The Voiceless Minority

Times are crazy here at The Voiceless Minority. Over the last month and a half, we have had overwhelming support from both the disabled and the able-bodied community, and today, we continue that momentum.   Today is the beginning of a new era here at The Voiceless Minority. Today, we welcome our newest voice for the voiceless, Michelle Zeman. Michelle is an Autistic Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) living in Winter Springs, FL. She discovered the value of self-advocacy and activism through her career in behavior analysis and her time in Partners in Policymaking (PIP). She's a 2023 PIP Graduate, a FL SAND Fellow, and an advisor to FL SAND's MAGICAL self-advocacy group serving greater Orlando. Michelle is passionate about policy change in behavioral health services and disability training for all community workers. Below is Michelle’s first contribution to the blog. The content has not been altered. It has only been edited for clarity purposes. Thank you for joining the te...

  My inner theater kid is having a brain explosion. I just learned of a cool new theater project highlighting people on the Autism spectrum. I will link the article I read below and a video from South Florida news media highlighting an upcoming event the Autism Theater Project is putting together.   Before I get into my thoughts on how it is about time that theater and the arts regularly highlight persons with disabilities, let me tell you more about the Autism Theater Project (ATP). (See the links below for those who don’t want to read this blog part.)   The Autism Theater Project was started in 2020 by South Florida resident Gena Sims after a relative of a non-verbal student murdered the student she taught. To learn more about the project, you can visit their website at https://autismtheaterproject.org/   The work Ms. Sims is doing for the Autism community got me thinking: Why aren’t there more theater productions involving people with disabilities in t...

I know I have written a lot lately; hopefully, it’s a trend that will continue. There are a lot of exciting things happening in my world since the Florida SAND conference. It’s funny how one event can put things in motion that you weren’t even thinking about before the event. Today I met an interesting person by the name of Chris. I have many big ideas, but I have realized that they will take networking and time to implement. I am starting to see that the universe puts things in motion when you least expect it. I was putting together my two-year plan, and it did not involve staying where I am at. I’m not saying that I will, but after the past few days, I’m more open to the possibility of it. I won’t get into great detail about the things that Chris and I discussed because it isn’t set in stone yet; I will say that if it happens, the world will be vastly different (at least in my little corner). I know this was short and sweet, more to come later.