UNITY IN ACTION!

 

DISABILITY CAPITOL ACTION DAY

MAY 20, 2004

 

The vision for Disability Capitol Action Day was that people of all disabilities could come together on one day, after the May Revise, to fight not just for our own disability issue, but for each other.  On May 20, 2004 that vision became a reality as over 2,500 people representing all disability groups spent the entire day fighting to preserve our freedom and way of life. 

 

The large crowd overflowing through the West side of the Capitol was perhaps the most diverse ever seen in a disability rally, diverse in ethnicity, ages, and disability.  We were the disability voice of California coming together.  We were people with all kinds of disabilities, family members, friends, and workers all united in our common cause.  As one organizer said so eloquently, "This is what we can do when we ALL work together."

 

And we were successful.  The critical budget hearings in the Senate and Assembly that day saw major victories for our cause in IHSS, wages and benefits, SSI/SSP, and developmental services.