TCRC Tri-Line Newsletter - Winter 2008 - Tri-Counties Regional ...

(Dis)ability Through Education and Action
by Jennifer L. Dwyer, Peer Advocate, San Luis Obispo
Being a participant in Partners in Policymaking®, is a little like looking
at my favorite painting. At first, as people from all over central
California file into the large conference room of the Bakersfield
Inn and Suites, the larger picture remains
out of focus; if looked at too closely, it
appears to be a mass of unconnected,
slightly dizzying dots. However, over
time, the people that began the journey
as virtual strangers, have, through the
experience they shared, gained a little
perspective. United in a common purpose,
like any family, we gathered for a weekend
that, while challenging, felt an awful like a
Sunday in the Park.
“Partners in Policymaking has given me
the practical tools to use to speak up for
those who cannot speak for themselves,”
Esther Bautista, mother of 5-year-old
Bethany, a person served by Tri-Counties Regional Center, Santa
Maria, said. “It’s high time that someone speaks out for the injustice
they have suffered and work to promote a more accessible
world.”
Partners in Policymaking (PIP) is an internationally recognized
training program designed to empower people with disabilities,
their families, and other members of their immediate support
network. Through a series of eight weekend-long seminars,
participants learn about the contemporary lives of the one in five
Americans that, like their loved one, find themselves disabled in
some way. They also learn about the historically discriminating
treatment that spurred the earliest disability rights’ activists into
action. Like those who came before them, it is believed that Partners
in Policymaking graduates, once armed with the educational
tools, will actively work to change the perception of a “life with a
disability.”
The program, funded by a 2006 State Council on Developmental
Disability grant, is intended to teach those with disabilities—and
the people who love, live, and work with them—how to advocate
for individual, social, and legislative change.
“Half of our participants are ‘self-advocates’, or those who have
disabilities themselves,” Linda Landry, of the Family Resource
Centers Network of California (FRCNCA) said. “The other half is
made up of those who love and [emotionally and physically]
support them.”
Jennifer Dwyer receives Graduation Certificate
time in 13 years, on October 18, the 40-member class of 2008
graduated from the program. Parents, personal assistants, and selfadvocates
received diplomas and lapel pins as a symbols of their
collective achievement.
“Through education, we have become more
aware of how to properly demonstrate respect
toward people with disabilities,”
Denise Martinez, a self-advocate from San
Luis Obispo, said.
Monthly, participants—affectionately
dubbed “PIP peeps” by me—converged
upon the Doubletree. Coming from as far
away as Madera and San Mateo, participants
did everything from learning about the appropriate
use of assistive technology devices,
to staging a mock legislative hearing at the
state Capitol. With over 100 hours of learning
behind the newly graduating class, the energy in the room was
one that, thanks to the knowledge gained, removed the ‘dis’ in
“disability”, and shifted the focus to abilities, instead.
“This graduation represents another class of advocates ready to
act on issues important to the disabilities community,” Jim Lockwood,
coordinator of PIPCA, said. “Next year, Partners in Policymaking
California will be training our third class of advocates in
the southern California region,” he said. “This will mean that, in
three years, PIPCA will have trained more than 100 advocates
from across the state of California.”
Participants’ expenses-about $8,000 each-included lodging and
attendant care costs, if needed. The California State Council on
Developmental Disabilities funds the entire cost of the program
through a grant to the aforementioned members of the California
Collaborative. The Collaborative organizations commit staff
time and resources to the oversight and implementation of the
Partners in Policymaking program.
Originally modeled after a curriculum generated by the Governor’s
Council of Minnesota 21 years ago, Partners California has
not had an easy road. Thanks to the dedication of many organizations
— including People First of California, the American
Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, and the
Family Resource Centers Network of California— for the second
Partners in Policymaking Graduating Class
WINTER 2008 tri-line | 5