WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to the U.S. Census, one in five Americans has a disability, half of which are severe. There are currently more than 54 million Americans with disabilities, and among them are growing numbers of veterans, including one in every four returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 42 million family caregivers provide informal supports to individuals with disabilities and seniors at home and in the community. Issues of importance to people with disabilities, their loved ones and caretakers will be discussed in a Newsmaker press conference on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at noon, National Press Building, 529 14^th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

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Jonathan M. Young, a partner at the law firm FoxKiser, will represent the campaign of President Barack Obama. Dr. Young was the co-founder and former Chair of the Committee on Disability Power & Pride. Dr. Young previously served in the Executive Office of the President as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. He currently serves as Chairman of the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency that advises the President and Congress on Disability Policy. As Project Director for the NRH Center for Health and Disability Research, he authored NCD's 1997 publication (reprinted in 2011), Equality of Opportunity: The Making of the Americans with Disabilities Act , which subsequently became the foundation for his doctoral dissertation on the disability rights movement. Dr. Young is partially paralyzed from a spinal cord injury.

An invitation has been extended to the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

SOURCE National Press Club