You may recall that in October 2013, at the 13th Annual Coleman Institute National Conference on Cognitive Disability and Technology, the Declaration on the Rights of People with Cognitive Disabilities to Technology and Information Access was introduced for the first time. You can see and endorse the declaration here.
The Declaration calls on all of us to assure that people with cognitive disabilities enjoy the same rights of access to contemporary technologies and information as everyone enjoys.
Colorado House District 19 Representative and former House Majority Leader, Representative Amy Stephens has, from her first read, championed the Declaration as a foundational document. She recognizes the profundity of what it calls on us as a community, as a state and as a nation to do.
In that vein, Rep. Stephens, along with Senator Irene Aguilar, also long a champion of the rights of people with disabilities, sponsored the Declaration as a Colorado House-Senate Joint Resolution, heard yesterday, March 13.
I was honored to be in attendance for this momentous occasion.
This formal adoption of the Declaration underscores its incredible importance, as well as what it compels us to do in supporting people with disabilities. And demonstrating our state’s leadership on this issue, Colorado is the first legislative body in the nation to endorse the declaration, something that should make all Colorado citizens proud.
So when will the State start paying for assistive technology for those that cannot afford it? Put your money where your mouth is - State of Colorado!
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