CTD40: 1983, A Banner Year for CTD
2018 is a big year for CTD, in part, because we are turning 40! To celebrate our ruby anniversary, we present the CTD40 blog series, which will collect stories from our friends, colleagues, founders, supporters, and the people we serve about our shared history.
1983: A Banner year for CTD, by Larry Johnson
With tremendous pride we remember the fifth anniversary year of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities. CTD began with 11 organizational members in 1978, and grew to have 92 member organizations statewide just five years later.
CTD’s “Disabled but able to vote” Campaign, launched in the early months of 1982, caught the interest and enthusiasm of other organizations of disabled persons throughout the country. In May, the campaign and our slogan were formally adopted by the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities Board of Directors and became a national focus of that organization’s efforts during that year of national elections.
In July, the American Council of the blind, at its national convention in Phoenix, passed by unanimous vote a resolution calling upon ACB to join with ACCD and similar disability advocacy organizations in a national nonpartisan “Disabled but Able to Vote” campaign aimed at promoting and encouraging all citizens of voting age with disabilities to register for and participate in the 1984 national elections. And other state and local organizations and coalitions picked up the standard as well.
At the state level, CTD and its member organizations successfully supported a line item in the Texas Rehabilitation Commission’s budget calling for state funding for consumer-directed independent living centers in Texas. The results are that the five disabled consumer operated independent living services in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio were assured of critical financial support for the following two years.
CTD co-sponsored and co-participated in the celebration of “Disability Rally Day”, a singularly historic event which generated statewide awareness of disability rights and our organizational unity. More than 1500 Texans gathered at the state capitol in February, 1983 to lend testimony and credibility to our commitment to improve the quality of life opportunities to all disabled Texans.
Above: Larry Johnson speaks at the 2009 American Council of the Blind of Texas annual awards ceremony.
< Last in CTD40: Kenneth Semien, Sr., ACBT President
Next in CTD40: Happy Birthday, from artist David Borden >
Have your own CTD story to share? Contact Communications Director Laura Perna at lperna@txdisabilities.org or 512-478-3366 x305.
