This month, we speak with the SLN's Co-Chairs of Policy and Advocacy, Tiffany Banks and Nina Bihani. We discuss why advocacy is so important for sibs, the many ways sibs can get involved in policy & advocacy, the challenges siblings face in policymaking and current issues being worked on by sibs.
Access the transcript of this episode here.
Acceda a la transcripción en español
"If you're not showing up, you're not going to be a part of that important decision-making process"—Nina Bihani
Resources in this episode:
"What you are able to bring to the table is worthwhile, no matter how small." —Tiffany Banks
"Your lived experience is expertise. " —Tiffany Banks
Music Credit: Hope by Scandinavianz | https://soundcloud.com/scandinavianz
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
This month, we speak with the SLN's Co-Chairs of Policy and Advocacy, Tiffany Banks and Nina Bihani. We discuss why advocacy is so important for sibs, the many ways sibs can get involved in policy & advocacy, the challenges siblings face in policymaking and current issues being worked on by sibs.
Access the transcript of this episode here.
Acceda a la transcripción en español
"If you're not showing up, you're not going to be a part of that important decision-making process"—Nina Bihani
Resources in this episode:
"What you are able to bring to the table is worthwhile, no matter how small." —Tiffany Banks
"Your lived experience is expertise. " —Tiffany Banks
Music Credit: Hope by Scandinavianz | https://soundcloud.com/scandinavianz
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Welcome to the sibling Leadership Network podcast. The sibling Leadership Network is a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide siblings of individuals with disabilities the information, support and tools to advocate with their brothers and sisters and to promote the issue is important to us and our entire families. Hello, and thank you for joining us for another episode of the sibling Leadership Network podcast. We are joined by our board co chairs of policy and advocacy, Tiffany banks and Nina bihani. We will be discussing the ins and outs of policy and advocacy, why it's so important for sibs, and how you can get involved. Thank you both so much for speaking with us today.
Tiffany Banks:Morning.
Nina Bihani:Thank you for having me.
Chris Berstler:Please tell us about yourselves and your experience in policy and advocacy.
Tiffany Banks:Sure, my name is Tiffany banks. I am a licensed clinical social worker in Colorado State and soon to be a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and their Department of Social Work just finished my PhD in Social Work at Colorado State University, where my research focus specifically looked at the impact of policy on siblings and the human animal bond experience for individuals with autism. So I'm really excited to be here, I got really into policy only just a few years ago. My focus as a social worker has always been on micro providing direct mental health services to individuals with disabilities and chronic health issues back in Maryland, and here in Colorado. And but I began to really, I think, run into a lot of issues, where I wasn't able to do my job to my fullest ability. And I'm really thinking about the systems that we work in and how they impact our day to day. And so my interest originally, I think, really sprouted with local policymaking the stuff that really impacts right, how we interpret things on a day to day basis, from roads and infrastructure to the community that we live in. And all those little things that make up our world. And through my involvement in the seat, sibling Leadership Network, I also, you know, really that interested in national level policy and specifically taking a look at family medical leave, and how workplace culture impacts siblings throughout the United States, when we have all these different rules and laws from state to state. That's me and my background and history and policy. I've been with the sibling Leadership Network in this role for about five years now and absolutely love it.
Nina Bihani:So I currently in training to become a psychiatrist. I completed my adult psychiatry residency in Detroit very recently, and I'm now starting a child psychiatry fellowship in San Diego. So as a doctor, I think I have a unique perspective because I, as a patient, I understand how frustrating the medical system can be dealing with insurance, trying to find the right doctor for you. And then all of the various policies that kind of govern how we can get our health care and especially how our siblings can get access to care. And then on the flip side, I also know that there are certain pressures that doctors face that are sometimes you just further clogging up that process and creating extra barriers to providing quality care, in terms of my experiences and policy and advocacy. When I started this position I really hadn't done. But thanks to my co chair Tiffany, who's much more experienced than I am, we've been able to work on a couple of things. We worked to make sure that people with IDD were included as that the IDD or developmental disabilities was listed as a potential underlying condition that would make it easier for someone to access the COVID-19 vaccine. It was a lot of work. But at the same time, it was so much fun and it was really nice to have, you know, see that progress get made. The CDC actually recognizing that developmental disabilities are an underlying condition that puts people at higher risk about outcomes with COVID-19. And subsequently saying that people with developmental disabilities should be prioritized in the vaccine allocation process.
Chris Berstler:Why is sibling advocacy so important?
Tiffany Banks:I think that siblings hold a particularly unique perspective in the community. You know, we just like parents have a deep connection to the disability community. And, and care so much about our loved ones. But the sibling relationship is one that is often complex and unique. And I think that voice is often missing from the table. And so siblings, we are positioned in a unique, we're positioned in a unique position to bring that voice forward to combine our expertise, right, because as siblings, sometimes we work in this field. But we're also have our own unique expertise that we're bringing in, whether it's what we bring to the table, in addition to our real lived experience with our sibling. And so I think that makes us again, particularly unique group to to help, you know, really amplify the voice of our community. We're so huge if we started to think about how many people in the United States have disabilities, and how many of those people then have not just one sibling, but even multiple siblings, right? It just makes that community so much bigger and amplifies that voice so much, much more.
Nina Bihani:In large part, I almost feel like this is a self explanatory question. I think every sibling knows that in some shape or form, you have to advocate. There's no other choice whether it is advocating as a young child, you know, saying stop bullying my sibling, stop treating my sibling differently. Advocating sometimes to our parents to say, Hey, I know that my sibling requires more support than I do. But I still need your attention and care. And then, you know, as our siblings grow into adults, there's so many moments when advocacy becomes necessary, making sure that they have access to safe and comfortable and accessible housing, making sure that they have a place to go each day, whether that's employment for some or other programming for other people, making sure that they have all of their medical dental vision needs met. And then making sure that we ourselves are able to take care of them, whether that's because advocating for position at work that allows you some more flexibility, advocating for, you know, being advocating with their families saying, Hey, these are things that I need from other family members so that I can be more involved in taking care of my sibling. And then, on a more macro level, just the policies that are read in, impact us in our siblings, so greatly I think a lot of people in the general public will think Well, I'm not sure how much of what Congress or the President does impacts me day to day. But that's just frankly, not true. If you or your sibling is struggling with a disability, any changes to to Medicare, Medicaid policy HCBS, which kind of governs all sorts of like community based programming, all of even the slightest change can mean a huge impact in your you and your siblings day to day life. And a lot of times, if you're not in the room, or if your voice isn't being represented, then that means that the people who make the decisions aren't taking into account your experiences or your ideas, that decision they're made by those who show up to the West Wing. So if you're not showing up, you're not going to be part of that decision making process.
Chris Berstler:What are some important examples of how advocacy has impacted siblings and our loved ones with disabilities?
Tiffany Banks:Great question. I think one of the most recent examples that I think highlights again that sibling voice and some of the changes we've seen lately, are during the code COVID-19 pandemic, right, we saw that our siblings who maybe were in congregate care, or were even living in other states far away from us that the pandemic kind of brought us together and again, really highlighted some of these gaps in again, that workplace culture, family medical leave specifically, right, we're talking about the fact that siblings from the national perspective are left out of the definition of family. And I think, again, as a community, when we come together that way and amplify those voices, we're also amplifying the voices of other family members that are being left out, such as found, found family write different types, and definitions. And so I think as a community, we're able not only to advocate for ourselves and bring our own lived experience of life, but also to be a platform and an ally, to other marginalized and oppressed communities across the country.
Nina Bihani:So I typically brought up the idea of family medical leave earlier. And that's something that I know that SLN has been working on for several years now. But it's such an important example of how unique the sibling perspective is, and also how much that this could impact people who are not involved in the disability community. The way that we are siblings, as the SLM likes to point out quite often siblings are usually the longest relationship you will have in your life. They know you and your kids, they know you wouldn't want through your awkward puberty phase, your siblings to know you all throughout your adulthood. And it's, frankly, in my opinion, a travesty that siblings are not included in the legal definition of who your family is. So when a sibling is sick, you can't take family medical leave, because siblings aren't considered family. And it's easy for us as subs. People with developmental disabilities to say, well, I can think of 20,000 scenarios in which I might need to take leave for my, you know, to help out my sibling, but then also consider other situations, people, you know, two or three kids grow up without any health issues or disability issues. And then one of those siblings at a somewhere in their 40s, or 50s, develops cancer, would it those siblings, the other siblings want to take care of that individual who has cancer or be able to take time off work to help drive them to appointments and sit with them, their chemo? It's not just about people who have disabilities and their family members, it's also so many other instances in which siblings may may be an important part of someone's team. And oftentimes, we, you know, with how the one thing you know, is that the future can't be predicted. So it's better to advocate improve things for siblings across the globe. In different situations, with the work that we do can have a much broader impact just beyond the disability community.
Chris Berstler:FMLA is a big topic of advocacy. What are some other current issues that siblings are advocating for?
Nina Bihani:So I will say another big issue that we've talked about in the last year or two is implementation of the new 988 number. For those who don't know, Congress in the last year or so, basically said that we're starting a new national number called 988. That will be specifically for mental health, crisis and emergency. So it's basically rather than calling 911 If you're experiencing a mental health issue, you can call 988. And the idea is supposed to be that someone who is trained in dealing with mental health crises, answers the 988 number. Ideally, that can connect you to well, they'll assess you figure out, you know, is this something that requires an emergency response? Is this something that, you know, can be treated if they can find a clinic appointment for you? Or try to figure out other resources that might be available to you? And that way you can get the help that you need? You need in a timely manner. Unfortunately, our federal legislators and all of their wisdom did not really fund 90 Day implementation, they just said, it's a number, it's going to be created, and it will now exist. So today, if you call 988, and jurisdiction one, you may get a trained mental health counselor who can help you access emergency outpatient appointments for to meet with a therapist or a doctor can possibly send you to various locations where you might be able to get services that you're immediately needing, dispatch someone to your location who can help you, and help get you to where you need to go. And then in jurisdiction two, you might just get rerouted to your local 911, which is, you know, the more traditional response, if they're going to send someone out, it might be your local fire department at your local EMTs, your local police officers. And then those folks will more likely than not take you to an emergency room or you'll have to wait to be seen by some sort of mental health clinician, you might be placed on an involuntary hold right now varies widely. Nine, and it has the power to really improve crisis care in this country. And also, as I'm sure many people have seen the headlines, there's currently a bit of a mental health pandemic going on in the country, especially when it comes to children's children's mental health. So I think none of it has the power to really be a fantastic piece of legislation that changes things in the country, but we need to get it funded. SLN signed on, in support of a bill put out by a Representative Carter heinous that would increase funding for nine ADA implementations. As a psychiatrist, I can talk about mental health forever, but specific to the sibling experience. Oftentimes we need to call emergency services for both ourselves and our siblings. And when that happens, getting someone who is trained and has a deeper understanding of what you might be going through or what your sibling might be going through is crucial. Police officers do amazing work, but their training mostly involves apprehending criminals not dealing with mental health issues. And it's frankly unfair that we have just kind of as a country said, well, because we don't have anyone else to do this, police officers should do this. And I think, for those siblings who have had to call for a mental health crisis, and we've gotten a police response, it's probably been a little jarring. So I think one area that we're really working to improve is to fund nine in a better make sure that communities across the country can get the services that they need. And hopefully that'll trickle down and help both ourselves and our siblings when we may be experiencing crisis.
Tiffany Banks:So I'll add that when I think about the priorities of siblings and doing this advocacy work, and what's important to us right now, the first one to kind of mention that I think about sibling advocacy in two different ways. The first way being that we advocate for ourselves, right? We as individuals have our own unique needs, why do we advocate for changes and reform and FMLA because we as human beings also require need to have our jobs protected, and hopefully one day also have access to that paid family medical leave, right, that's advocacy that siblings are doing on our own behalf. And then the other type of advocacy that I think that we do, as siblings is as allies along the sides of our siblings into in order to ensure that they have the best life possible, right, and that they're really being empowered with that self determination to make decisions about their lives. And so some of the issues that are really important to our siblings right now that we've heard, through self advocacy organizations and the arc are things such as marriage equality, pain, a lot of people don't know that social security income has a marriage penalty. And so, for our siblings who are interested in getting married to another person who has a disability, they will actually make less money if they get legally married. And so we see a lot of people postponing or just not even getting married at all because Though it doesn't feel like an option, right, they already live paycheck to paycheck penny to Penny. So to make less money, right can be really devastating. The second thing that our sibs have been talking about a lot lately is housing access. We know that the ATA has been here for quite some time now, right. But we still don't necessarily have private residences that are accessible. And when I talk about access, I don't just mean physical access of being able to get in and out, but also having houses that are in good quality neighborhoods that have access to other types of services around them, such as bus stations, emergency medical, things of that nature, right. So access goes beyond things like ramps and stairs. So thinking about housing access from this much bigger perspective. And then I think the third one that I wanted to point out are some some bills around technology access, right, and thinking about the future of disability, and how we're using technology and what that really costs, right. So not everyone has access to high speed internet, not everyone has access to web cameras, like we're using here as we're talking, right. And so we want to make sure that as we're progressing, that individuals with disabilities have access to the things that can also make their life, right, more independent or interdependent, right, no one's fully ever independent. So pardon my language there, there are some great federal level pieces of legislation addressing all three of those things right now. So
Chris Berstler:what are the main challenges that siblings face in advocacy?
Tiffany Banks:Well, I think we've already pointed out that we're not included in the definition, right? So just simply not being seen. Or heard, right, or even like looked at as a stakeholder, I think oftentimes, you know, no one's stopping to go like, Whoa, there's not a sibling involved in making this decision. So that's an issue of right out of the gate.
Nina Bihani:I think time is, is a very precious commodity. And, you know, none of us have enough. Yeah, I think finding the time to speak up to put you know, your words on paper or keyboard, or can make a call to a legislator write a letter, that all takes time. And it there's also kind of an emotional cost to it. As Tiffany mentioned, at the top, we face unique challenges because of our unique experiences. And oftentimes, in order to convince the people in power to make changes that will benefit us, we have to explain our circumstances, our challenges, our pain, and that can be really exhausting, both emotionally and physically. So I think a lot of people think that if you are an advocate, you have to show up every single day, with this fiery intensity, you have to channel your inner Erin Brockovich. And that's, that's just not the case. You can, you know, you can lend your voice when you have the the time and the energy and the emotional capacity to do so. And if there are other issues that come up, and you can't lend your voice, because you don't have that, in the moment, that's okay, there will be there lots of us. And, you know, you're not required to show up and be front and center for every single issue. You can pick and choose. And there might be issues you care deeply about. But on some days, you just need to take a break from and that's perfectly okay.
Tiffany Banks:Nina, you actually remind me of, I think one of the biggest barriers that I wasn't even thinking about when Chris asked the question or thinking about coming into this, but siblings, we often have to hold to emotions that are really, like logically incongruent. And then same time, and we're not often get like, taught how to do that. Right. And so I think, you know, understanding that your sibling is somebody who makes you incredibly happy and also is probably associated with some of the hardest times in your life and someone you've felt resentful about and you The back and forth and the combination right of those two extremes is an thing that I think a lot of people avoid, right. Like as mental health people, I don't want to get like too touchy feely here, but I think a lot of us don't, don't try and sit with those two things, right? We want to reconcile one and then like, get rid of it and focus on just one emotion and our lives as siblings have never been that black and white. It's always been in this gray, unknown. damned if you do damned if you don't kind of, like position. And I think that that barrier really encompasses and shades like everything that we do.
Nina Bihani:Yeah, I definitely agree. And, yeah, I feel like sometimes, at least for me, there's, you know, it's almost holding three emotions, because there's also, you know, my parents who have their own experiences and their own struggles, and occasionally turn to me for help. Because we're family, and that's what we do for each other. But also to feel like, you know, you want to take care of your parents, you want to lessen their burden, and you see them getting older. And dealing with, you know, their own challenges. You want to help her sibling you want to, you know, make life better for them, you see all of the challenges that they face, you see how they navigate a world that it's not at all designed for them. And then you want to take care of yourself, you want to live your own life and want to, you know, fall in love and struggle in your own career and maybe make some dumb choices along the way. Have fun, step away from the family that you grew up in, so that you can be your own person. So it's definitely a struggle and trying to tell, you know, a change maker, hey, Congressman, my life has been so complicated, and this policy that you have the power to change would really make an impact on my day to day life, that can be pretty emotionally taxing. So I think the biggest thing for me is making sure that you are making time and space to take care of yourself, and then not feeling like you need to constantly be jumping on to everything. And lending your voice and always calling people and writing letters you can pick and choose based on, you know, how much feeling you have in the tank, in a given moment.
Chris Berstler:What challenges and or barriers are there to marginalized communities to advocating with their brothers and sisters.
Nina Bihani:I think it's more of the same, but then the added difficulty of being from a marginalized group. I am the child of immigrants. I'm a lesbian. So I am married to someone who's also a sibling, and also someone of color. And we, you know, being from a marginalized community, of course, it's harder to get your voice heard. It's harder to get yourself into the mainstream so to speak, you may have to change certain aspects of yourself to make yourself more palatable. I'm saying that very sarcastically to the, to the people in power. So you have to kind of go through this process of making sure that you are saying things that people are going to listen to because it's all about messaging, right, you have to really hone your message to make sure that the person who has the power to make that change is going to hear it. And then at the same time, you have to face all of the challenges that come with being part of a marginalized community. And you also have to recognize that your sibling belongs to that marginalized community and they are going to be even further misunderstood. We have definitely within our communities seen, you know, diagnosis is often delayed or missed. For people who belong to marginalized communities. They are less likely to get high quality services or be able to act Have the medical care and therapeutic care that they need, they are less likely to have access to adequate housing. Oftentimes, even things like having access to food security and healthy food, everything that you hear about in the news that you may know from personal experience all of those challenges that people in marginalized communities face, plus the difficulty of having a sibling with a disability plus the knowledge that that definitely with the disability is not just marginalized because of their disability, but also because of other factors. So it's just kind of a bunch of things being piled on top of each other.
Tiffany Banks:I can amplify everything that Nina's already said, I think that it was spot on, right in thinking about the intersectional identities and how that impacts, you know, the work in the barriers, I think one of the really important things is we've already mentioned how much time it takes, right. And so when we think about people with intersectional, marginalized identities, we really start to think about who has access to things and the choice and the ability to do this kind of work, right? If you are an individual who's an hourly worker living below the poverty line, you are likely not going to have the time to, you know, maybe fly out to DC and do you know, meetings and participate in the disability policy seminar and do all that kind of stuff, right? And so there's what you have access to drastically changes. And so, you know, with that said, of course, there's other ways of people to still get involved without doing all those types of things. Even just talking to friends and family, right, and educating and spreading that information and putting away this information and disproving that make sure that you're, you know, small network of community knows what's going on. Even that type of advocacy can be just completely life changing for anyone and everyone. And so, always remember that when you are faced with these barriers and obstacles that you know, what you are able to bring to the table is still worthwhile, no matter how small.
Nina Bihani:I would argue it maybe even more worthwhile because that intersectional perspective is going to help you understand some nuances that maybe others who don't have that perspective, will not be aware of, for
Chris Berstler:any beginning advocates listening, what advice can you share about how to best start their advocacy journey with their sibs?
Tiffany Banks:Talk to your sib about what's important to them? Right, like I said, there's two kinds of branches as of sibling advocacy. And certainly when it comes to things that directly impact your SIP their voice, is the most important voice in that room. Right. So we're using our power and privilege as able bodied siblings of our loved ones, to be great allies. We can't do that unless we first stopped and listened to the actual self advocate.
Nina Bihani:Unfortunately, oftentimes, my brother can't really vocalize or share what he would want in a specific situation, his support needs are pretty high. So then we're kind of put in this position where we have to guess and we have to assume, I think as siblings, we're in a unique perspective where we sometimes watch our parents treat our sibling like a little kid, even when they're an adult. And no matter how high or low someone support needs are, it's important to make sure that they are, are treated with the respect and the dignity that they deserve. So I think, honestly, some of my advocacy stuff started on my own family with telling my parents Hey, he's, he's in his 20s. Now, they can't be doing, he'll be talking to him like this, that we can't be treating him like this. He, if he wants to wear specific color every day, then that's fine. Why are we fighting him on this? He's, you know, he's not a child. So kind of putting that out there. And I also just wanted to take a moment to talk about medical advocacy. If you are the person who is taking your sibling to the doctor, spend some time researching doctors find someone who maybe has some experience working with intellectual disabilities. There is a new law that makes it possible for everyone to request their medical records. So go ahead and do that. Make sure that your doctor is documenting things correctly. And that also makes it easier when you have to jump between specialists specialist, you can just have a file where you can say, well, this is why the psychiatrist started my sibling on this medicine. But then, you know, the neurologists was concerned about it worsening my siblings, seizure disorder or something of that nature. And then keeping in mind that when someone with a disability is hospitalized, they are entitled to an advocate, this is an issue that came up during COVID-19. When hospitals are limiting visitors, your sibling is always entitled to an advocate to help them communicate in a medical setting. There is something called the Health passport. And it's kind of a way to log your aceptas health data succinctly and in an accessible format, so that you can kind of just give that to your service medical team if they're ever admitted to a hospital. And then the last thing I wanted to talk about was, this is a hard thing to bring up. But it's better to have open conversations about this talk about end of life issues. Talk about with your family, if our sibling is in a situation, where they might require hospice or palliative care, or, you know, for some of our siblings, it might be that a bout of pneumonia could be much more life threatening than it would be for the general population. So kind of having that discussion of do we want our sibling to live on a ventilator? How long? What our, as a family, what do we want? And whenever possible, including your siblings voice and asking them now when they're healthy? And well, what would you want is really important. And then I also just wanted to bring up the idea of the letter of intent form. You can find it online, it's it's talks about how family members would want future caregivers to take care of their loved one with a disability. So it's something that's all about planning for the future. How would we want someone to, you know, take care of things, what what types of things do we want to make sure are always included in siblings life, for my brother, he loves his Bollywood music, totally obsessed with it. I, you know, eat long after I'm gone and my parents are gone, I would want to make sure that his caregivers are still giving him access to his music. Because as the youngest member of our family, that's a reality that, you know, he might be around the longest. And I know that that's something that will always bring Him joy. And I also know that someone who doesn't know him may just not even know what Bollywood music is, and may not be able to provide it with him, just due to a lack of knowledge about who he is.
Tiffany Banks:I just wanted to add anyone who's starting their policy and advocacy journey, who doesn't have that background and understanding the history of disability policy, could be really important to take a look at some of the resources out there. So for example, we definitely recommend the policy, the Partners in Policymaking program, I just wrote about it in our June 2023 newsletter. That is an excellent source of information for anyone in the disability community, who's a stakeholder who wants to get involved, right, that goes over the history of what's happened thus far, as well as highlighting all of those current issues and, and supporting educating individuals how to navigate these systems. At the SLN. We do also have some past I think podcasts and webinars and resources that talk about some of the basic tips that Nina and I have given for individuals who are starting to, you know, look at bills for the first time that talks about how to read them, what types of things to look for. And so taking a look at some of that information, because it is important when you are limited on time to make sure that you are identifying the place where you're going to have the biggest impact. And so, taking a look at some of those resources can be really helpful.
Chris Berstler:What policy and advocacy resources would you recommend to siblings? If you have not heard of the disability policy seminar that is held in DC every year that is a really great resource. Whether you are a first timer or a you know, life long professional advocate here, right. It is an opportunity one to hear lots of amazing speakers in our network. To talk about the current issues, but also each state will have opportunities to speak with their legislators and let or legislative aides to practice some giving those pitches and talking about the issues. And so it's a really unique opportunity not just to learn, but to actually put it into practice, and do some advocacy work with the support and assistance of some of those great, amazing professionals and alongside self advocates. So that is an amazing event that is held every year, definitely recommend.
Nina Bihani:If you can't attend that event, or at least not this year, the Arc has some wonderful online resources. And not to toot our own horn for a minute, the SLN puts out a policy and advocacy newsletter, about every month, we've definitely missed a month. So sorry about that. But we try to pull together resources from multiple groups, and kind of distill things as succinctly as we can for subs. So even just going through some of our older newsletters, and looking at resources that might be helpful to things that you and your family and your sibling are dealing with.
Chris Berstler:What other words of advice might you have to share with any sibling advocates listening?
Tiffany Banks:Your lived experience is expertise, you do not need a degree from a university, you do not need, you know, any special training to know that what you have lived is real, and is believable and is worthwhile. And that it is important and you know, can really make a difference by sharing that story.
Nina Bihani:Yes, exactly your voice matters, your your thoughts, your ideas, your experiences, that all matter, talk, talk about them, talk to people in power, about your ideas about your needs, about your wants, whether that's you know, someone of authority at your sips group home or school or in the doctor's office, or whether that's your local city council, your state government, your federal government, your voice matters. And beyond that, recognizing that you're, you have the ability to amplify your siblings voice. So sometimes it might be not even about you talking but about you making sure that your sibling gets to be heard. But beyond that, I think also recognizing that there are 1000s, probably of other siblings out there who are dealing with the issues that you're dealing with. SLN is here to help amplify our voices as a group, and also to provide support to each other. So when you were struggling, we're here for you. So please remember, your voice matters. Your thoughts matter. Your ideas matter. And the world deserves to hear them. If you listen to this podcast, and you want to talk to Tiffany and I directly about something, anything, please reach out, email us.
Tiffany Banks:We're here to take, I think you know other thoughts too. Sometimes I hear from siblings who have a piece of policy that is important to them that month and they reach out to me and asked me to highlight it in the upcoming newsletter. totally happy to do so. We are not experts on, you know, every piece of policy in every state across the entire United States. So if there's something that is important to you feel free to throw it our way and we can absolutely look into highlighting it and including it in our next newsletter.
Chris Berstler:Awesome. Thank you both so much for joining us today and talking about policy and advocacy. any resources that Nina and Tiffany have mentioned during the podcast you can find in the podcast description below. We look forward to advocating with you thank you both so much.
Nina Bihani:Thank you.
Chris Berstler:Find resources, tools and information about the sibling experience on sibling leadership dot for the sibling Leadership Network is a nonprofit, and we rely on support from our audience. Find the donation button on our homepage and contribute to the ever growing sibling movement.