Where did my internship go?

I can’t believe this internship is almost over. This has been an amazing experience, and I’m definitely going to miss it when I go back to school. Last week was the culmination of all the ADA anniversary events, and the actual anniversary on Monday was packed with activities. In the morning, we went to a press conference on Capitol Hill held by Senator Tom Harkin and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Jim Langevin, and Jim Sensenbrenner. Tony Coelho and Andy Imparato also spoke. After the press conference, we hurried over to another event on the Hill, a panel discussion led by Senator Harkin. Later in the day, after work was over, several of us from the office watched AAPD’s Indy Imparato and Intern Amelia Wallrich (great job, Amelia!) on PBS’s News Hour. They did a great job speaking about the current state of people with disabilities in America. The Power and Pride Gala that night was a lot of fun as well. I met several new people from the disability community, and the slate of speakers was impressive as usual. I especially enjoyed hearing from Marlee Matlin, a deaf actress, and Laurie Rubin, an opera singer who is blind. On Thursday, I went to a birthday party held at the Capitol for Medicaid and Medicare’s 45th birthday. Friday had a couple of intern events: a brownbag at the Access Board, and a behind-the-scenes tour at the Smithsonian of an upcoming disability history exhibit. This was especially interesting for me – we got to see early prosthetic limbs, an ear trumpet, a chunk of concrete from a “do-it-yourself curb cut” protest in Denver, a Barbie doll that uses a wheelchair, and several other artifacts. It was also pretty cool to see how an exhibit gets put together. Anyway, I just have the rest of this week, and then I’ll be leaving AAPD. I’ll probably be writing one more entry before I leave, so I’ll talk more then!