Contact: Katie Johnson at kjohnson@aapd.com
WASHINGTON D.C. — The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is pleased to announce the first-ever Fall Internship Class.
The AAPD Internship Program strives to develop stronger disability identities within students and recent graduates with disabilities, so they can be better equipped to shape the future of our workplaces and communities. Our inaugural Fall Internship Program builds on the success of our Summer Internship Program to provide more opportunities for disabled students and recent graduates to access meaningful employment opportunities, gain leadership skills, and connect to the broader disability community. The expansion of AAPD’s internship programming is made possible by Arconic Foundation.
To increase the accessibility of our internship program, AAPD structured the Fall Internship Program to be fully virtual and part-time. The virtual component creates more opportunities for internship placement and participation across the country in a modality that is more accessible to many. The part-time schedule allows for more flexibility with scheduling and managing school or work obligations that students may have. Lastly, AAPD offers part-time because we consider income limits impacting people with disabilities who receive public benefits and do not want prospective interns to be faced with forcing them to choose between an impactful career development and the benefits they need to survive.
During the program, AAPD provides interns with a competitive wage, technology support, mentorship, and many networking and educational opportunities. Interns also participate in AAPD’s Disability Advocacy Certificate Program and learn about effective advocacy methods and key issues within the disability community. Interns will also have the opportunity to participate in an optional in-person gathering in November.
For this Fall, AAPD placed eight interns in predetermined placement sites including Congressional committees, federal agencies, non-profit, and for-profit organizations.
The AAPD 2023 Fall Internship Class is:
- Alana Walker (she/her), Paul K. Longmore Institute
- Elian Sorensen (he/him), Administration for Community Living
- Kaeli Dalton (she/her), Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
- Karlee Rojas (she/her), National Disability Rights Network
- Kunyeul Lee (he/him), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Oluwaseyi Onifade (he/him), Elevance Health
- Ruby Elbert (she/her), U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Shannon Stubblefield (they/she), New Disabled South
You can read the Fall 2023 Interns full bios and learn more about them here.
The 2023 AAPD Fall Internship Program would not be possible without the generous support of our partners. Thank you to Arconic Foundation for supporting our Fall Internship Program.