21 & Change Nominated for Alliance for Citizens with Disabilities Award
TAMPA, Fla. (July 12, 2019) — 21 & Change, Inc. was recently nominated for the Hillsborough County Alliance, Outstanding Community Service award during the upcoming 29th Annual Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Celebration Awards on July 26th in downtown Tampa.
The three award categories recognize extraordinary advocates that work tirelessly for full inclusion of people with disabilities.
21 & Change President John Bodor said, “We’re honored and absolutely humbled to be nominated for an award like this. We’ve been so busy advocating in support of the Florida Hate Crime Coalition and preparing for the upcoming Special Education/IEP Advocacy Conference in downtown Tampa this fall that we were taken completely by surprise when we were notified of this honor.”
The Hillsborough County Alliance for Citizens with Disabilities celebrates the 29th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The event begins at the John F. Germany Public Library, 3:30 – 5:30 PM and continues at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 6:00 to 8:00 PM.
21 & Change was founded in June 2018 by Bodor and his wife Yani. The two Army veterans have three children; one born with Down syndrome and another diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The nonprofit was created to challenge the status quo and to end the Down syndrome ‘syndrome’ through advocacy, support, and niche services in the Greater Tampa Bay area and beyond. “When we talk about ending the Down syndrome ‘syndrome,’ we’re really talking about changing societal attitudes and norms that lead to understanding and acceptance,” said Yani Bodor.
According to Bodor, the mission is expanding to challenge the inequities in human rights for people not only with Down syndrome but with any form of developmental disabilities. 21 & Change pursues this advocacy mission at both the federal and state levels.
“We initially conceptualized the mission based on inequities for those born with Down syndrome. The fact that our eldest son was recently diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and that anyone with a developmental disability would be directly and positively affected by our mission quickly led us to the conclusion that we really needed to be a ‘cross-disability’ organization. We are currently working on our branding and positioning platform and our communications strategy to broaden our mission,” said John Bodor.
To learn more about the event, please visit https://www.facebook.com/THJAlliance. To learn more about 21 & Change, please visit www.21andchange.org.
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About 21 & Change, Inc.
21 & Change, Inc. is dedicated to ending the Down syndrome ‘syndrome’ through advocacy, support, and niche services in the Greater Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg area.
About the ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.
In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law and became effective on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA made a number of significant changes to the definition of “disability.” The changes in the definition of disability in the ADAAA apply to all titles of the ADA, including Title I (employment practices of private employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor unions, agents of the employer and joint management labor committees); Title II (programs and activities of state and local government entities); and Title III (private entities that are considered places of public accommodation).
