It’s the last month of session! 17 days until the scheduled May 24 adjournment date, but there is always the possibility that they work through May 31. See below for an update on some disability legislation in Illinois.

Register, Educate, Vote, and Use Your Power!

How can we support you?

REV UP Illinois will continue to expand its outreach to more disabled voters, advocating for increased accessibility at the polls, translating presentations into Spanish, adding CART and ASL to its presentations and continuing to encourage increased civic engagement for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through The Arc of Illinois’ work with REV UP through The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

The Arc of Illinois was the sole recipient of the REV UP grant in Illinois and joined a robust group of 72 projects in 28 states and D.C.

To date, over 2 dozen organizations in Illinois have held presentations on voter education and registration. These include presentations to service provider organizations, family advocacy groups, transition programs, and other statewide events.

REV UP Illinois has engaged residents and support staff at Illinois’s State Operated Developmental Centers resulting in more than 50 people being registered to vote. There is continued engagement from State Operated Developmental Centers and other organizations for further presentations on legislative advocacy.

REV UP Illinois provided Chinese language voter registration resources for Chinatown residents and can assist you to access registration resources in other languages.

REV UP Illinois collaborates and cobrands with the Illinois State Board of Elections and various advocacy groups.

On April 23rd, Da Wen Mei, one of REV UP Illinois’ founders and a Going Home Coalition member participated in a national AAPD panel which included representation from Pete Buttigieg, United States Secretary of Transportation, and Julie A. Su who has served as acting United States Secretary of Labor since 2023 and the 37th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor since 2021.

Pictured: Da Wen Mei, ASL Translator

Self-advocate Erin Compton co-presented a module on legislative advocacy and voting and has supported Caroline O’Hara in registering to vote at the recent Arc of Illinois Conference!

Click here for the Legislative Advocacy Webinar Series (Recordings and Slides).

Click here for Erin Compton and Caroline O'Hara's Voter Registration Reel.

Please reach out to Elian@thearcofil.org or Carole@thearcofil.org to schedule your nonpartisan voter education/registration/legislative advocacy presentations.

REV UP Illinois Director, Carole Rosen, was on hand at the recent Kiley Developmental Center Community Resource Fair with Family Transition Project Director, Greg Walkington, and Larry Biondi Fellowship and Arc of Illinois Advocacy Award winner, Curtis Harris. We’ll also be on site at the upcoming Shapiro Developmental Center Community Resource fair on Friday, May 10^th.

With the presidential election just months away, the Justice Department is warning that people with disabilities should not be kept from voting due to their guardianship status or for other reasons.

Click here for the Disability Scoop Story for DOJ and Voting.

Going Home Coalition - Your Advocacy Matters!

Busy, Busy, Busy! 

On April 24th, Going Home Coalition Members and advocates met with US Representative Brad Schneider. Special thanks to District Director Jake Kaplan, District Scheduler, Quinn Fisher, Director of Scheduling D.C., Sam Yankovich, and Ethan Gunnlaugsson, Legislative Aide D.C. for making this meeting happen. 

Thank you for your powerful testimonies today Going Home Coalition participants! Hayden Rosen, Jill Goldstein, Lisa Kennedy, Arc of Illinois Family Transition Program Director Greg Walkington and awesome DSP Khaliyah Mayfield.

Interested in meeting with your legislators? Email Elian@thearcofil.org.

Pictured L-R: US Representative Brad Schneider, Greg Walkington, Jill Goldstein, Lisa Kennedy, Carole Rosen, Hayden, Rosen, Khaliyah Mayfield.

On April 26th, Going Home Coalition met with IDHS/DDD staff. Guest speakers included, Division of Developmental Disabilities Director, Tonya Piephoff, Deputy Director of Ligas Consent Decree, Sarah Myerscough-Mueller, DDD Chief of Staff, and Ryan Croke, First Assistant Deputy Governor (Illinois Health & Human Services)

We discussed recent updates within the State Operated Developmental System and changes at Choate Developmental Centers Developmental Center, the recent filing by the State of Illinois to dismiss the Ligas Consent Decree and Equip for Equality’s motion to appeal. Over 2 dozen people have submitted affidavits against Ligas Consent Decree dismissal.  Thank you to all who have done this and to IPADDUnite for getting the word out on this important issue.

Going Home Coalition and REV UP Illinois were on hand at last week’s 74^th Arc of Illinois Convention.  It was fantastic! It was a wonderful experience, atmosphere, and awesome attendees!

Extending a sincere thank you to Institute on Disability and Human Development (IDHD) at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) for their SODC report below:

Click here for an analysis of movement from Illinois state-operated developmental centers: Transitions between July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2022.