportation and paratransit eligibility;
- Employment discrimination and reasonable accommodations; and
- ADA provisions and/or protections.
If you or someone you know has expertise in any of these areas and would be willing to provide advocacy assistance to individuals who need help, please let us know. Even if you are not an expert, but are interested in developing advocacy skill sets or assisting with connecting people who need help with local resources through your affiliates and communities, we would also like to hear from you.
If you are interested in joining this network of advocates and advocacy support, send an e-mail to Eric Bridges at [email protected]. Please include "network of advocates" in the subject line. Let Eric know the issue area(s) you can help with and include as much specific information as possible. We will contact you with any follow-up questions. It is our hope to find people throughout the country who can share their expertise and desire to help ACB members as well as others who need advocacy assistance, thereby strengthening ACB's effectiveness as a grassroots advocacy organization.
Thank you in advance for your willingness to assist. Without you, ACB cannot respond to ongoing requests for localized advocacy support.