The Voiceless Minority

On April 6, 2025, the U.S. Autism Show occurred in Honolulu, Hawaii. Speakers Michelle Zeman (L) and Martin Slyngstad (R) are standing with Daniel Zimmerman (M) to show off the Proclamation that Slyngstad and Zimmerman received in honor of April being Autism Acceptance Month in Honolulu A couple of weeks ago, I shared that I would travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, to speak at the first U.S. Autism Show. Now that the event has wrapped, I wanted to reflect on the experience and share what that was like.   I was honored to be one of only eight presenters at this event. Standing at the podium and sharing my story was profoundly personal and empowering. It was a chance to speak openly about my journey – through diagnosis, therapy, professional growth, and advocacy – and connect with others through shared experiences.   If you couldn't attend the talk, I shared my journey through several key areas of my life. I started by talking about my experiences before receiving a diagnosis—what life...

Hello again everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday’s blog on adaptive cooking and cookware. As my fellowship is coming to the end of the contract for my first year tomorrow, I felt it would be appropriate to give a nod to not only Florida SAND but my colleagues and the staff who trained us throughout this past year to thank them for helping my passion for advocacy grow.  I came into this fellowship at a weird time in my life. Before the fellowship, I had worked for Florida SAND as a per diem writer for their blog FSA Central. While this work kept the flame for disability advocacy alive and on life support, when I was presented with the opportunity to be a fellow, I immediately jumped at it. Thank you to Kelli Munn for the opportunity.  I would not be where I am today without your faith in me. However, my fellowship wasn’t as smooth of a journey as I had hoped.  About a month into the fellowship, I began to take it for granted. I had an ego bigger than the state of Fl...

In Tuesday’s blog post, I talked about a speech I heard this past weekend from a young man by the name of Matthew Walzer. His speech came at a perfect time in my life. As I said in the blog Tuesday, until this past weekend I had been lost and in a sort of never-ending fog. Since Matthew’s story impacted me so much, I thought I would share it and its similarity to a point my dad has been trying to get both me and my sister to appreciate for years. By the end of this piece, you will not only understand the great wisdom of my dad but also you will hopefully appreciate the tenacity Matthew showed in his effort to redefine sneakers for people with disabilities. In short, by the end of this piece, you will understand why I believe in the saying, “Attitude is altitude”.  Every good story must start with a problem that the protagonist must face. Only this time, Matthew Walzer wasn’t writing fiction. Matthew was born with Cerebral Palsy. While some with Cerebral Palsy are wheelchair bound l...

They say things happen for a reason. They also say for those of us who are religious that God has a way of providing exactly what you need when you need it, even if you don’t know you need it. I am living proof that this statement is true. In the following piece, you will learn that one event, no matter how small or big, has the power to change you if you allow God to implement his plan in your life. For those of my readers who don't know, I am beginning the second year of my fellowship with an organization known as Florida Self-Advocates Network’D (FLORIDA SAND). They are a nonprofit, organization made up of 15 self-advocacy groups throughout the state. The organization aims to amplify the voices of individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) on a local, state, and federal level.  According to their website, their mission is… FL SAND is an independent 501(c)(3) organization formed to expand the self-advocacy movement in Florida. It works through the support ...

So, this weekend I attended my first Florida SAND conference. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect; I had never been to an event like this. I had heard mixed reviews from those who have attended in the past. It started slow; there were a bit of technical and arrival glitches with myself and my PCA. However, once we got there, it quickly became apparent that this would not be anything like I had heard. Friday night was a chill night; I met some pretty amazing people and lost Uno's rather exciting game of No official conference business that took place that night. Although my PCA won a bag of espresso beans for some strange reason, I was hoping we would win the autographed football but still pretty awesome. Saturday was the heart of the conference, right away Saturday morning, I realized that something was different. My college brain had kicked in again, and I was in learning mode. I have tried two other academic endeavors since I graduated with my Masters, one in real esta...