APWU Secretary-Treasurer
Honored With AAPD Award

(This article was first published in the July/August 2007 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

In ceremonies in March, the American Association of People with Disabilities presented APWU Secretary-Treasurer Terry Stapleton with the 2007 Linda Chavez-Thompson Award.

The annual AAPD award honors an individual who has shown extraordinary leadership by including people with disabilities and their families as part of the U.S. labor movement.

Before becoming a national officer in 1994, Stapleton was president of the Houston Area Local, where he appointed the union’s first Deaf/Hard of Hearing shop steward and created a committee to advise the local on issues pertaining to the needs of the D/HH workforce. He currently serves as the union’s liaison to the APWU Deaf/Hard of Hearing Task Force.

Task force members credit Stapleton with working hard to protect the rights of those with disabilities, and for helping to improve national contract language important to deaf and hard of hearing postal employees.

APWU D/HH Task Force Delegate Marcie Ryan presented the AAPD award to Terry Stapleton.

The audience at the AAPD gala at which the award was presented was told about the conferences, workshops, and other activities of the APWU task force, and that it is recognized in the union constitution. Participants also were told that task force representatives serve in advisory capacities at Labor-Management meetings and at the bargaining table.

The award, named for one of the AFL-CIO’s top three officers, is in recognition of federation executive vice president Chavez-Thompson’s “longstanding leadership and commitment to disability rights and empowerment.”

– Marcie Ryan

Marcie Ryan is the Eastern Region representative to the APWU Deaf/Hard of Hearing Task Force.

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