Opening Statements

Welcome to your awards show.  It is yours because it honors those individuals from within your industry, the world ability industry, who have distinguished themselves through their extraordinary accomplishments to help people with disabilities.

The winners, the nominees, the judges, sponsors, and all those here tonight share the commitment of this industry…to improve the lives of all people who happen to have a disability.

Tonight, we are gathered to honor our peers and salute the extraordinary accomplishments within this industry throughout the past year.

Over the past year, our staff has traveled tens of thousands of miles to personally meet with hundreds of individuals and organizations whose mission is to improve the lives of people who have a disability.  We met with leaders in corporate America, politicians on the local, state, and national level, founders of not for profit organizations chartered to help people with disabilities, and of course, many of you who are here tonight.  Your selfless efforts contribute to improving the lives of 57 million Americans, and as a result have made the world a better place for all of us.

Before we begin, we would like to call out that every single nominee, in fact, every single person in this industry is a winner.  Your efforts to improve the lives of anyone with a disability enables us to call attention to a person’s ability rather than their disability.

You will hear over and over tonight a common theme…to focus on a person’s abilities…not their disabilities.  Listen for it.  It is singularly the most important message of the evening.

And with that, ladies and gentleman, we wish all of the nominees the best of luck as we begin tonight’s ceremony and the presentation of the 2004 New Ability Awards.  Enjoy the show!