leo in bloom magazine

Dear Friends,

I am so lucky to be a part of the Spellers and Allies Advocacy Network at I-ASC! At our most recent meeting, I asked my fellow members to share a brief response to the question: How does advocacy help you? Here are responses from Spellers and speaking Allies. Thank you all for sharing!

Words from Spellers

ADVOCACY HELPS ME FEEL LIKE MY LIFE HAS A PURPOSE – Joel Nyland

IT GIVES ME A PURPOSE AND THE AVENUE TO HELP OTHER NONSPEAKERS – Sarah Ackerman

IT ALLOWS ME TO USE MY DIFFICULTIES AS A PLATFORM TO HELP OTHERS! – Danny Whitty

THANKS TO SPELLERS & ALLIES, I HAVE SOMETHING TO DO OTHER THAN HANG OUT WITH MY PARENTS! ADVOCACY MAKES ME GET UP IN THE MORNING, EXCITED ABOUT THE CHALLENGES AHEAD. – Ben Crimm

I WANT TO TRY TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND TO BE SEEN AS SMART. I ALSO WANT TO HELP OTHERS FIND THEIR VOICE. – Sam Becker

SO MUCH, IT MEANS I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS – Cian Fullam

ADVOCACY EMPOWERS ME TO PUT MYSELF OUT THERE FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS – Noah Seback

I TRULY WANT THE WORLD TO BE A BETTER PLACE. IT STARTS WITH US – Nico Segrera

IT MAKES PEOPLE MORE AWARE OF HOW INTELLIGENT I AM AND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO BE INCLUDED IN SOCIETY – Declan Lavery

ADVOCACY HELPS ME RAISE AWARENESS AND INSPIRES ME TO REACH MY POTENTIAL. IT HELPS ME CONNECT WITH MY PEERS. – Divyesh Jain

Words from our Allies

AS AN ALLY, I LOVE HELPING TO CHANGE PEOPLE’S LONG HELD BELIEFS ABOUT THE NONSPEAKING COMMUNITY! – Aniruddha Rao

AS AN ALLY, ADVOCACY HELPS ME LEARN HOW TO HELP OTHERS LIVE THEIR BEST LIVES WHILE ALSO TEACHING ME WHAT I NEED IN MY OWN LIFE TO FEEL MY BEST! IT ALSO GIVES ME A SENSE OF MEANINGFUL PURPOSE – Maggie Armstrong

PARTICIPATING IN ADVOCACY GIVES ME HOPE – Monica van Schaik

This part of the meeting ended with:

Noah: GROUP ADVOCACY HUG!

Danny: YEAH NOAH!

Joel: I FEEL IT NOAH