Advocacy in Action: Why Our Voices Matter

In this episode, Endependence Center staff reflect on advocacy, what it means in their work, and why it is so important to the Independent Living Movement. Through staff perspectives and real-world experiences, the conversation highlights how advocacy supports choice, control, inclusion, and the rights of people with disabilities.

Transcript

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Final Episodes 5

September 22, 2026

Overview

Advocates for people with disabilities share their personal motivations, successful case studies, and the core principles of the discussing podcast episode.

Personal Motivations

Speaker 3, Speaker 4, Speaker 5, and Speaker 6 discuss their individual reasons for becoming advocates.

* Speaker 3 is driven by a ability to help people find direction and achieve their needs.

 Speaker 4*'s motivation stems from a spinal cord injury in 2001 and her experience in nursing facilities.

 Speaker 5*'s motivation comes from a presence of a lack of opportunities for visually impaired individuals in the workforce.

 *Speaker 6's passion for grew through involvement with the Independence Center.

Advocacy Successes

The participants share specific examples of where they can maintain effectiveness through persistence and patience.

Housing and Employment Case Studies

* Speaker 4 successfully advocated for necessary home modifications, including a roll-in shower and widened bathroom doors, after being denied accommodation requests.

 *Speaker 3's client was able to secure an apartment through a conciliation process after a landlord denied an application based on disability.

 *Speaker 5's client was able to obtain reasonable accommodations at work, such as extra time for restroom use and hand relaxation, due to following up and citing the ADA.

 Speaker 4's previous experience in working with the Department of Human Services* and school systems provided her with resources for training and workshops.

Core Principles

The group discusses the "3Cs" of advocacy: collaborate, connect, and communicate.

Effective Communication Strategies

* Collaborate: Working with other groups to leverage different expertise, such as ability to navigate legislative systems or data management.

* Connect: Making advocacy relatable and making connections within the community or personal circles to help people understand obstacles.

* Communicate: Using diverse methods like email, phone calls, or text messages to ensure information is not ignored or lost in a        thoughtful way that is unique to each audience.

* Connect: Building respect with both private individuals and community groups to gain respect and support for ability to be unified.

Outline

Inspirations for Advocacy

- Speaker 3 expresses a lifelong desire to help people find direction and achieve their needs.

- Speaker 4 began advocating after a 2001 incident involving a spinal cord injury to support those in nursing facilities.

- Speaker 5 was inspired to advocate after losing her vision and facing employment barriers despite having transferable skills.

- Speaker 6's passion grew through participating in youth group sessions at the Independence Center starting in 2005.

Success Stories in Advocacy

- Speaker 4 successfully advocated for home modifications, including a roll-in shower and widened bathroom doors, in 2015.

- Speaker 3 describes helping an individual secure housing by filing a complaint after a landlord denied an application due to disability.

- Speaker 5 assisted an employee in obtaining reasonable accommodations, such as extra time for tasks, by communicating rights under the ADA.

- Speaker 2 provided support through the school system and Department of Human Services to foster independent living and self-sufficiency.

Motivation and Avoiding Burnout

- Speaker 3 stays motivated by admiring the commitment and strength of other advocates.

- Speaker 5 emphasizes finding balance and taking downtime with family to prevent feeling overwhelmed by closed doors.

- Speaker 4 finds fulfillment in educating others and assisting people who lack individual support systems.

- Speaker 6 maintains motivation through patience, persistence, and celebrating small victories or wins.

Handling Opposition and Resistance

- Speaker 6 suggests returning to the drawing board to plant seeds of new ideas when facing resistance.

- Speaker 3 recommends educating opposing parties on disability rights or seeking middle ground where both parties can win.

- Speaker 4 relies on personal experience with a T10 spinal cord injury to speak facts from the heart without becoming overwhelmed.

- Speaker 5 advises being steady, efficient, and consistent so that people eventually understand your perspective through education.

The Three Cs of Advocacy

- The three core principles identified are Collaborate, Connect, and Communicate.

- Collaboration involves working with other groups to leverage diverse strengths like data expertise or legislative navigation.

- Connection requires building respect with community members and encouraging individuals to speak for themselves.

- Communication must be diverse and persistent, using multiple methods like email, phone calls, or texts to ensure messages are received.

Speaker 1  00:41

This is the What's Bugging You podcast, where people with disabilities share examples of advocacy they have used to deal with issues that made life hard. This episode will keep you buzzing with positivity and better options, and learn more about how to do life. In this episode, we will be explaining how words matter, yes, and that they can hurt. Stay tuned, please.

Speaker 2  01:16

What inspired you to become an advocate?

Speaker 3  01:19

Well, I've always wanted to be able to help people, even as a young child. That's been my goal, and because I never like to see people feel as if that they are going without something or if they need something, I want to help them to get directive, because sometimes people just don't know where to go or what to do, and so if I have the answer, I want to you know give them that answer and give them that direction to be able to achieve what they need.

Speaker 4  01:54

Okay, it really started when I first had my incident back in 2001 for people with spinal cord injuries. I didn't really know too much about disabilities, but I was in a nursing facility, and my goal was to advocate for those that's not able to like live on their own, and they having spinal cord issues and things like that, because I came across with a lot of people that's young like myself, they with spinal cord injuries, they just letting themselves go. So I just advocate through different different issues as well, like transportation. People might have a transportation issue for their disability. Individuals might live in the nursing homes and things like that, so I just advocate for people with disabilities.

Speaker 5  02:49

The thing that inspired me to become an advocate was once I turned around and lost my vision, and I just started to wanted to go back to work. I realized that there wasn't a lot of opportunities for people who were visually impaired, and I got tired of hearing no, no, no. Even though I had work experience and I knew I had transferable skills, but people couldn't get over the fact that I had a visual impairment, or I used adaptive tools and technology, and I knew right then and then that if this was happening to me, it was happening to someone else, and that I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless.

Speaker 6  03:43

Um. So what ultimately? So first of all, that's a really good question. What ultimately inspired me to become an advocate? So, like, so getting connected so decades ago, as in back in 2005, my parents found out about the Independence Center through like through one of my teachers.

Speaker 1  04:16

Okay,

Speaker 6  04:17

and I started coming to their youth group sessions, and over time, the more I learned about advocacy topics and how it applied not only to my life but to others' life, the more passionate that I became.

Speaker 4  04:40

Can you provide an example of a time when you successful advocate for a cause or individual? It was like back in like 2015 when I advocated for a cause. When I mean a. Cause it was like a housing issues because they were trying to like accommodate me because of my disabilities and things like that. So I had to advocate for me and had to tell them the reason why I need the home modifications and things like that. And they didn't want to like accommodate me. They want. They didn't want me to modify my bathroom, get the white bathroom doors and things like that. So once I advocated for myself and told them the um the cause of my needs, and I had also sent them like an email of the reason as well, and so I end up succeeding in getting a roll-in shower, getting a bathroom door widening, and things like that. So I had to advocate for my calls.

Speaker 3  05:49

They filled out all the answers completely. The application was correct. There was no issues with the application. However, for some reason, the landlord denied his application because of his disability, and so we thought that maybe it was an issue. Maybe the landlord didn't understand the process. Maybe the manager wasn't fully aware Of how to process the application, but no matter how much education we provided, they refused to change the denial letter, and so the person decided that they were going to go ahead and file a complaint, they were adamant about their right to obtain housing. It was this person. I mean, they were excited about being on their own and being independent in their own home, and and they knew they had a right to do so. They were able to to you know maintain their own home and maintain a lease. So we pursued the filing the complaint, and after the investigation had began, the landlord decided that they would conciliate the the individual had stated that the way, what would be acceptable way to resolve the case would to to provide him with the next available apartment. So that was how that particular case was resolved, and I was very proud of that person because even though that this happened and this occurred, it was a terrible violation of his right. But even though this occurred, he he pursued his right to file a complaint, and and so that was something that I always look back on because sometimes that's what you have to do is file a complaint to get the things that you have you should have been afforded to all along. One

Speaker 5  08:13

of the things that I successfully advocated for for a person was I received a telephone call from someone who was working, and she had a disability and had requested to have reasonable accommodations for her disability, which was to have extra time to be able to use the restroom and also extra time for her to be able to get her hands to be able to relax due to her disability in between the times that she has to enter in data into her computer system, and she said when she got hired, she her employer knew of her disability, knew of the reasonable accommodations, but the HR manager had made sure that her manager was aware of it, and they were going to work to implement it. But throughout the six months that she had been working, no one had turned around and recognized her reasonable accommodations. So we talked about from beginning to end on how to get those reasonable accommodations acknowledged by sending a letter to her HR person, letting them know that she did already ask for a reasonable accommodation. It was agreed upon. It has not been implemented, but also letting her know what was her rights under ADA, and also knowing what was the recourse. That she could have, whether it was going through the disability law center or being able to file a claim with EEOC, and she follow up with me within a month and said that all of her reasonable accommodations were put in place and she didn't have any other issues anymore, and she was able to work at her job with no problem, so that was one of the things that I was able to successfully work with somebody to help advocate for them to be able to get reasonable accommodations on their job.

Speaker 7  10:32

Wow, that's that's so good, and you made a difference, and you probably taught them something at that company.

Speaker 5  10:41

Yeah, I think part of the biggest thing is the lack of education, and sometimes when

Speaker 7  10:47

very much

Speaker 5  10:48

people think that we talk about reasonable accommodations or things like that, and we don't follow up with it, they believe that it's something that we don't need, so that's one of the things that she learned was just to follow up and stay on top of them because she could do her job, but those reasonable accommodations did not give her unfair advantage at her job.

Speaker 2  11:16

It was a time when I was working in the school system and assisting and supporting students with special education, providing one-on-one skills and teaching settings for their personal educational growth, and with the Department of Human Services, I advocate for people that was in need of resources for training, workshops, and employment, giving them the skill setting that they need so they can have an independent and sustain an independent living and self sufficiency.

Speaker 3  11:46

How do you stay motivated and avoid burnout in your advocacy? I want to be part of it, and so, so yeah, that's that's what motivates me to continue and not to stop because there are others that are doing the same thing, and they have their strengths, their level of strength that I see, and I I like to emulate. They have that that strength and that commitment that that I like to emulate, emulate, and and I and I And I admire, yeah, yeah, I admire their their level of commitment. So I want to be part of that.

Speaker 5  12:30

One way I prevent burnout when it comes to advocating is I make sure I try to find balance. So I understand that living as a person with a disability, I'm gonna be advocating not just for myself, but for others. But I also have to know that you can take on too much, and it can become a burden.

Speaker 7  12:58

Yeah.

Speaker 5  12:59

So at some time, you have to know when to leave certain things where they are. Advocacy doesn't happen overnight, so it can be a long, drawn-out process. Yes, and you have to turn around at some point in time, find balance, because if you don't, then you know you can get tired really quick of the nose

Speaker 7  13:30

and

Speaker 5  13:31

the doors being closed and feeling like you're all alone or that your efforts are not meeting the mark,

Speaker 7  13:41

right?

Speaker 5  13:41

Or they're worthless. So finding times to do other things outside of advocacy and enjoying family and downtime allows you to get that energy to come back and feel re-energized at a different point in time. I think that's how I avoid burnout.

Speaker 7  14:01

Absolutely, yeah, and I think that's a good lesson that take you know even in everyday life, sometimes we just gotta let ourselves be comfortable with things as is, and sometimes just be comfortable with knowing we planted a seed.

Speaker 5  14:20

Absolutely,

Speaker 4  14:20

I stay motivated because this is the type of work that I does. I work with people with disabilities, and I see people with different issues and things like that. So I just I just advocate, and I love doing advocating work because people they don't have individuals to help them with different situations and things like that, and I feel good and I love doing what I do because I'm able to help, assist, and educate those that need an advocacy work.

Speaker 6  14:56

Honestly, John. Just being honestly 2p's: patience and persistence. A lot of advocacy work and the changes that come from it. I've learned and am honestly still learning. Are not gonna happen overnight, and for staying motivated, I also try to celebrate the small victories slash wins as much as possible.

Speaker 1  15:43

Okay. How do you handle opposition or resistance when advocating for a cause?

Speaker 6  15:53

That is also a really good question. And the reason I say this is so how I usually handle opposition or resistance when advocating for a cause? I mean, being patient and persistent, like how I answered one of the previous Questions. It's not a quitting thing, but sometimes with some people, in my experience, it's been more of a go back to the drawing board to find ways to keep being patient and persistent to hopefully one day a a seed, no matter how small, of being open to a new idea or changing the way they're thinking about something will get planted and eventually grow.

Speaker 1  17:03

Okay, good, good answer.

Speaker 3  17:06

Well, I always want to look for a positive result, and sometimes it's a matter of educating the other party about what is the rights of persons with disabilities, or to to encourage them to be sensitive when it comes to barriers and things of that nature. So there are times when it's just a matter of citing the the law, and and that sometimes mostly gets a positive reaction. Now there are times when you may need to look for a common ground or middle ground, so to speak. See where they're at and with the issue, what they're what their their dilemma or their their reservations on following through with a particular cause or situation, and so you see where where what their what their benefits are, what their benefits they're looking at, they may not have the same benefits that that we're looking at, but but we try to you know let them see that if if we can accomplish this goal, both part of it, both parties can win, you know.

Speaker 4  18:41

Cool. I'm handing I um I handle my wrist because um I don't let it get to me. Um, a lot of people don't really know about people with disability. They might be doing disability work, but I'm an individual that actually living it. I have a spinal cord injury. I'm T 10, so I know the cause and the resistance of advocating for people with spinal cord injury or just people with disabilities in general. You know what I'm saying? So I just handle it well. I don't get overwhelmed. I don't get nothing, and I just speak from the heart. I speak facts. I know about different issues. I've been doing advocating work for like 15 years now. So I just basically, you know, I'm saying I take in knowledge from my coworkers and and learn for myself, educating my own self, so I can educate others on advocating work.

Speaker 5  19:42

Um, that's the. I mean, you understand that with anything that you're passionate about, everyone's not going to agree with your position. But I believe if you keep educating people. First, and make sure that they understand that there is a reason for the advocacy and how it benefits the people's lives to be a better quality of life as a person with a disability, but also make it relatable.

Speaker 7  20:21

Yeah,

Speaker 5  20:22

I think it opens them up to be able to receive

Speaker 8  20:26

it.

Speaker 5  20:26

But I think the key point of it is understanding that anything worthwhile fighting for never happens overnight.

Speaker 7  20:36

Absolutely,

Speaker 5  20:37

always gonna take time, and it's a process. Does that mean that there's going to be pushback? Of course, because there's going to be some ignorance, but there's also going to be a level of lack of understanding of why this is needed. So, if you believe that your cause is worthwhile, then you understand that if you're steady, you're efficient with the way you advocate, you educate, and communicate, people will eventually be able to agree, and maybe agree to disagree. But at least they now understand your perspective and the fact that you're not going anywhere, and I think that's the biggest thing. Being persistent and consistent lets them know that you're not going anywhere and you're not giving up.

Speaker 7  21:31

Yeah, at 100% 100%

Speaker 2  21:36

I handle opposition with patience by listening to the situation to get a better understanding of what is happening, to see things in the person' point of view, and see how and what I can do to contribute to make it better for that person or whatever matter and situation they're going through with their disabilities. That's how I have handled the opposition and resistance, and the people' um lies. We're advocating for their cause.

Speaker 8  22:07

What 3c's? What are the 3c's of advocacy? Of advocacy, collaborate. Is it collaborate? Commit, connect, and communicate.

Speaker 2  22:21

Yes, it is. It's collaborate, connect, and communicate. It is. Those are the 3c's of advocacy: collaborating with the participants, you know, to advocate for them, with them, connect with them, as well as communicate what advocacy is all about.

Speaker 3  22:39

Time is collaborate with other groups, and even though they may not be serving, they may not be serving the same population. But we all, you know, are in need of the same things, and so collaborations. You know you have other groups that have their own strengths as far as their expertise with data, putting data together, or or putting knowing how to navigate through the legislative system, getting bills created and getting bills passed and pushing bills through, and so you have those groups that have certain strengths, and so we all know play on one another's strengths and things of that nature. And so collaboration-that's where collaboration is key. And connection-you definitely want to be able to connect, gain the respect of other groups, whether you're talking about groups or even private individuals, those in the communities that we're advocating for. You want to definitely connect with, you know, those that you advocate advocating for, and because you're speaking for them, and also you want them to you want to encourage them to speak for themselves as as well. You know, attend meetings and and and submit comments on what their needs are, what their needs are, and things of that nature. And and as far as communicating, yes, you know, communicating your point, your all what the needs are, the important needs are, because in the end, we're all talking about basic human rights, basic human needs, and so we don't want to see anyone being left out because of their disability or because of how much income they live on, so so yeah. You want to you know communicate those issues and keep that conversation going, those points of interest going.

Speaker 4  24:53

Okay, that's that's a good question though. But we collaborate when you collaborate for. Disability. You mean you might collaborate with your coworkers, with people in the communities. You might collaborate with other agencies and things like that about um advocate advocating work and things like that. So then you also got to connect them and let them know about um what you got going on at the center and things like that, and we connect. We meet out the community. We do outreaches and things like that. That's basically connecting. And you also got to communicate. If you don't communicate, our person ain't not gonna know what's going on. So communication is always the key. So you communicate with people, let them know what's going on about the advocate advocacy work, and things like that. So you can advocate in many levels and many, many things in the world. You know, I said not just housing and transportation. You can do like home health agencies and things like that. So it's good just advocating for yourself because I do get a lot of INR calls, and people want individuals to help them advocate for certain issues and things like that. I'm glad I was able to get the knowledge and understanding of how to advocating advocating does, and so with the help of everyone, and I appreciate everyone, and I love advocating, and everyone be safe. Thank you.

Speaker 5  26:27

So, connect is literally an advocacy is making the advocacy relatable, explaining it to a certain extent to have people understand that what people with disabilities go through are still obstacles that people in general life go through, and finding a way to connect them not only with that but maybe with someone that they can relate to, that's in their personal circle or family that might have a disability, can also open up the door for advocacy and have a common relationship. Collaboration is always a key factor in advocacy because you cannot do this fight alone. So the more people that you can have that share in your passion, share in what you believe, fighting for the rights of people with disabilities increases not just the voice but the value, but also gives power to letting people know that you are galvanized. You're not alone. It's not just one person, but there's a group of people who are unified for the rights of people with disabilities and communication. Communication is key because sometimes people think when you're advocating that you are forcing your point of view on someone.

Speaker 7  28:15

Yeah,

Speaker 5  28:16

understanding that in the moment no one wants to be talked to or talked at. That is the hardest part of the AVISY part is finding that balance of making sure that your point is being heard and you're strong and convicted about it, but at the same time, you don't want to alienate anyone while you are getting your point across. So, finding balance in communication is key, but also learning how to effectively communicate with multiple people in multiple ways because everybody receives information in different ways, so you don't want to turn around and make sure that you just communicate into one audience. But you want to make sure that your your communication is diverse.

Speaker 7  29:13

Diverse, exactly.

Speaker 5  29:14

So I think that's the key.

Speaker 7  29:17

Awesome. What I are like, I'm already. I hope it's okay, but I'm already looking at it.

Speaker 6  29:23

Collaborate, connect, and communicate. Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 1  29:30

There are 3c's vanity: collaborate, connect, and communicate. Yes,

Speaker 6  29:37

I think especially the first one: collaborate. Uh huh, and also the last one, communicate. Especially those two are important in the in the 3c's of advocacy, and with collaborating, I think that's one of the most important ones. The 3c's of advocacy, because coming with like a collaborative spirit, as opposed to a more, as opposed to a more confrontational. If you don't do like do what I want, I'm not gonna like. I'm gonna. It's like like like I'm gonna, you know, I think collaborating is important because having a more collaborative spirit would mean would mean others are gonna be more willing to come to the table to work with you. Whereas if you have a little bit more of an Aggressive spirit, people may not be as willing to work with you. That's why I said collaborate is definitely one of the most important of the 3c's of advocacy, and then communicating, especially consistent Communication. It can be very easy, for example, to send out one email, and then and then sending out just one email, it can go to some junk mail or otherwise be easily ignored. So multiple ways of communicating is also essential under the communicate side of the 3c's of advocacy. Because if email doesn't work, you try giving somebody a call. If that doesn't work, you try you try sending like you you try sending a text message or finding another way to communicate.