| From Our Director |
There
are many themes that could be selected from the feature story in this
edition
of The Heart of It, but few as compelling as the subject of
“self-advocacy.”
By
most accounts, self-advocacy rarely if ever occurs through the actions
of a
person acting alone, even though the word “self” suggests otherwise.
Most
often, self-advocacy is achieved through independent groups of people
working
together to achieve a common goal, like recognition and the attainment
of
certain rights.
While
it certainly can be said that Samantha Henault, the young woman
featured on the
cover story, is an excellent self-advocate, it can also be said that
she spends
most of her time in that role working within groups of people with the
same
interests. Samantha has learned about advocacy from the best of the
best, her
family. Sharon and Bernie Henault are not only Samantha’s grandparents
and
guardians; they demonstrate advocacy and leadership in all they do for
their
communities in the Northeast Kingdom.
As
noted in the cover article, KASA is an organization sponsored by Family
Voices
(Parent to Parent of Vermont is the Vermont affiliate of Family
Voices).
Samantha is able to advocate through this national, grassroots network
of youth
with disabilities (and their friends), by speaking out. KASA members
are
leaders in their communities, and they spread helpful, positive
information to
increase knowledge around various issues. Those issues include: living
with
disabilities, health care transition issues, school, work, and many
more. All this is able to happen only
because KASA
is an available resource.
We
at Parent to Parent of Vermont believe it is very important for people
to have
options such as places to go, people to meet with, and things to do. Some people often take these basics of
community interaction for granted, but to many, these are choices that
only
come after much hard work.
We
advocate for families with children who have special needs. This is a
particularly essential endeavor because Parent to Parent of Vermont is
a
family-centered, peer support organization – as such, we function as an
advocacy organization and as a self-advocacy organization. Put another
way, we
strive to give others options to advocate (see under Family Voices and
Support Groups,
for example), just as many choose to take advantage of
opportunities to self-advocate. (We also encourage you to join our Listserv.)
As
a Vermonter, I am often struck by the many options we have as citizens.
Options
like parks, lakes, hiking trails, town and county fairs, parades,
turkey
dinners - even our legendary town meetings - are just a few examples of
ways
Vermonters can connect with their community.
And if your options are dictated by the weather, you are
particularly
lucky to be in Vermont. If the weather
isn’t right for the option you chose, you need only wait until tomorrow
when
the weather may be exactly the option you desired.
Most of us have learned, however, to choose our options
according
to the weather we have that day.
Lastly,
just having options available is not always a panacea.
Can we get to where we want to go, does the
activity accommodate all participants, and will other participants
welcome
us? These are the more difficult issues
we face even when a choice from many selections exists.
One
of Parent to Parent’s goals, expressed in our vision statement, is that
families live in communities where differences are embraced. This can
only be
accomplished when there is an ongoing effort to advocate for inclusion.
It is not enough that there are options in our communities. The options need to be accessible and viable. It is to each of us as individuals, sometimes acting in unison with many others through organizations like Parent to Parent, to ensure that everyone is provided with full and equal participation in all aspects of community life. In this way, all can fulfill their potential and make their dreams come true. ©
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