My lived experience as a person with a disability has afforded me many opportunities in the advocacy space – to become a better-informed advocate for myself and others and to build my professional knowledge and experience.  Some of these opportunities have included participating in Minnesota’s Partners in Policymaking series and completing two years of extensive training within the Nebraska UCEDD that led to, for example, attending the AUCD leadership academy.  

At the completion of my traineeship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute (MMI) UCEDD, I accepted a newly developed position as the advocate mentor in the UCEDD.   

My responsibilities are to develop and implement training for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across several subjects, to participate on boards and committees focused on community inclusion and advocacy for persons with disabilities and their families, and to effectively advocate across all systems in Nebraska and nationally.  An additional responsibility requires me to work to facilitate the meaningful inclusion of individuals with I/DD in the core functions of MMI, including training/education, research, community and clinical services, and information dissemination. 

Since starting my position, I have received numerous opportunities to meet my position responsibilities. For example, I was recently appointed as the co-chair of the AUCD Council on Leadership and Advocacy.  In this role I intend to work to elevate the importance and relevance of lived experience throughout the AUCD network.