NCLD-Youth Congratulates Youth Leaders in West Virginia

NCLD-Youth Congratulates Youth Leaders in West Virginia

Dear JFA Readers:

That National Consortium on Leadership and Disability sent the 
following information to JFA to share with our community on 
what young leaders in the National Youth Leadership Network are 
doing -- especially in West Virginia and Florida.
______________________________________________________________


Leading on...Disability History Week Passed In West Virginia!!!

Youth leaders with disabilities across the country are letting 
America know that it's their right to learn their history! 
Based in the research done in the field of youth 
development/youth leadership, youth with disabilities need "an 
understanding of disability history, culture, and disability 
public policy issues as well as their rights and 
responsibilities" in order to successfully transition to 
adulthood. Projects such as the state youth leadership forums 
(YLF) taking place in 23 states around the country, the 
National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN), and the 15 youth 
resource information and training centers all work on helping 
youth and emerging leaders with disabilities access this 
critical information. We are very excited to report though, 
that two youth projects have taken this as a rallying cry to 
educate all youth about disability history, culture, and 
community. 

Last summer West Virginia had their first YLF with an agenda 
set by Marissa Johnson, former chair of the NYLN, and was 
supported by Ann Meadows, Corey Rowley, Jan and Mark Derry, and 
several other leaders in the disability and independent living 
movements. The forum included a heavy emphasis on the history, 
culture, and community of our movement. The delegates started 
out as a group young people of different disabilities, 
backgrounds, and experiences and ended with a community of new 
leaders, brought together by a single mission, empowerment. The 
turning point for the youth came when a call was placed to the 
advocates sitting in at the Governor's office in Tennessee, 
protesting cuts to Medicaid. When the new leaders saw just how 
important these issues are, they quickly wanted to do something 
to make others aware of the disability rights movement. For the 
legislative session, the youth were able to use the actual 
House chambers and Speaker of the House, Bob Kiss was present 
to oversee the proceedings. The "Justin and Yoshiko Dart 
Disability History Week" bill, would dedicate the third week in 
October (Disability Employment Month) as Disability History 
week, to educate all children in public schools about the 
importance of the disability civil rights movement. Speaker 
Kiss was so impressed with the preparation and presentation of 
the mock session that he agreed to sponsor a real bill, to be 
written and lobbied by the delegates, in the next legislative 
session. The bill was written by the delegates, support 
garnered, and has been passed by the House and Senate and on 
its way to the Governor. 

Congratulations to the leaders in West Virginia! Your older 
brothers and sisters in the disability community are so proud 
of you!!!!! Youre making history by teaching it!


The Florida Youth Council, part of the National Consortium on 
Leadership and Disability (NCLD/Youth), is creating their own 
bill (based on the West Virginia work) to be presented to the 
Governor at the Family Cafi conference in June. Working with 
other youth leaders from their YLF, High School/High Tech 
projects, and Disability Mentoring Day, they are hoping to have 
a draft ready sometime in the near future. NCLD-Youth will be 
hosting a call for those interested in doing similar work 
within their own states. Contact Rebecca Hare at
202-822-8405 x127 or harer@iel.org, for more information.

# # #

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