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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

October Round Up

Full Community Integration Now 2009 protest signOctober is a month to honor multiple causes, including anti-bullying initiatives, Hispanic heritage, and awareness of disability employment, breast cancer, domestic violence, and learning disabilities.

Domestic violence: NCIL members are honoring National Domestic Violence Awareness month with a flurry of activity to educate the nation about how this issue affects people with disabilities.

NCIL’s Violence and Abuse Task Force has been actively involved in federal legislative work to achieve reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Task Force members assisted both House and Senate staff with writing language for the bills that includes increasing funding, as well as information on serving people with disabilities who are survivors of violence. Please continue your phone calls, emails and social media outreach on this issue. We hope to see some movement after the election, when Congress returns. 

This month, the Task Force will present their work at the 18th Annual APRIL conference in Reno, NV. NCIL also served on the Planning Committee for Bridging the Gap: Creating a Community of Support for Survivors with Disabilities, a national conference on sexual assault and domestic violence against people with disabilities, which will be held October 31 – November 1 in Louisville, KY.

An important event for the month was the release of a report by the Violence Policy Center, Why Men Murder Women: Analysis of 2010 Homicide Data. The report details information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender using data FBI’s unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report.

Anti-Bullying: visit PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center or stopbullying.gov for more information on anti-bullying initiatives.

Hispanic heritage: In the nation’s capital, there are several programs on the Hill and at national non-profit organizations celebrating and recognizing the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. The White House kicked off the month with celebrations and President Obama, his staff, the first lady, and others in the Administration have been attending events all over DC.

Other festivals, conferences and educational events commemorating the Hispanic and Latino community are happening throughout the nation.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15 – October 15 annually. President Ronald Regan expanded the week-long celebration approved by President Lyndon Johnson to a month-long event 1988. The date of September 15th was chosen because of the anniversaries of the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

For more information on this story, contact Dara Baldwin, Policy Analyst, at [email protected].