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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]