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National Disability Radio: Jim Dickson

National Disability Radio: Jim Dickson

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 On part two of our series commemorating the fight for the passage of the ADA, we have on long time activist Jim Dickson. Jim talks with us about the challenges they faced in getting the ADA passed, what changes he’d still like to see, and surprises us with a fun story about a former guest and friend of the podcast. Full transcript available at: https://www.ndrn.org/resource/ndr-jim-dickson/ Jack Rosen: You know, Michelle, we feel like this part of your life is more mysterious. What was living in St. Louis like? Okay, started that wrong. I’m trying to just get you to give us some St. Louis trivia. Mysterious was the wrong choice of word there. Michelle Bishop: Mysterious? Is it the biscuit? Jack Rosen: I wanted you to talk about the spaghetti and chili. That’s what I’m trying to get to, and I didn’t know how to get there. Michelle Bishop: I don’t know anything about that. I don’t even know what you’re referring to. I do know there’s definitely fish fries every Friday, and it’s always fried catfish with a side of spaghetti, if that’s what you’re thinking of. And we invented toasted ravioli, and most things that matter, like ice cream cones were invented at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. And there’s St. Louis-style pizza, but it doesn’t have mozzarella on it. It has Provel cheese, which is I’m pretty sure only exists in St. Louis. And pretty much everyone has some sort of connection to Nelly or Nelly’s mom. That’s about it. Jack Rosen: You know what? I was thinking of Cincinnati. Michelle Bishop: Gotcha. I gave all that, and you were thinking of something from Cincinnati. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Is Cincinnati famous for its pizza? Michelle Bishop: Is Cincinnati famous for- Stephanie Flynt McEben: For anything? No offense to any Cincinnatians. Michelle Bishop: Shout-out to Disability Rights Ohio. We love you. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yas. Michelle Bishop: Our bad. Our bad. I was just in Cleveland. It was cool. Do you not know Midwestern cities, Jack? Can you not tell them apart? Is it all the same to you once you get past like Buffalo? Jack Rosen: Well, then there’s Los Angeles on the other side of the country. Michelle Bishop: Hi. Welcome back to National Disability Radio. I’m Michelle Bishop, one of your co-hosts and the voter access and engagement manager at NDRN. Stephanie Flynt McEben: And I’m Stephanie Flynt McEben, public policy analyst, and also one of your hosts for this wonderful podcast here at NDRN. Michelle Bishop: And then we also have a producer, who’s just a producer. Why don’t you tell them hi, our producer? Jack Rosen: Hi, Jack Rosen here, one third of the podcasting team, as you know, a host. Michelle, do you want to tell the people who we have on today? Michelle Bishop: Yes. This is a continuation of our series on the anniversary of the ADA, and allow me first to say, Go ADA. It’s your birthday. Go ADA. It’s your birthday. Okay. I’ve been wanting to get that out since the last episode for the ADA, so thank you for humoring me. So this episode, we have Jim Dickson. He has over 30 years of experience with nonpartisan voter engagement work, particularly in the disability community. He served as the co-chair of the Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Committee for the National Council on Independent Living. He is a former vice president for organizing and civic engagement at AAPD, the American Association of People with Disabilities, where he led AAPD’s Nonpartisan Disability Vote Project, a coalition of 36 national disability organizations, whose mission was to close the political participation gap for people with disabilities, focusing on nonpartisan voter registration, education and get out the vote. He actually played a central role, along with the leadership conference on Civil and Human Rights, in passing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and he was part of the leadership team, which passed the National Voter Registration Act, which you probably call Motor Voter. He’s the past chair of the board of advisors of the United States Election Assistance Commission, and prior to joining AAPD, where he was for a long time leading this work, Jim organized the campaign to place a statue of President Roosevelt in his wheelchair at the FDR Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, DC. He has a long history of grassroots organizing with multi-issue organizations all over the country. I know definitely in Rhode Island, Connecticut and also in California, so that covers three states Jack has probably heard of. And with the support of the Sierra Club, he organized the first grassroots congressional mobilization for the environmental movement, which resulted in the passage of the first Clean Air Act. So Jim has a long history of civil rights work and grassroots organizing, but if you know him, you probably know him for his leadership with the disability vote work. That’s how I know Jim, who’s actually been a mentor of mine for a ...
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