Disability Advocacy Day - March 11
For the fifth consecutive year, March 11, 2025 will be Disability Advocacy Day in Tennessee!
Tennesseans with disabilities experience disparate access to the same basic education, housing, transportation, and healthcare as state residents without disability. Outside of a pandemic, self and collective advocacy is critical to ensuring access to essential supports and services. Amid the pandemic, Tennesseans with disabilities continue to use their voices to speak up for basic services, and speak out against policies that infringe on civil rights and other legal protections provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Consequently, this often-marginalized and overlooked community has made a formidable impact on state policy.
Achievements of Tennesseans with Disabilities
- Katie Beckett Program
- Autism Equity Act
- TN Family Support Program
- Tennessee Autism Council
- STEP UP Scholarship
- Expanding home-and community-based services
- Nurse delegation of health maintenance tasks
- Claire’s Law (hearing aids for kids)
- Concussion management protocol in schools
- Support for aging caregivers
- Protecting student rights
- Service animal protections
- Fair housing
- Protecting individual rights in deinstitutionalization
- Disability Vote Alliance
- Personal assistance licensure
- Modernizing state laws on mental health and developmental disabilities
- Tennessee Disability Act
- Supporting and licensing medication administration in the community
- Ensuring accessibility in Legislative Plaza and the Cordell Hull building
- Limiting institutional care
- Open Doors Home Health Care Act
- Lane v. State of TN – equal access to justice
- Prohibiting employment discrimination
- Protecting and expanding access to Medicaid
“People with disabilities learn very early that advocacy is the only way to tackle the barriers they face in an ‘able’ world,” says Tennessee Disability Coalition Executive Director, Carol Westlake. “We learned decades ago that we have to build community, work together, and be clear about what’s needed. It takes advocacy to achieve the basic level of access, inclusion, and support that others take for granted. We have to stand up, speak up and follow up. And we have to stick together. When COVID-19 hit, we knew the stakes. We knew the importance of the moment, and the disability community rallied.”
Ways you can join in on the celebration
- Wear “Coalition Blue” or your DDH 2025 “Liberty. Not Limits.” t-shirt to show support and solidarity.
- “Light up” your social media by posting about Disability Advocacy Day.
- Find a landmark that is lit up near you and snap a picture! See a list of participating landmarks below.
2025 Participating Locations
Middle TN:
- Adventure Science Center, Nashville
- Best Buddies, Nashville
- Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville
- City Hall/Courthouse/Public Square, Nashville
- Customs House Museum & Cultural Center, Clarksville
- Frist Art Museum, Nashville
- NES (Nashville Electrical Services) Dome, Nashville
- Nissan Stadium, Nashville
- Pulaski Recreation Center, Pulaski
- State Capitol Cupola, Nashville
- Tennessee Disability Coalition, Nashville
- Tennessee State Parks – All TN State Parks will participate. If capable with lighting or via social media.
- UT Southern, Pulaski
West TN:
- Bass Pro Pyramid, Memphis
- Carroll County Inclusion Park, Huntington
- Eiffel Tower Replica, Paris
- Jackson Center for Independent Living (JCIL), Jackson
- Memphis International Airport, Memphis
- Overton Park Shell, Memphis
- TARP, Paris
- University of Memphis, Memphis
East TN:
- Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors
- Dollywood, Pigeon Forge
- Henley Bridge (Chapman Highway/U.S. 441), Knoxville
- Liberty Tower, Chattanooga
How can you or your organization participate in Disability Advocacy Day?
Contact us if your organization would like information or assistance with lighting up “Coalition Blue” at 615-383-9442
Check out our Disability Advocacy Day Toolkit
Digital library of graphics including social media images, messaging, associated hashtags, and other resources to show your support for Disability Advocacy in Tennessee and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Join us on March 11th as Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day to honor the accomplishments and advocacy of the 1.6 million Tennesseans with disabilities! See below for a Disability Advocacy Day Social Toolkit. Don’t forget to tag us @tndisability so we can share your posts!
Hashtags to use in your post:
#DDH2025
#LibertyNotLimits
#DisabilityAdvocacyDayTN
#TNLeg
Use one of these graphics to post about Disability Advocacy Day on Social Media:
Alt-Text: Picture of Nissan Stadium lit up blue. Text reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Text ‘teamwork’ to 72690 for all things disability in TN! Msg. & data rates may apply. Average 1-4/msg. per week”
Alt-text: blue background with a white phone opened to a graphic that reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Tuesday, March 11th”
Alt-text: Picture of Nissan Stadium, lit up blue. A hand holding a phone up with a graphic that reads “Tuesday, March 11th. Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day.”
Alt-text: blue background with people holding their phones up. Text reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Tuesday, March 11th.”
Alt-text: blue background with a white phone opened to a graphic that reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Tuesday, March 11th.”
Alt-text: Pictures of Tennessee landmarks lit up blue. Text reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Tuesday, March 11th.”
Alt-text: Nashville’s skyline with the bridge lit up blue. Text reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Tuesday, March 11th.”
Alt-text: blurry sunset photo in the background. Text reads “Tennessee Lights Up Blue for Disability Advocacy Day. Tuesday, March 11th.”
Not sure what to say? Use one of our messages in your post:
#DisabilityAdvocacyDayTN honors the hard work and advocacy of the 1.6 million Tennesseans with disabilities who are improving our state laws for the better. Today, we light up [landmark] to honor these accomplishments and their advocacy.
As we celebrate #DisabilityAdvocacyDayTN [landmark] will light up “Coalition Blue” in support, solidarity, and recognition of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the successful advocacy work done by the disability community in Tennessee.
[landmark] is lighting up blue to honor the importance of advocacy in the lives of the 1.6 million Tennesseans with disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act as we celebrate Disability Advocacy Day!
#DisabilityAdvocacyDayTN honors Tennesseans with disabilities who continue to speak up for basic services and speak out against policies that infringe on civil rights and other legal protections afforded under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Tonight, we light up blue in solidarity.
From diabetes to depression, to Down Syndrome and everything in between, today on Disability Advocacy Day we celebrate the accomplishments and advocacy of the incredibly diverse disability community in Tennessee.
On March 11th, [landmark] will glow light blue for the fifth-annual Disability Advocacy Day to celebrate the accomplishments of the disability community across the state and in recognition of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The 114th General Assembly has proclaimed March 11th, 2025 #DisabilityAdvocacyDayTN for the fifth year, to honor the importance of advocacy in the lives of Tennesseans with disabilities and improve access to equal opportunities across the state. [landmark] joins other cities across the state in showing support by lighting up blue in support and recognition of Tennessee Advocates and the Americans with Disabilities Act.