COLUMBIA (April 7, 2025) – The SC Access & Independence Network, in association with the SC Statewide Independent Living Council, will host their annual Advocacy Day for Access & Independence tomorrow, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, from 10 am to 12 pm at the SC Statehouse. The event will also be live-streamed online to viewers worldwide.
Understanding Advocacy Day for Access & Independence
The annual Advocacy Day for Access & Independence will allow the disability community, advocates, and supporters to rally. They will call on South Carolina lawmakers to address barriers to independence for people with disabilities.
The 2025 issue area of focus is Community Living. This will be defined by the ways that barriers to employment, transportation, housing, and healthcare impact the ability of disabled people to live self-sufficiently.
1 in 3 people with disabilities living in South Carolina are ready to advocate for increased access to employment, transportation, housing, and healthcare, as well as assurance that their rights will be protected.
These issues are explored in the attached handout. Policies regarding people with disabilities across our state encourage dependence on state programs and the government. This is instead of promoting independence and self-sufficiency.
South Carolinians with disabilities often face discrimination in daily life. Advocacy Day for Access and Independence will amplify these voices as disabled people rally on these issues. The goal is to improve the lives of both disabled and nondisabled South Carolinians!
Advocacy Day for Access & Independence was created as part of the State Plan on Independent Living with the support of over 50 organizations statewide to unlock the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from having equal access and opportunity.
The goal of the Advocacy Day event on the North Steps of the Statehouse is to unlock the barriers to independence. People with disabilities experience various challenges. The rally will include speakers with disabilities and their political and business allies.
Speakers include SC State Representative Neal Collins, SC disability advocate Lamondre Pough, SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center’s Director of Policy & CoverSC representative Sue Berkowitz, Executive Director of the SC Housing Justice Network Kenya Cummings, former Ms. SC Wheelchair Kim Brock, and many other leaders and advocates from the disability community.
Event participants will have the opportunity to listen to and engage with speakers. Additionally, there will be a poster-making station and a postcard-writing station. Postcards written to lawmakers during the event will be delivered to lawmakers’ offices shortly after the event concludes.
These Advocacy Day postcards will be outfitted with small keys. The keys unlock mini-padlocks that are attached to issue area packets delivered to lawmakers on April 1st.
This powerful symbol, using the words of people with disabilities to unlock the barriers reported to lawmakers, is sure to garner the attention of South Carolina’s elected officials.
“We Want Access! We Want Independence! We Want Equality!” Search www.unlockingbarriers-sc.org for more.
Watch this short video and follow our hashtag #BarrierFreeSC on social media. Find our official Facebook page at SC Access & Independence Network.
Participants may register for this free Advocacy Day event at www.unlockingbarriers-sc.org or by calling 800-681-7715 or via the TTY line at (803) 779-0949.
Free materials, including t-shirts and buttons, will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. A refreshment station will be available to accommodate those with dietary needs during the event.
ABOUT ABLE SOUTH CAROLINA
Able SC is a disability-led organization seeking transformational changes in systems, communities, and individuals. Since 1994, we’ve remained a consumer-controlled, community-based, cross-disability nonprofit that seeks to make South Carolina a national model of equity and inclusion for all people with disabilities. To learn more about Able SC’s programs and services, please visit www.able-sc.org.
ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
The South Carolina Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Independent Living for people with disabilities throughout the state. SILC members are appointed by the Governor of South Carolina. Federal regulations requires at least 51% of SILC members be people with significant disabilities. The South Carolina Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) promotes the independent living philosophy of consumer choice, peer support, self-help, self-determination, equal access, and individual and systems advocacy.
Local News Via - MyrtleBeachSC.com
