Above image: Grassroots advocacy manager Annie Streit (right) meets with Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun and staffer Hunter Jones to educate them about SCI/D and wheelchair-related issues.
United Spinal Association gathered nearly 100 advocates from 30 states for its first Virtual Advocacy Day on September 13. Advocates met via Zoom with representatives from over 130 Congressional offices. The overwhelming majority of attendees had never participated in the organization’s signature advocacy event, Roll on Capitol Hill, which takes place in Washington, D.C., each June. Key policy priorities included:
- Improve Access to Catheters: Advocates shared the importance of reforming the coding for intermittent catheter use to improve patient access to this essential medical equipment.
- Increase Funding for Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems: This comprehensive, multidisciplinary system of care, research and resources for people with SCI lacks adequate federal funding.
- Take Back Our Travel Rights: The Air Carrier Access Amendments Act includes a number of new protections that will make air travel more accessible to people with disabilities.
- Improve Access to Wheelchairs: United Spinal is working to lift the oppressive “in the home” restriction to allow access to mobility devices that meet a wheelchair user’s needs for both medical necessity and functional mobility in the home and in the community.
“Creating this virtual opportunity for advocates to meet with their elected officials and their staff was important to United Spinal, as we have pushed for many years for accommodations for our community in areas such as telework and telehealth,” says Stephen Lieberman, director of advocacy and policy.
The first Virtual Advocacy Day was a great success, and many first-time advocates have expressed an interest in getting more involved with United Spinal’s advocacy program. “It was a great starting point for them to learn about advocacy for the disability community while also learning how to prepare for Hill visits with their members of Congress and staff,” says Annie Streit, United Spinal’s grassroots advocacy manager.
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