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NC Partners in Policymaking (OC)

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    [music]
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    [male voice] They come one by one,
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    all seeking answers to puzzling questions
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    and ways of coping with the uncertainties
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    and challenges that life can bring.
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    Almost universally, they leave with new optimism
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    and new tools to help them deal with the issues
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    of concern. They are people with intellectual
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    and developmental disabilities
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    or the parents of children with disabilities
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    and most have felt the frustration and pain
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    of struggling to deal with the system.
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    These individuals have come to Partners
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    in Policymaking and their needs
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    and circumstances vary.
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    But all have sought ways to find new answers
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    and to bring about change.
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    They learn how to make their voices heard
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    to play a role in policy development.
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    Wanda Mills has lived with difficult disabilities
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    for much of her life, but persevered
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    and went on to employment
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    with the tax department in the town of Sylva
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    When her parents passed on, she moved to
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    her own residence, cooks all her own meals
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    and maintains the household.
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    She credits the Partners program
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    with helping her to interact in the community.
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    It has changed my life completely.
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    I have always wanted to be a public speaker.
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    and that was a crazy idea,
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    but Partners helped me realize that I could
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    be a public speaker.
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    That has always been a life dream of mine.
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    From my perspective, it is to help
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    parents of children with disabilities
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    to not put their child in a box,
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    but let them be all they can be,
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    however little though that may be.
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    That is so important.
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    [male voice] Wanda is increasingly speaking out
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    on issues of concern to people with disabilities
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    addressing groups in a number of North Carolina
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    communities. The Partners program director,
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    Deborah Whitfield, an attorney who herself
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    is a graduate of the program in Texas understands
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    the growth process and now keeps the proceedings
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    on track in North Carolina.
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    There are some challenges, people who believe, that
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    you know they can't do it because many of them
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    haven't left their own communities.
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    Many have never gotten on public transportation.
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    Many have not even lived in a hotel room.
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    So when you see those individuals
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    who come to this training for the first time,
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    get that experience and soar
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    it is a delight to be a part of that process.
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    [male voice] The creator of the Partners advocacy
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    program, Dr. Colleen Wieck, of Minnesota,
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    said it was prompted by a specific need
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    and then grew from there.
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    The last witness at the 3-hour hearing was
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    a young parent from International Falls,
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    Minnesota. And, everyone was giving her
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    mixed messages about what to do to testify
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    in front of U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger
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    And, after that hearing, two of us got together
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    and we realized, we could teach the skill
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    that was missing. And, we could do this
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    in a systematic way, as well as
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    teach best practices about disability services.
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    And, as a result, we created this
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    eight weekend program that's designed to teach
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    both- what is best practice
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    in education, assistive technology, living
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    and employment, as well as how to communicate
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    with local, state and federal officials.
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    [narrator voice] Because the need for people with
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    intellectual and developmental disabilities
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    to advocate for themselves
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    is not limited by boundaries, Partners programs
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    are being conducted in most states
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    in the U.S., and a number of foreign countries.
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    The individual needs vary, but there are
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    some common themes.
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    The desire for full inclusion often rises to the top.
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    I think that the tips and the tools that you learn
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    about advocating for yourself or for others
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    are great. You can use them for any disability
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    Being a blind person, I come against
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    things all the time as far as
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    what I can and can't do because
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    I'm blind. They don't know what I can and can't do
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    because they don't want to give you a chance.
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    You have to speak up for yourself,
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    so I learned to be more assertive.
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    speak up for myself and sell myself. I have
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    to do that.
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    [narrator voice] While many graduates
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    focus on issues of housing
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    and employment, Doug Hedrick
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    has zeroed in on respect, campaigning
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    for the use of language that sees individuals
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    with disabilities as people. The father of a son
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    with autism, Hedrick went before the board of his
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    local school district and got action.
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    The eight month program gives you a lot of tools in
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    your toolbelt, and I'm just starting to use
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    a few of them.
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    Some of the ones that I've used is being able to
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    speak to school boards and facilitating
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    a People First language policy.
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    What Partners asked me to do, in the course, was
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    to change or create policies, and I saw
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    an opportunity with my school board in Burke
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    County to say, let's use a People First
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    language policy let's adopt that.
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    And the interesting thing is ...
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    and this is what I've learned in Partners.
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    When you explain this to people.
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    people generally do the right thing.
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    People want to facilitate change
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    if it's the right thing, and using a People First
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    language policy is just a very good thing.
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    And they adopted this policy last year,
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    and they're using it today.
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    [male narrator] Others have joined Hedrick
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    as advocates of people first language
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    a movement that has been supported
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    and pressed by the North Carolina
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    Council on Developmental Disabilities
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    Together with other Partners graduates, Hedrick
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    has helped push for People First language
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    with webinars, telling supporters how they can
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    carry the message to their own communities.
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    They are demonstrating leadership in their
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    communities, as many Partners graduates do.
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    Debra Wilson completed the program
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    and later was named a member of the
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    North Carolina Council
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    on Developmental Disabilities. She came to
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    Partners when she was struggling to find ways
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    of opening up workable education pathways
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    for her daughter who has a visual impairment.
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    We were having difficulties with our Onslow County
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    school system where we live, and she was having
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    to travel about two hours on a weekly basis
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    just to be able to attend school and having
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    to live somewhere besides her home environment.
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    And, someone told me about Partners
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    and asked if I thought I would be interested. And I
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    didn't know anything about Partners at the time.
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    And what happened was ultimately learning
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    and being able to meet the people that Partners
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    [laughs] It's almost like they pull them out of a hat but
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    they're absolutely fantastic.
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    And those people were able to show us
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    not only knowledge but give us the power,
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    show us power that we actually had, that we
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    could change and make a difference to bring our
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    children either home, in our case,
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    or do what needed to be done so that
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    they could get education. In every situation
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    for us, and that's just being parents of our children
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    with a disability.
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    [male narrator] One young graduate
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    of the program, self-advocate David Chatterton
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    feels that the Partners program has been
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    a great experience, and helped in preparing
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    him for a career.
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    I went into Partners because I wanted to meet
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    new people, but also, I just kind of wanted to
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    make a change in my life and to kind of get
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    a strong sense of you know not letting people
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    put you down, and what not. It was
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    overwhelming, just because it goes deeper
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    into the whole disability area.
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    I love to educate myself. I love that others educate
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    me as well. So, going into Partners, you meet a lot
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    of people that share a lot of the same visions as you.
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    [male narrator] David is now looking to the future
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    to continue his education, pursue a career
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    and use his advocacy skills.
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    Nurturing leadership and advocacy, and providing
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    the voices of the future for people with
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    intellectual and developmental disabilities
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    is a primary purpose of Partners in Policymaking
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    Holly Riddle, the executive director of the
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    North Carolina Council, says it is a strong
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    supporter and funder of the program.
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    Many boards, commissions, committees, offices
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    are staffed or are joined by Partners in Policymaking
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    graduates. When people come to Partners, they
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    are the finest leaders that we get application from
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    and when they come out, they can't be beat.
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    It has always been the case that it is from individuals
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    with disabilities and families that innovations come.
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    When you're that close to the life of someone
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    or when it is your own life, you think on your feet
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    so many of the ideas that inform the field today
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    at a systems level began in someone's living room
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    in a classroom with an individual, or with a family
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    many of them Partners in Policymaking graduates.
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    [male narrator] There remains a challenging road
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    ahead for people with intellectual and developmental
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    disabilities, and the hope for change lies in improving
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    the policies and systems designed to support
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    and encourage these individuals and their families.
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    It is people, such as the graduates of the
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    Partners in Policymaking program who
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    will bring about that system change.
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    And after Partners, became empowered,
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    and knowledge is power.
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    And once that happened, the bitterness,
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    the anger- it left. And now you learn, you know
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    that people are people, and you learn how to deal
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    with every different person there is in every
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    situation. And those situations, they need to be
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    used to help benefit, not only my child
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    and my daughter, but they need to be used
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    to benefit all disabilities, all disabilities.
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    And everything that I can do and everything
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    I've learned is important so that I keep my anger
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    out of it, that it's not about the people
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    it's about situations that we need to resolve
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    and how we can go about doing those things,
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    and, there again, the more knowledge you have
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    the more power you have, which ultimately
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    can make a change, and that's what it's about.
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    [male narrator] Partners in Policymaking, a program
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    to educate and to motivate, a program of action
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    a program for the future.
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    [music]
Title:
NC Partners in Policymaking (OC)
Description:

A statewide program that develops leadership skills and trains advocates for people with disabilities to voice their views and influence policymakers is set to begin early in 2011. Partners in Policymaking is designed to better enable individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the parents of young children with such disabilities to present their views on policies that affect them.
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Video Language:
English

English subtitles

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