MS Action Day is an opportunity for MS Activists from the Greater Illinois and Gateway Area chapters to travelo the state Capitol in Springfield, IL to launch our advocacy efforts and seek legislative support for priority issues.
PRIORITY ISSUES:
Improve Gas Station Accessibility
1) Write a letter to your local gas station about your challenges in receiving service as a person living with a mobility disability, and send us a copy so we also have it on file. Click here for a sample letter;to fill-in-the-blanks with your own story. Use the checklist to help you gather information.
2) Send the same letter to your legislators to tell them why access to gas stations is important not only to you but other people with mobility disabilities. If you are not familiar with the names of your legislators or their contact information, please go to the General Assembly website, www.ilga.gov, and use the Legislator Lookup feature on the lower right hand side of the page.
3) Contact the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association to voice your complaint. You can contact:
Bill Fleischli, Executive Vice President
Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association
112 West Cook Street, Springfield, IL 62704
Phone: 217-544-4609 Ext. 1011
4) Contact the U.S. Department of Justice and the Disability Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General's Office to voice your complaints:
U.S. Department of Justice: Click http://www.ada.gov/t3compfm.htm or call 800-514-0301;
Disability Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General's Office: Click http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/rights/disabilityrights.html or download a Disability Rights Discrimination Complaint Form (PDF).
5) Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about why its important for gas stations to improve accessibility by posting a phone number on the pumps to call for help.
(To view information about the current State law, click here. To view information about the Federal law, click here.)
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Improve Safe Patient Handling in Nursing Homes
1) Share your story - If you or someone you know is in a nursing home or long-term care facility and they are experiencing difficulties being moved or transferred from one area to another, please contact us by email or phone 1.800.344.4867 (ask for the Advocacy department). We want to share with our legislators why this issue is important to you or those living with MS.
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We are also asking Facebook and Twitter users to ask friends and followers to add their voices:
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Facebook Users: Click Here to visit the Greater Illinois Chapter Facebook page. We ask that you "Like" the page, and "Like" and "Share" our MS Action Day status updates, so that your friends can see and click them, too.
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Twitter Users: Click Here to visit the Greater Illinois Chapter Twitter feed. We ask that you follow the Chapter, and "rewteet" our MS Action Day tweets, so that your followers can see and click them, too.
You can also click this link to learn about other priority issues.
HOW WE IDENTIFY ANNUAL PRIORITY ISSUES
Through a collaborative effort between the Greater Illinois and Gateway Area chapters, MS Action Day paves the way for our chapters' strongest and most influential form of public advocacy. MS Activists learn about the Society's advocacy issues and then meet with legislators at the Capitol in Springfield, Ill. During legislative meetings, our activists address issues that are vital to individuals living with MS in Illinois.
This year, members of the Advocacy and Government Relations Committee, program staff and Greater Illinois Chapter legislative advisers, in collaboration with the Gateway Area Chapter staff, met to present and discuss issues important to people living with MS in Illinois. We also surveyed the MS Action Alert members in Illinois to gather ideas. The issues were prioritized and weighted according to various criteria.
WORKING TO END MS YEAR-ROUND
Taking action begins with MS Action Day, but advocacy efforts are carried out on a year-round basis. You can find helpful hints, how-tos, and tips to help you be an MS Activist the other 364 days of the year on our MS Activist Resources page.
For more information about MS Action Day, contact the Advocacy Department at 1.800.344.4867.
View photos from MS Action Day 2011, and watch this movie of MS Activists in action: