The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Washington, DC., which advocates for the legal rights of people with disabilities. The AAPD was founded on July 25, 1995 as a result of the organizational planning of Paul Hearne, Senator Bob Dole

Bob Dole

Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

, John Kemp, Justin Dart

Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr.

Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. was an American activist and advocate for people with disabilities. He helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities .-Background:Dart came from a wealthy Chicago family...

, Tony Coelho

Tony Coelho

Anthony "Tony" Coelho is a former United States congressman from California, and primary sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act...

, Pat Wright, Jim Weisman, Lex Frieden

Lex Frieden

Lex Frieden is one of America's pre-eminent disability activists and leaders of the independent living movement. He is Professor of Health Informatics and of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is also Professor of Physical Medicine...

, Sylvia Walker, Paul Marchand, Fred Fay

Fred Fay

Frederick A. Fay was an early leader in the disability rights movement in the United States. Through a combination of direct advocacy, grassroots organizing among the various disability rights communities, building cross-disability coalitions between disparate disability organizations, and using...

, I. King Jordan

I. King Jordan

Irving King Jordan became, in 1988, the first deaf president of Gallaudet University, the world's only university with all programs and services designed specifically for students who are deaf and hard of hearing...

, Denise Figueroa, Judi Chamberlin

Judi Chamberlin

Judi Chamberlin was an American activist, leader, organizer, public speaker and educator in the psychiatric survivors movement. Her political activism followed her involuntary confinement in a psychiatric facility in the 1960s...

, Bill Demby, Deborah Kaplan, Nancy Bloch, Max Starkloff

Max Starkloff

Max Starkloff was a disability rights activist. Starkloff became disabled in a car accident in 1959 and subsequently co-founded three organizations:...

, Mike Auberger, Neil Jacobson, Ralph Neas

Ralph Neas

Ralph G. Neas is CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care , a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to improve America's health care system....

, Ron Hartley and others.

One of the primary purposes of the AAPD is to further the implementation of the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

External links

• American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)