WHEREAS, on July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which codified protections against discrimination for people with disabilities, required employers to begin providing reasonable accommodations, and established accessibility requirements in public places; and

WHEREAS, there are over 61 million Americans with disabilities living in communities throughout the United States, and over 1.6 million people with disabilities reside in Virginia; and

WHEREAS, the disability community has a critical interest in policies and decisions made and enacted at local, state, and national levels that directly impact the lives of people who have disabilities; and

WHEREAS, ensuring voting access to people with disabilities is essential to ensure policy decisions meet the real needs of people with disabilities in our communities; and

WHEREAS, voting is an effective way for the disability community to influence decision makers and the policies that impact the disability community; and

WHEREAS, making voting accessible for citizens of all abilities by ensuring fully accessible polling places, accessible voting machines, expanding mail-in and absentee voting options among other considerations is vital to protecting the voting rights of all Virginians; and

SAPAGKAT, sinusuportahan ng Commonwealth of Virginia ang lumalaking paglahok ng komunidad ng may kapansanan sa prosesong pampulitika at pinupuri ang mga grupong nakatuon sa pagsusulong ng mga karapatan sa kapansanan sa buong ating estado;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Glenn Youngkin, do hereby recognize September 12-16, 2022, as DISABILITY VOTING RIGHTS WEEK in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.