Please join our Chisme Check In on Thursday April 13. Let’s catch up and plan for the year. Come prepared with your questions/concerns or just join us to say hello. We look forward to seeing you!

Please RSVP for this event below.

Los invitamos a nuestro Chisme Check In el jueves 13 de abril. Venga charlar y planear para el año. Traiga sus preguntas o simplemente pase y salude. ¡Los esperamos!

Regístrese aquí.

Join us on tax day (April 17th) for tax lunch power hour. This event will be an open discussion on US taxes, we'll talk about debunking tax myths, and discuss self-filing or choosing an accountant.

This event will not be recorded so everyone feels able to share and talk freely.

Although there is no cost to attend, we strongly recommend a $10 donation so that DAUK can continue to provide events like this in the future.

Click here to donate $10.

Email [email protected] to be added to the DAUK Tax Committee mailing list.

Disclaimer: Democrats Abroad UK cannot provide individual tax advice. We are not tax lawyers, accountants or advisers. Please consult a professional tax adviser/accountant/return preparer when addressing your personal tax matters.

We recommend the IRS Tax Return Preparer Directory to find a service provider who meets your needs and budget, though buyers need always beware. Democrats Abroad UK suggests Americans abroad in need of tax advice consult the IRS Tax Return Preparer Directory to find an advisor or tax return preparer near you or providing online services: https://irs.treasury.gov/rpo/rpo.jsf

Calling All DPCA Officers... to Vote On 2024 Delegate Selection Plan

Connection details will be emailed to all Democrats Abroad member RSVP's closer to the meeting date.

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Every four years, the Democratic Party begins designing the Delegate Selection Rules and a resulting nominating process for the next presidential election.

While the Rules drafting process begins anew after each Presidential election, many norms and traditions carry over, including a rule that lets some states hold their nominating contest early, which in 2024 will be South Carolina, Nevada & New Hampshire, Michigan, and Georgia.

Democrats Abroad has worked hard at crafting our Delegate Selection Plan, which is the guiding document as we play our part in nominating our Party's 2024 nominees for President and Vice President of the United States.

You can review a copy of our draft 2024 Delegate Selction Plan which was posted for public comment on our website on March 6, 2023, and submit your by writing to [email protected] through April 5, 2023.

(Please include the page and line number your feedback refers to in your email. Thank you!)

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NOTICE: This meeting will be recorded, including audio, video, and any materials exchanged or viewed during the session.

What is WEP?  The Windfall Elimination Provision, (“WEP”), is a source of concern and some serious financial implications for Americans living abroad.  Will it affect you when you retire abroad? The answer is - it might.

WEP, in a very broad nutshell, can affect the benefits that you are paid by the Social Security Administration. If you receive both a pension from doing work that did not pay into Social Security and are also receiving a pension from Social Security, the amount you receive from Social Security may be reduced and spousal benefits may be eliminated.

How do you prepare for WEP? What if as a retired person you receive a pension from abroad as well as Social Security – how will WEP affect you?

Democrats Abroad has been working on the elimination of WEP since the early 2000s. There is currently a bill in the House -  HR 82 Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 - which would eliminate WEP. The DA Seniors Caucus is currently advocating for WEP elimination. Please join us to find out more.

Our guest speaker is Nancy Altman from Social Security Works and she will speak to us about WEP and answer our questions about WEP.

About our Speaker:

Nancy J. Altman has a forty-five year background in the areas of Social Security and private pensions. She is president of Social Security Works and chair of the Strengthen Social Security coalition.
Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Ms. Altman to a six-year term, starting October 1, 2017, on the Social Security Advisory Board. The seven-person Board is a bipartisan, independent federal government agency established in 1994 to advise the President, Congress, and the Commissioner of Social Security.
Ms. Altman is the author of The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble (John Wiley & Sons, 2005) and The Truth About Social Security: The Founders’ Words Refute Revisionist History, Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings (Strong Arm Press, 2018). She is also co-author of Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All (The New Press, 2015). She has shared her Social Security expertise on numerous television and radio shows, including PBS NewsHour, MSNBC, and FOX News. She has published op-eds in dozens of newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
From 1983 to 1989, Ms. Altman was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and taught courses on private pensions and Social Security at the Harvard Law School. In 1982, she was Alan Greenspan’s assistant in his position as chairman of the bipartisan commission that developed the 1983 Social Security amendments.
From 1977 to 1981, she was a legislative assistant to Senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo) and advised the Senator with respect to Social Security issues. From 1974 to 1977, she was a tax lawyer with Covington & Burling, where she handled a variety of private pension matters.
Ms. Altman chairs the Board of Directors of the Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of beneficiary rights. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, the Economic Opportunity Institute, Latinos for the Secure Retirement, and the Institute for America’s Future. In the mid-1980’s, she was on the organizing committee and the first board of directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Democrats Abroad Global Seniors and Disability Caucuses invite you to join us for our monthly Social -- a time for Seniors and members of the Disability Caucus to connect with one another and discuss topics of concern and information. We will reflect, discuss, plan, and strategize together from the comfort of our own homes and with no duties or assignments! This will be fun as we can discuss freely any topic we would like.

RSVP BELOW TO JOIN US ON ZOOM!

Democrats Abroad Global Seniors and Disability Caucuses invite you to join us for our monthly Social -- a time for Seniors and members of the Disability Caucus to connect with one another and discuss topics of concern and information. We will reflect, discuss, plan, and strategize together from the comfort of our own homes and with no duties or assignments! This will be fun as we can discuss freely any topic we would like.

RSVP BELOW TO JOIN US ON ZOOM!

The GWC Reproductive Justice Team has  launched a project to promote voter registration
and ACTION under the theme Reproductive Justice for ALL.

As you certainly know, the rights of all women to choose when and if to start a family have been taken away by the Supreme Court when it overruled Roe vs Wade.

As a result, over 26 states prohibiting or restricting the right to abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy even in the cases of rape, incest and the mother’s and/or the  fetus’ health. Texas has empowered vigilantes to sue everyone and anyone aiding and abetting abortion once the fetal heartbeat can be heard, i.e. at approximately 6 weeks and before most women know they are pregnant. Every day there are over 200 bills in the red state legislatures taking away our rights and making women into criminals.

Now that the Republicans have taken the House, we must fight for Federal Protection of Our Reproductive Freedom

Our project is a video launch via YouTube. We continue to ask all DA members to make a short (60 second) video explaining why the right to abortion is absolutely necessary. If you come from a state where it is practically impossible to obtain an abortion, you can speak about the discrimination against minority and poor women whose lives are in jeopardy and who cannot travel. If you come from “good states” such as MA, CA, or NY, you can speak to the injustice of access depending upon where you live. Make sure you mention in the video VotefromAbroad.org for expat voter registration and vote.gov for non-expat voter registration.

The fight now is in the red state legislatures and we will push our videos out there to counter the misinformation about medication abortion and our rights.

Here are a few subjects that you could choose for your video:

• If you live/vote in a country that has “good” reproductive freedom laws, you could refer to the country and the liberal law(s) and how lucky you are to be in that country and how unfair it is for American women LIVING IN THE US who can’t benefit from such laws.

• If you live/vote in a US state that has good reproductive freedom laws, see above, you can say that living in a “bad” state is discriminatory since women in “good “US states have rights that you are denied.

• You can share a personal experience. You don’t have to use your name or even mention where you live. The videos will be anonymous unless you do give details.
• You can make a statement that women should have the right to control their bodies. Period. There is no justification for the government to decide when, how  or even if women should have children.

If you can’t think of anything to say but still want to make a video, feel free to contact Salli at [email protected]. She will set up a call, walk you through some ideas and help you make the video.

For more information, visit our blog space here:

https://www.democratsabroad.org/wc_reproductive_justice_action_team

All videos should be sent to Salli Swartz at [email protected]

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN

Disclaimer: By submitting your video, you grant to Democrats Abroad nonexclusive rights to use your video and your image only for the 2023 GWC Reproductive Justice Get Out the Vote video project. 

You therefore hereby waive all rights to any claims arising out of or in connection with Democrats Abroad GWC’s use of your video and image in connection with the 2022 Reproductive Justice video project.

Respect, awareness and good will can make a world of difference when speaking to someone with a disability or with a disability different from our own. Even the most “woke” person gets tripped up occasionally: Do I say dwarf or little person? Hearing impaired, hard-of-hearing, or “person with a hearing disability”? If a person with cerebral palsy welcomes the term “crip,” does this apply to most people with a motor disability? Should I use person-first language or disability-first language? (For more on this difference, see below.)

The times and language are changing rapidly, as are the ways people with disabilities are choosing to identify themselves. Disability represents a form of diversity – similar to gender, race, religion, ethnicity and social class – and requires the same sensitivity when it comes to the way we address and refer to one another.

Below is a quick guide (adapted from paraquad.org) for respectful, mindful disability language. These suggestions aren’t meant to make anyone feel policed, self-conscious or shamed. Educate yourself on current, accepted terms. Still unsure how to address or refer to someone with a disability? Don’t guess! Ask the person directly, remembering most of us would still rather be referred to by our name than a label.

Words to avoid:
Cripple, handicapped, invalid, victim, afflicted with, confined to a wheelchair, normal (when referring to a non-disabled person), deaf-mute, birth defect, crazy/insane/mental patient, slow, mentally retarded, underachiever, deformed, handicapable, differently abled, disfigured, abnormal, palsied, spastic, physically challenged, manic, maimed, incapacitated, high-functioning/low-functioning, “special” and special needs.

Words to use:
Person with a disability, disabled, uses a wheelchair, non-disabled or able-bodied, deaf, hard of hearing, psychiatric history, emotional disorder, consumer of mental health services, epilepsy/seizures, learning disability, ADD/ADHD, developmental disability, cognitive disability, born with.

Many of the “words to avoid” are obvious. But language is not only ever-changing, it possesses layers of meaning, history and nuance. Inherent in words like invalid or victim is the belief that disabled people are “less than” able-bodied people. Ableism itself isn’t a new phenomenon, of course, though the term itself might be for some. And it has a way of slipping into our everyday language. We call people “crazy.” We say someone made a “dumb” choice or a “lame” excuse.

Andrew Pulrang, who writes a regular column for Forbes magazine on disability practices, policy, politics and culture, (link below), explains that “the harm of terms and uses like this is indirect, but no less real. They all reinforce the idea that a good way to describe bad things is to compare them to disabilities, or to disabled people.”

The good news, according to Pulrang, however, is that ableist language is also “unnecessary,” given a reasonable amount of awareness, creativity and, above all, care.

To learn more about respectful disability language, please check out these sources:

“It’s Time to Stop Even Casually Misusing Disability Words,” Andrew Pulrang in Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2021/02/20/its-time-to-stop-even-casually-misusing-disability-words/?sh=43d3bcfe7d4e

“The harmful ableist language you unknowingly use” – BBC’s Equality Matters
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210330-the-harmful-ableist-language-you-unknowingly-use

“Respectful Disability Language: Here’s What’s Up!” – NYLN (National Youth Leadership Network)
https://www.templateroller.com/template/2075600/respectful-disability-language-here-s-what-s-up-nyln-kasa.html

“Choosing Words for Talking About Disability” – American Psychological Association
https://www.apa.org/pi/disability/resources/choosing-words

“Disability Language Style Guide’ - National Center on Disability and Journalism
https://ncdj.org/style-guide/

“Disability-Inclusive-Language-Guidelines” - Prepared by the United Nations Office at Geneva as part of efforts to implement the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, launched in 2019.
https://www.ungeneva.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/Disability-Inclusive-Language-Guidelines.pdf 

WHAT COMES FIRST: The choice is personal and both are appropriate

Person-first language places the “person” before the “disability” and is intended to emphasize personhood over impairment. Person with a disability …

Disability-first language (or identity-first language) places “disabled” before the person, emphasizing that disability is an important part of one's identity. Disabled person …