I have just finished the fourth week of my internship in DC.
This week I had requested off from work so that I could attend the Nickel Conference
on Independent Living. The Nickel Conference
was oriented toward people with
disabilities in particular youth. The
purpose of the Conference was to spread awareness about all different disabilities
in an attempt to join people together on a grass roots level. There were
several workshops about different topics on disabilities. I went to several workshops.
My favorite workshop was about the fight
for independent living. I was surprised to find out that if you feel that you
cant take care of your self and you seek help from the State they will simply
though you into an institution. People
that simply need a little extra help and that could greatly benefit form a community
living facility are continually being institutionalized everyday simply
because they are not aware of their options and there insurance wont pay for
them. Over the next couple of days I
attended a youth mixer, where I meet
people with all different disabilities and shared our personal stories. Nickel
had their first youth advocacy meeting. At the meeting we discussed concerns
that we shared about discrimination and
public advocacy. We also went lobbying
on the hill and held a disability rights march. On the final day we attended a
press conference about disability rights. Overall this week was really packed.
I meet a lot of great people and learned a lot about disabilities.
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