Grassroots Update from Pennsylvania

The following update comes to us from disability rights advocate and 1st Vice President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf (PSAD) Larry Brick of Pennsylvania:

"I sent the following letters to PA Rep Chakah Fattah and PA Senator Robert Casey. While both are similar, the third paragraph to Rep Fattah is a bit different than the same paragraph to Sen Casey.

Rep Chaka Fattah:

This is in regard to the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 3195). I checked the list of co-sponsors and am shocked that you're not one of them. It is VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT to me that you be one of the co-sponsors of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 3195).

The Courts have whittled away the civil rights of people with disabilities through narrow interpretations of the ADA that have had consequences that Congress never intended when they passed the original ADA in 1990. This legislation is desperately needed by people with disabilities to fulfill the promise of the ADA and harmonize it with other civil rights laws.

I am deaf and a single issue voter. I vote only for those who support legislation that help level the playing field for people with disabilities as well as other minority groups. As a member of an oppressed minority, you, of all people, should appreciate the importance of this ADA Restoration Act to another group of oppressed minorities, People with Disabilities.

I expect you to waste no time in getting your name on that
co-sponsor list.

Senator Robert Casey:

This is in regard to the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (S. 1881). I checked the list of co-sponsors and am shocked that you're not one of them. It is VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT to me that you be one of the co-sponsors of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 (S. 1881).

The Courts have whittled away the civil rights of people with disabilities through narrow interpretations of the ADA that have had consequences that Congress never intended when they passed the original ADA in 1990. This legislation is desperately needed by people with disabilities to fulfill the promise of the ADA and harmonize it with other civil rights laws.

I am deaf and a single issue voter. I vote only for those who support legislation that help level the playing field for people with disabilities as well as other minority groups.

I expect you to waste no time in getting your name on that co-sponsor list."

Way to go, Larry!