11/20 Training: Crafting a Campaign and Policies Rooted in Disability Rights
Monday, November 20, 2023
8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern
This training has concluded. View the captioned recording below or on our YouTube channel.
Description: Every issue is a disability issue. During this workshop, we will discuss how you can create a campaign and policy platform rooted in the needs of your community while incorporating a lens of disability rights and justice. You will learn how to identify the issues impacting your community, visualize how your campaign and role as an elected official can create policy solutions, and learn how to incorporate the needs and experiences of disabled people into your platform and campaign operations.
This session will have CART captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. It will be recorded for playback. To request the slide deck in advance or additional accommodations, please note them when you register through Zoom or contact hello@disabilityvictory.org.
About our Trainer: Rebecca Lamorte grew up on Long Island and now calls New York City home. After a 2013 subway accident left her partially disabled, she saw an intimate portrait of how New York can work better for all communities and began her efforts to make New York City more accessible and inclusive.
Rebecca graduated from Fordham University in 2013 and built a career in the labor movement working for some of New York’s most prominent unions coordinating legislative and issue-based campaigns. On campaigns like the Fight For $15, for example, Rebecca observed how progressive policies can lead to tangible benefits for New Yorkers too often overlooked.
Drawing on her personal experiences as a disabled New Yorker and professional experience with government, Rebecca ran for New York City Council in 2021 in Manhattan’s 5th District (Midtown East, Upper East Side, Yorkville, East Harlem, Roosevelt Island). Her campaign was centered on disability rights and the needs of disabled and vulnerable New Yorkers. While not successful in winning her election, Rebecca’s campaign shifted the paradigm of political engagement in New York, moving the focus more towards accessibility and disability rights as a part of all policy decisions and public life.
Access Rebecca Lamorte’s Disability Justice and Accessibility Platform from her 2021 campaign.