American Association of People with Disabilities records (MS.2014.020)

The American Association of People with Disabilities records includes an array of materials, including correspondence, scattered administrative materials, legal documentation, and a small assortment of printed materials including a few in braille, dating from the late 20th century to the early 21st century. Of particular interest is its collection of audio-visual materials and computer files issued by or about the AAPD, or related to the disability community at large.

Series 1, Correspondence, consists primarily of photcopies of emails from an AAPD campaign to registered voters in the disability community, during the 2008 election season, designed as a petition to be sent to the presidential candidates requesting their participation in the Presidential Candidates Forum, an event sponsored by several national disabilities rights organizations and held on July 16th, 2008, in Columbus Ohio. There is also a small, but informative collection of some business letters of James Dickson, a principle AAPD administrator, as well as other scattered correspondence. (Please note: a small number of individual letters can be found interfiled within some of the other series files, according to topical relevence.)

Series 2, Administrative Materials is not comprehensive in scope but contains a few financial records, such as copies of invoices, tax forms, and travel records in the form of expense receipts and reimbursement records. It also includes materials about miscellaneous funding sources, such as charitable foundations, donors, membership drives, and revenue from other fundraising projects.

Series 3, Programs, Projects, Events incorporates materials documenting AAPD's various organizational endeavors. It includes documentation from two of its voting initiatives: the Disability Vote Project (DVP), and several Get-Out-the-Vote drives. Also included in this series are additional files from other AAPD promotional events, including materials from the National Disability Mentoring Day (NDMD) and the Spirit of ADA events.

Series 4, Litigation, Legislation, contains an assortment of legal materials primarily centered on the civil rights of the disability community. This series includes a substantive collection of documents about or in reference to key legislation pertinent to the disability community such as: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); the Help America Vote Act (HAVA); and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Series 5, Voting, is a significant collection of materials reflecting the political arm of the AAPD. It incorporates materials about various voting campaigns, including those sponsored by the AAPD as well as by other affiliate organizations. It also contains data compiled from the 2006 and 2008 elections, as well as analyzed data and commentary drawn from other surveys, including data collected from various polls and reports. This series also includes a variety of other files referencing other key topics of concern to the disability community, such as voter access, voter registration and verification, and the newly emerging electronic voting systems.

Series 6, Other Organizations (Non-AAPD), comprises a small collection of files of organizations other than AAPD, that, in some official capacity or another, address the concerns of the disability community. Here, in this series, one can find information about such organizations as the Aid Association for the Blind of the District of Columbia; the Disability Awareness Project; the Disability Vote Alliance; and the National Organization on Disability. Other related advocacy groups, such as the League of Women Voters, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the Brennan Center for Justice, round out this series.

Series 7, Printed Materials, is small in scope and includes a variety of formats. A few scattered brochures, flyers, leaflets and posters mostly from other advocacy organizations are included among the material in this series, as well as a small assortment of monographic and serial titles, including scattered issues from AAPD's quarterly journal, AAPD News, spanning the years 1999 to 2005.

Series 8, Subject Files, also small in scope groups together a variety of stray topical files collected by AADP administrators. It includes materials about or originating from various leaders in the disability community, including AAPD co-founder Justin Dart, James Dickson, Andrew Imparato, and Frederick Fay.

Series 9, Ephemera, is primarily comprised of newspaper clippings about the AAPD or of general interest to the wider disability community.

Series 10, Audio-Visual Materials, Computer Files, is a small, but significant collection of material in a variety of formats. Both the analog component of this series, primarily in the form of VHS and BetaCam SP cassettes, and the digital component of this series, mainly in the form of CD-ROMs and DVDs, document the administrative operations of the the AAPD, and each is especially strong in terms of AAPD-sponsored events, such as its Annual Gala Awards Dinner

Series 11, Artifacts is comprised of a small, eclectic group of items that includes a ADA novelty fan, an AAPD stencil, a scrapbook, and a set of hand-made thank-you cards.