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DISABILITY YOUTH LEADERS WANT TO CONTROL OWN DESTINYNovember 30, 2000EDITOR'S NOTE: Special Education News presents the third in a series of articles by guest columnist Jill Allen. A recent graduate of Hamilton College in New York, Allen has published articles on how parents handle their children's transitions to college life and on the challenges of establishing a personal care assistant network. She graduated from Hamilton in May with a degree in English Literature and currently works as a paraprofessional in Vermont. In the Gettysburg address, President Abraham Lincoln expressed the hope that government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" would continue to flourish in America. Since that time, the principles of self-governance have thrived in the youth-controlled arms of many social movements. Yet one social cause, the disability rights movement, is still trying to found a youth-run faction. While we've made progress in this direction, the establishment of a powerful self-governing network of disabled youth organizations is critical, because it would allow handicapped young people to set a course for their future. Youth activism and the disability rights movement share some common roots. During the upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, young people from all walks of life protested for a variety of issues: peace, civil rights for people of color and women's rights, to name a few. Young people also played an important role in another emergent cause: the independent living movement. As Bob Dylan sang, "These times, they are a-changin'", and the independent living movement brought about much-needed reforms in the way people with disabilities are treated. Proponents of the cause believed handicapped individuals would thrive if they resided among their able-bodied peers in the community, rather than being warehoused in institutions. But organizations had to be in place to facilitate their integration. To this end, a group of disabled students at the University of California at Berkeley, led by renowned disability advocate Ed Roberts, a student there, founded the Center for Independent Living in the city of Berkeley. Soon after, other locales followed suit, and today several hundred such centers exist in this country. The establishment of the first independent living center by university students in the 1960s represents just one example of the significant contribution youth have made to the disability rights field. With the passage of legislation such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's predecessor in 1975 and the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, more mechanisms have been put in place to foster the inclusion of handicapped people in society. Despite these important advances, the venerable old guard knows that there is still much more to do and that the future of civil rights for disabled people lies in the hands of impassioned, informed youth. To give these young people a voice, a number of annual conferences have been established recently, at which youth have been invited to participate, along with able-bodied people from various disability-related professions. While having a disabled representative on such panels is certainly worthwhile, it is equally important to have gatherings orchestrated largely by young handicapped people, so the delegates feel they have as much control as possible. I attended such a conference run by young people in June 2000. Under the auspices of the President's Committee on Employment for People with Disabilities and a host of other federal organizations, the National Youth Leadership Conference started in 1996. Bringing delegates together from every U.S. state and territory, the gathering empowers young people with disabilities to take charge of their lives and urges them to become civil rights advocates through the use of speakers, workshops and a day in Washington, D.C. In its early years, the conference was run more by the sponsors than by the participants. However, this changed with the creation of the Youth Leadership Council. The YLC now functions as the main organization that plans future conferences. Its members are delegates from previous years chosen through a selective application process to serve on the committee. The new YLC draws up the agenda for the next gathering, enlists presenters, schedules seminars and orchestrates personal assistance for those who need it. That the YLC was able to bring 96 adolescents with disabilities together for three and a half days without any major mishaps last summer is truly a testament to the power of youth leadership. Not only did the YLC members represent a powerful force in disabled activism, but so did the conference delegates. Nowhere was our collective influence more evident than during our trip to Washington. Armed with a Youth Policy Agenda formulated the night before, we headed to Capitol Hill to share with lawmakers our suggestions for ameliorating the lives of disabled Americans. In the morning, various Clinton Administration staffers briefed us on the current initiatives about disability policy. After each presentation, we had the opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns about issues important to us. We were briefed by so many people that I can't even begin to summarize all that was said, but the following instance exemplifies the responses of the governmental officials. Lisa Brown, a vice-presidential aide, nodded attentively as participants spoke out and jotted down notes on a legal pad. We delegates truly felt like we had given the presenters some food for thought by the time we left the assembly room. In the afternoon, those of us that had scheduled appointments to do so beforehand met with our Congressional representatives or members of their staffs. As a Vermonter, I spoke with legislative aides for Sens. Jim Jeffords and Patrick Leahy, as well as with Sen. Jeffords himself. After explaining the need for more handicapped-accessible housing and higher wages for personal care assistants, I drove away confident I had influenced disability policy. That's what youth leadership is about: Young people recognizing that they can be a powerful force for change. In order to mobilize youth with disabilities in particular, we need more symposia such as the one I attended, where we serve not as the lone youth representatives but as participants in a process run for our peers by our peers. We can foster change more effectively if we can shape our own destiny. Write to Jill Allen at allenjillm@hotmail.com. 8 |
