My Start in Advocacy

Greetings, my friends, and welcome. In this world, it’s not always easy to understand the path you’re meant to follow. For a long time, I was lost. When I was 18, I was very disappointed in myself and in the world because I could not go to college. At that time, it was not in the cards, and I was very angry. I had basically given up and accepted the fact that I was worthless and I couldn’t do anything.

That all changed because one person didn’t give up on me. My school had a transition coordinator who always had my best interest at heart, even though I was, without a doubt, the most difficult client she ever had. She gave me this application for a course called

Partners in Policymaking, which she described as a disability learning think tank. I filled it out very, very, very basically—I wrote a bunch of crap because I didn’t believe in myself. But she saw my potential. She made me do better, telling me I could do a better job and made me write an essay on top of it.

Months later, I got a call from the program director, who said she was very impressed with my words. I had no idea what I had said, even to this day. When I finally went to the first session, I purposely sat in the back because I didn’t feel like I belonged. Where I grew up, I was one of the only kids with a physical disability, and I had no concept of the disability community, or of inclusion.

But as I listened to the stories of the other families and people in that room, I realized something. I’m not alone. There’s a whole community out there for you. I learned more from listening to their stories and successes than I did from the actual course. It was the first time as an adult I had ever been left alone as a person. I had never even slept in a room by myself before. That experience taught me that I wasn’t helpless, that I had resources, and that I could manage a situation on my own.

One course, one day, one person changed my life. What was that one course, that one day, or that one person for you? Let me know in the comments below! Full podcast episode is below as well.

episode transcript

The Podcast

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