Self-Advocacy and the ADA: Don’t Miss our Repeat Performance Next Week, March 31, 2022 at 7 pm

Remember that Self-Advocacy and the ADA panel Skokie Public Library presented via Zoom last November?I was on that panel along with Deirdre Keane (a teacher/librarian who was born with a hearing loss and got a cochlear implant during her freshman year in college), Michele Lee (an experienced finance professional who uses a wheelchair) and Tina Childress (a late-deafened adult with bilateral cochlear implants). That panel was successful enough to motivate an organization called Coming Together to sponsor another self-advocacy panel next week. And just like back in November, next week’s panel will be online and free of charge.

Coming Together, now in its 13th season, is a community partnership in Niles Township among organizations in Skokie, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove and Niles, Illinois that “builds bridges of knowledge and understanding among people of different groups and ages.” Each year Coming Together highlights a different topic, and in 2022 they are joining community members and expert organizations focusing on the voices, experiences and talents of members of the community with disabilities across Niles Township. And so, next week, on Thursday night, March 31,2022 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time I will be one of four women with disabilities on this hourlong free Zoom panel:

Self Advocacy and the ADA–Online Event: Personal Perspectives, Challenges, and Success Stories
Thursday, March 31, 2022
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Zoom Event
Register Here

What does self-advocacy look like when navigating the world with a disability? Four panelists from different fields share stories of how they’ve advocated for reasonable accommodations.

Panelists will share lessons learned and provide tips on fighting for more fair and just treatment in the workplace and beyond.

The four of us will each be given 10 minutes to tell a few personal stories of advocating for ourselves, leaving time afterwards for discussion and questions. My plan is to talk fast and describe three experiences, one a success, another a collaboration, and the third a failure:

1. Appearing at a Chicago city court after a cab driver refused me a ride with my Seeing eye dog.
2. Graduating from training to volunteer with hospice and never being paired with a patient
3. Challenges I faced when the health club I’d been swimming at closed due to COVID and no other indoor pool facility would allow my Seeing Eye dog to lead me poolside to swim laps.

The hourlong panel is free, it will be hosted on Zoom a week from today, Thursday, March 31 at 7pm cst, and you can register for it here. There’s a spot on the registration form to enter a library card #, but you can ignore that: a library card number is NOT required to register. The session will be closed-captioned, and organizers ask you to let them know in advance if you have additional access needs. You will receive the Zoom link in your confirmation email once you’ve registered, and if you have any questions about this event, organizers ask that you call 847-673-7774.

Zoom you later!