2008 AAPD Leadership Gala Dinner

On March 5, 2008, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) will host its 2008 Leadership Gala Dinner in Washington, D.C. Structured settlement leaders from both NSSTA and SSP will be attending the AAPD dinner - in addition to many Congressional and Disability leaders. Senator Bob Dole will be the Keynote Speaker. NSSTA is one of the event sponsors.

Founded in 1995, AAPD, according to its website , "is the largest cross-disability membership organization in the United States, working toward the economic self-sufficiency and political power for the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities. AAPD organizes the disability community to be a powerful force for change – economically, politically, and socially....AAPD works in coalition with other disability organizations for the full implementation and enforcement of disability nondiscrimination laws, particularly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973".

The AAPD Leadership Gala Dinner serves as "a forum", according to the AAPD website: "for recognizing, empowering, and supporting both emerging and established leaders in the disability community, as well as for inspiring and mobilizing all attendees to increase their advocacy in support of realizing the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)."

The AAPD Gala will honor the 2008 recipients of AAPD's two leadership awards:

• Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Awards - Brett Eisenberg and Rahnee K. Patrick.
• Henry B. Betts Award - Eric Rosenthal.

Andrew J. Imparato, President and CEO of AAPD, was the featured speaker at NSSTA's 2007 Fall Meeting in Tampa, Forida. Imparato is a visionary and inspirational leader. The following comments appear in S2KM's earlier blog commentary about Imparato's presentation to NSSTA.

Andrew Imparato:

• "Outlined AAPD's strategy to:
  • Unite disabled persons as a political block and business market;
  • Change the social security statutory definition of "disability":
    • From "unable to work" to
    • Address "barriers to work" for disabled persons;
  • Create a disabled middle class - transitioning the disabled from poverty to economic self-sufficiency;
  • Extend some variation of the current structured settlement legislative model to disabled persons generally.
• "Identified AAPD's political priorities for:
  • Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI);
  • Supplemental Security Income (SSI);
  • Medicaid; and
  • Medicare.
• "Criticized current United States' government benefit programs for:
  • Maintaining people in poverty and punishing people who try to escape poverty;
  • Not designing Medicaid and Medicare for working age persons who want to work.
• "Encouraged NSSTA members to involve themselves at the local level with independent living centers.
• "Invited NSSTA members to join AAPD and attend AAPD's March 5, 2008 Gala in Washington, D.C."

Both NSSTA and SSP are to be congratulated for supporting AAPD. The annual AAPD Gala Leadership Dinner provides an appropriate forum for NSSTA and SSP to begin to identify common goals and collaboration opportunities.

For S2KM's most recent reporting about:

• The National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) - see this S2KM blog post.
• The Society of Settlement Planners (SSP) - see this S2KM blog post.
• Note: Patrick Hindert, S2KM's blog author, is a member of AAPD, NSSTA and SSP.