On May 14 - 16 more than 600 advocates took part in a very successful National ALS Advocacy Conference here in Washington, DC. Of the 600 advocates, 130 were people living with ALS. On Sunday and Monday, national experts and officials briefed participants on The ALS Association priorities and other “hot topics” that they might encounter in their congressional meetings and Chapter Executives prepared their state delegations for Hill meetings.

On Tuesday, May 16, participants completed more than 400 congressional visits including 20 with Senators and more than 40 with House Representatives. People living with ALS and their family members led the congressional meetings – and provided both effective and passionate arguments in favor of ALS Priorities including:

• Securing cosponsors for and passage of the: 1) “The ALS Disability Insurance Access Act”, 2) legislation to ensure access to complex rehabilitation technology such as wheelchairs and accessories and 3) the Steve Gleason Enduring Voices Act of 2017 that ensures access to speech generating devices;
• Appropriations for ALS Research at the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health and the ALS Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more details on The ALS Association Public Policy Priorities, please click here.

Portions of the National Conference – including the presentations by Dr. Janet Woodcock and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers can be found on The ALS Association Facebook page posting for May 14, 15 and 16.

Many great photographs were captured over the three days in Washington D.C. Take a look and share the conference photo gallery!

Kevin Allen Photography

Password: als

The photos are free to download and will be available online until August 1, 2017. If you plan to use any of the photos, please credit the photographer, Kevin Allen.

Read the full Advocacy Day Wrap-Up here for all conference highlights.