A: Americans w/ disabilities

A: There are very few politicians w/ disabilities!  The policy maker’s primary source of information is their own experience, right?  Well, there are only a handful of politicians that have the “disability experience” as part of their primary source…

A: TUR is a political empowerment website for Americans w/ disabilities.  It is a tool with which we, as a community, can forge an ever-better future for ourselves and each other as we individually and collectively struggle for inclusion and opportunity.

While it is vital that we all participate in the political process at the National, State, and local levels by voting in all elections, such participation is clearly not enough.

We must give our elected officials the input they require in order to legislate wisely...and we must do so on an "issue by issue" basis…

In our society, Democracy is a Right and participation is free (without cost)...and the same is true at TUR... Membership is free, so please register and participate...

A: Joe VanderVeer is the sole creator and technical supporter of TUR.  His wife, Pam helps with content creation.

A: Joe 's web development skills, which he started actively acquiring at the end of 2004, are 100% self-taught. 

A: Joe’s computer background, spanning over 20 years, includes all aspects (hardware and software) of pc set-up, repair, and troubleshooting (also self-taught).   He's been on the internet since 1994 and has extensive experience in web based applications.  Joe 's knowledge and expertise is attributable to him and Pam having very limited resources as a disabled couple, and thus, he had to learn to become 100% self-sufficient with pc repair and troubleshooting.  He now uses those self-taught skills and abilities to help other people with disabilities (as well as anyone else who doesn't have much money) to maintain working computers and stay connected to the internet.  He also builds websites and is the webmaster for various community organizations.

A: Joe is a bargain hunter, so the expense of running the website itself is fairly reasonable. He uses open-source software (Joomla) and does all of his own graphic work.    

By far, the majority of the expense of running TUR is in providing the advocacy tools we offer.  Those tools are very expensive and we are currently seeking ways of providing long-term sustainability so that we can provide them to the community on an on-going basis.  If you can help us with that goal, please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If you have any questions not covered here, feel free to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .