Our History

At our three major conferences: in Los Angeles (1999), in the Bay Area (2001), and in Orange County (2005) each conference was attended by hundreds of individuals with disabilities and their families, agency representatives and advocates. As a result of the conferences, it was clear that a permanent coalition was needed to:

• Provide a resource referral system – a clearinghouse of all Asian and Pacific Islander service and support organizations, and establish networking relationships with these organizations to share information and identify common issues and barriers, with the ultimate goal of changing attitudes regarding disabilities. >> See available resources.
• Serve as an advocate on behalf of the API with disabilities community, a community seriously under-served. >>Visit Programs
• Provide training and continue to host conferences on broad concepts concerning “disability,” including Disability 101 basic information and—
  • Employment of people with disabilities
  • Supportive services (including in-home) critical for a person's right to live in his/her own home in his/her own community (this would include topics such as how to subsist on low wages often paid to workers with disabilities)
  • Health care: strategies to overcome the biases inherent in the “medical model” to improve health care services delivery to people with disabilities
  • Education (special education and higher and adult education) – with a particular focus on how to bridge educational opportunities for young adults who are no longer eligible for special ed classes)
  • Accessible and affordable transportation and housing
  • Civil rights - what they are, what they mean, and how to enforce such rights
  • Family, cultural, and community support systems, including how to create such systems
• Initiate a major data collection and analysis effort: conference participants and advocates have uniformly identified a lack of sufficient data concerning Asians and Pacific Islanders with disabilities by every level of government and by every major statewide disability organization. This lack of data has impacted the funding of critically needed community-based supports and services, including healthcare. The result has been the denial of basic rights under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the state Fair Employment and Housing Act and other state and federal laws. >>Visit Research Section