Free ADA webinar focuses on art, science of advocacy

'Effective public policy advocacy can help to bridge those partisan divides and persuade people to work together for the common good'

A free webinar in August will offer potential solutions on how to address and overcome politically motivated thinking in light of the challenges presented by growing partisanship in Washington, D.C., as well as in our own backyards.

Presented by the ADA Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention, The Science of Advocacy will live stream Aug. 18 from 7-8 p.m. Central time, and one hour of continuing education credit for participants is pending approval.

The webinar facilitator is Jacob Thompson, Ph.D., director of general education and undergraduate curriculum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Having served as a professor-in-residence in UNLV's Department of Communication Studies and head coach and director of UNLV's debate team, his research and teaching focus on presidential and political campaign debates, persuasion, advocacy and argumentation.

"Today, in America and across the world, people are increasingly divided along partisan lines,” Dr. Thompson said. “That's truly unfortunate because all of the important challenges of our time, from public health to climate change, and everything in between, all require our collective efforts to address. Effective public policy advocacy can help to bridge those partisan divides and persuade people to work together for the common good."

At the conclusion of the webinar, participants will be able to identify the role that political passion and partisanship play in undermining basic reasoning skills and the ability to think clearly and explain how values shape political conflict over facts; apply a variety of effective deliberative strategies for resolving such conflicts consistent with sound empirical data from studies of cultural cognition; and create successful advocacy strategies for issues that matter to their group.