A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF ADVOCACY, INC. By: Shana Heath

Transcription

1 A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF NEW MEXICO ALLIES FOR ADVOCACY, INC. By: Shana Heath

2 WHAT IS NEW MEXICO ALLIES FOR ADVOCACY, INC. Non-Profit organization with a Board of Directors. The 15 person board has people with disabilities, family members and advocates. They hold board meetings every 3 months and stakeholder meetings every month.

3 MISSION Unite and educate the general public about disability issues to improve inclusion, decrease discrimination, enhance quality of life and community participation with full access to effective and qualified communication.

4 PART 1: APPLIED TO BE ON THE BOARD I sent a letter of interest and my resume. I was accepted onto the board at the annual meeting on October 14, My main reason for being involved is that I wanted to be a better advocate.

5 PART 2: ATTENDING EVENTS I went to an outreach event in Shiprock on September 25. It was called From Fear to Freedom and I spoke on the panel We talked about Knowing Your Rights which is about the rights of people with disabilities and how to be an advocate for their rights. Allies for Advocacy, along with Parents Reaching Out, are a part of this project.

6 TALKED TO PARENTS OF CHILDREN Talked about my experiences. Talked about my disability. Talked about who is out there to help them if they need advocates. Helps show parents how to get the help and support they need for their children to have a good life as adults.

7 PART 3: GAVE OUT FLYERS ABOUT ALLIES

8 A SAMPLE FLYER

9 WHAT I DID Worked on designing and editing the flyers. Printing them out for big events like Disability Rights Awareness Day and 30 or more each month. Gave out flyers at LEND, job fairs, dayhabs, conferences, job clubs and other places.

10 WHY I WANTED TO DO FLYERS Allies wanted to get people involved with their meetings. I wanted people to know that there was something else out there. The stakeholder meetings are open to anyone and include food. I was able to talk to members of Allies about my project and get feedback on my flyers. Stakeholders meetings are held on the 4 th Wednesday of the month at the Landmark Apartments Library Room.

11 PART 4: GO TO MEETINGS AND LEARN ABOUT ISSUES I attended board meetings on October 1, 2017, January 31, 2018, and April 18, I attended stakeholder meetings in November, February and March. Each meeting lasted about 90 minutes to two hours.

12 WHAT DID I LEARN ABOUT We had discussions about: Transportation Sub-minimum wages The Developmental Disability (DD) waiver Medicaid Legislation

13 TRANSPORTATION SunVan doesn t arrive at the exact time you want it to, but as early as 15 minutes before or 15 minutes after. SunVan will leave someone if they are not outside in 5 minutes from when the bus arrives. You have to schedule your ride 3 days in advance. Hard to get ahold of them to complain and even harder to get them to show up at a meeting.

14 SUB-MINIMUM WAGES It is actually legal to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage and it happens with providers in New Mexico. Even living just on minimum wage is very difficult and not enough. Paying someone less than minimum wage doesn t even come close to giving someone enough money. People with disabilities are overlooked for jobs, especially higher paying jobs.

15 DD WAIVER Even being on the Waiver, it is hard to get services. It s hard to get one answer about what is going on. You have rights, such as being independent, riding the bus and making choices. The rules are changing in 2021 to help make sure people s rights and choices are respected. But, you have to advocate and let people know you know your rights to get services. It s not easy.

16 MEDICAID Being on Medicaid lets me get the doctors I want and get services. It can be a little rocky and sometimes I get charged for services I can t afford. When I switched providers, some services got taken away or changed. We need more, not less. I don t think it right to make that are on Medicaid pay more money you should be able to get what you need, when you need it and where you need it.

17 LEGISLATION A Legislative Committee gives a report every month. In LEND, we all went to the Legislature in Santa Fe and got to talk with legislators. Nat Dean taught us a lot about how the Legislature works and we got clipboards. You learn a lot from the Legislature and advocates should get experience being at the Legislature and talking to senators and representatives.

18 WHAT I DID WITH THE INFORMATION I filmed video blogs with the help of my mentor and got help posting them online. This helped people learn about what issues we talk about at the Allies meetings. It will make people want to learn more about these issues. New Mexico Allies for Advocacy Facebook Page can upload them.

19 LINKS TO MY VIDEO BLOGS Transportation - Subminimum wages - From Fear to Freedom - DD Waiver - Legislative Experiences - Medicaid -

20 SUMMARY: WHAT S NEXT I will be a New Mexico Allies for Advocacy Board Member until I have learned how to be a better advocate and learned a lot about different issues. We need more advocates to serve and talk about their experience. I m going to miss everyone in the LEND program and I m glad I was able to use my work with Allies as a part of it.

21 THANK YOU ANY QUESTIONS?... SEE YOU IN THE FUTURE!