Thanks for sharing Grace Dow's piece on advocacy. She writes: "Getting my needs met shouldn’t be this hard. It feels like I’m asking the staff to climb Mount Everest when I ask them for help."
That struck a chord with me. The Mount Everest defence is too often raised to derail advocates. When I was recommending that my sister Teresa (with Down syndrome) live in the community, I was told by another sister, “This is higher than Mount Everest. This is insurmountable. It will not work.” (Ten years of community living later, Teresa's either proven that she can scale Mt Everest or maybe it wasn't really an insurmountable feat!)
Grace summarizes beautifully, "Advocacy can be challenging for someone with cerebral palsy. However, advocating for myself taught me to be tenacious. I feel proud when I advocate for myself. It requires lots of effort, but it usually pays off."
Thanks for sharing Grace Dow's piece on advocacy. She writes: "Getting my needs met shouldn’t be this hard. It feels like I’m asking the staff to climb Mount Everest when I ask them for help."
That struck a chord with me. The Mount Everest defence is too often raised to derail advocates. When I was recommending that my sister Teresa (with Down syndrome) live in the community, I was told by another sister, “This is higher than Mount Everest. This is insurmountable. It will not work.” (Ten years of community living later, Teresa's either proven that she can scale Mt Everest or maybe it wasn't really an insurmountable feat!)
Grace summarizes beautifully, "Advocacy can be challenging for someone with cerebral palsy. However, advocating for myself taught me to be tenacious. I feel proud when I advocate for myself. It requires lots of effort, but it usually pays off."