July 29, 2025 News Update
Empower Voters, Defend Democracy |  | Did you know that July is Disability Pride Month? This is a time to celebrate the diverse community of people with disabilities, reflect on the progress that has been made to close the equity gap so that individuals can feel empowered to live with dignity, and focus on the work that lies ahead in building inclusive communities. For instance, major inequalities persist in transportation, digital access, physical barriers and many other areas that prevent more than one billion people with disabilities, worldwide, from fully participating in society.
Disability Pride Month is celebrated in July, commemorating the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) enacted on July 26, 1990. This law was a landmark that extended civil rights protections to people with disabilities.
The Disability Pride Month flag is a charcoal gray flag with five parallel colored stripes in a diagonal band that runs from the top left to the bottom right corner:
Red: Represents physical disabilities such as stroke, arthritis, and spinal cord injuries
Gold: Represents neurodiversity such as autism spectrum disorder, brain injuries, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity
White: Non-apparent or invisible disabilities and undiagnosed disabilities
Blue: Represents emotional and psychiatric disabilities, including mental illness, anxiety, and depression
Green: Represents sensory disabilities such as deafness, blindness or low vision, lack of smell, lack of taste, audio processing disorder, and all other sensory disabilities
Black background: Represents mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse
Diagonal Stripes: Symbolizes cutting across barriers that disabled people face, and is meant to allude to the idea of light cutting through the darkness.
The flag's design also commemorates and mourns disabled people who have died due to ableism, violence, negligence, suicide, rebellion, illness, or forced sterilization. | Watch Now
Community Forum: Focus on Medicaid
| We are pleased to offer the recording of the program that was held on June 25. Full recording, with great panelists and easy to access information to use right now.
| *Save the Date*
Member Ice Cream Social
August 10, 2025 | Welcome all LWV members!
We hope you'll join us in thanking you for your membership, your support and your encouragement.
Drop in or stay the whole time to meet old friends and make new ones.
Ice cream will be provided! Bring a family member if you like!
Please RSVP by August 6 to help us know how much ice cream to have ready to enjoy.
| Celebrate in Madison on August 6
Anniversary of Voting Rights Act | League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is hosting a 60th Anniversary celebration, commemorating the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and we hope you can join us!
This is a powerful community gathering to honor landmark civil rights legislation and mobilize against decades of attacks on voting rights, with a call to restore and protect them through the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
The planning committee is in need of volunteers to help make this important event a success, let us know if you can help. Click here to be a volunteer!
| What Does the Constitution Say? | The US Constitution has been amended several times to expand and secure voting rights for different groups of citizens.
• 15th Amendment (1870): Granted the right to vote to all male citizens, regardless of race or previous condition of servitude. However, it took many decades and the Civil Rights movement, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to fully realize this right for African American men, particularly in the South, where they faced tactics like poll taxes and literacy tests.
| We will be sharing what our observers are learning in their attendance at meetings around the community. We believe that an informed electorate gets out to vote because they understand the issues as they happen.
We are always eager to welcome new voices to the table.
Join us if this is where your passion lies. Check us out here
| What is the Federal SAVE Act?
The LWVUS Is Opposed
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