Join WID, our friends and supporters at our annual gala, Ever Widening Circle, for an evening of entertainment provided by world-class performers, and celebrate disability culture and the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Now in its 12th year, Grammy nominee and singing sensation Maria Muldaur will headline Ever Widening Circle 2010, supported by humorist Greg Walloch, on Friday, October 29, 2010, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in the Oakland Marriott City Center's Jewett Ballroom, 1001 Broadway Oakland, CA.

The National Disability Institute announced in August that Thomas Foley, WID’s Deputy Director, will receive the 2010 Richard Keeling Leadership Award for outstanding leadership in building a better economic future for Americans with disabilities.

Recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have increased the number of veterans with disabilities in the U.S., including many who have survived serious injuries due to medical and technological advances not available in previous wars. Like most people with disabilities, newly disabled veterans want to find a job, continue their education, raise a family or otherwise get on with living their lives. Also like many other people with disabilities, newly disabled veterans are faced with maneuvering the myriad of programs and services available to them to restart their lives and support their employment and educational goals, but many give up along the way or miss opportunities as a result of this complex maze of bureaucracies. To support both individual veterans and service providers to facilitate veterans’ smooth transition back to work and manage and maximize the programs, benefits, services and opportunities afforded veterans with disabilities, WID is building understandable, comprehensive, and interactive online tools so that veterans can take better control of their own benefits planning process.

In late March of 2010, the U.S. Congress finished passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872). Soon after, President Obama signed these pieces of legislation into law, creating Public Law 111-148 (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) and Public Law 111-152 (the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010). Together, these laws are commonly known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These laws will result in significant reform of our nation’s health care system, including extending health care coverage to many more millions of Americans.

Judith Heumann, an international leader in the disability rights movement and a governmental representative to the USICD Board of Directors, will be joining the U.S. Department of State as their Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. This position was announced last summer, when President Obama and Secretary Clinton declared that the United States would sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Heumann resigned her position as Director of the Department on Disability Services for the District of Columbia, and will assume her new position at the Department of State on June 7, 2010.

Congresswoman Tsongas (D-MA), along with Congressman Petri (R-WI), introduced the SSI Savers Act of 2010 (H.R. 4937), proposing to reform the asset test in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, the primary provider of subsistence cash to extremely low-income individuals, seniors and people with disabilities.