A ROLL TO REMEMBER

Roll on Capitol Hill

The Roll on Capitol Hill is United Spinal’s signature annual policy event. It supports key advocacy priorities for its membership and the broader disability community to ensure that legislators include wheelchair users and all people with disabilities in policy debates on Capitol Hill.

Since the inaugural Roll on Capitol Hill in 2012, hundreds of United Spinal members have attended thousands of meetings with their congressional representatives to fight for greater access to quality affordable healthcare, community integration, disability rights, and much more. Whether in person in Washington, D.C., or online, the multi-day event has played a formative role in securing numerous policies critical to the SCI/D community and developing the next generation of leaders and advocates.

Georgia member Kim Harrison explained how attending transformed her from a nervous outsider to a fierce advocate. “I was very intimidated the first time I came, and I wondered what someone like me was doing here,” she says. “Now it’s not ‘who am I?’ but ‘watch out for who I am.’”

“We need events like Roll on Capitol Hill more than ever,” says Vincenzo Piscopo, United Spinal president and CEO. “The stories we tell about being able to land our dream job, move to our dream cities, and live truly independent lives, or proudly roll across the stage at graduation continue to be matched by those who remain underserved by our society. There’s so much work to be done.”

(Top-Bottom) Advocates meet in the lobby of Hart Senate Building before a meeting; Sen. John McCain speaks at the 2013 event; attendees soak up a full day of speakers and education. United Spinal’s CEO Vincenzo Piscopo hitches a ride at the 2018 ROCH (far right).

(Top-Bottom): Arkansas member Kesha Pilot meets with Sen. John Boozman; Daniela Castagnino cruises the capitol with partner, Matt, in tow; participants take a moment to rest from a busy day.

HISTORY

Curb cuts. Lifts on buses. Accessible businesses. SCI healthcare specialists.

We hardly have to think about these things anymore since they’re an accepted part of modern life. Today’s disability access that we take for granted happened because of the leadership of paralyzed veterans who no one even thought would survive. Their story is our story.

1946-50s:

This is one of the earliest photos of EPVA's founders.

1969-70:

Marine Marke Dumpert tells Life Magazine about the conditions at the Bronx VA.