The Voiceless Minority

  Above, it is an image of a chef in a red hat, and red apron. Next to the chef on the left side are the words "The Family Café" they are written in black. It is time to put virtual pen to paper once again. The Voiceless Minority has been silent for the last two months, and we apologize for that. As anyone who is an activist for any cause knows, advocacy never stops. We recognize that our silence over the last two months not only affects us personally, but also significantly impacts The Voiceless Minority as a whole. That being said, let’s transition into today’s post. On June 14 th , Michelle Zeman, Samantha LeBron, and I gave a presentation at the 27 th Annual Family Café, which told the story of the Voiceless Minority, at least, up until now. For those who are not aware, The Family Café is a Florida-based organization that has held the largest disability resource expo in the United States for the last 27 years. According to their website, The Family Café began in 1998  wh...

The picture above shows a disabled man in a grey suit shaking hands with a gentleman in a blue suit in an office.  Last September, a publication called Living with Disabilities out of the United Kingdom published an article about a charity that funded work opportunities for people with learning disabilities. I will link the article at the bottom of this post. After rereading the article this week, I decided to write this blog about employment and disability in the United States. Recently, my now fiancé had to give in her two weeks' notice to end her employment because if she had continued with the job, she would have been in danger of losing her aide care services. Her last day is the 22 nd of April. She has enjoyed the job, but it has created many challenges for her.  The current system within the United States is not designed well. It creates many barriers for people with disabilities in terms of employment. We are steered towards programs through Vocational Rehab, whi...

  Luke Jackson (pictured above) has been working with Disability Advice and Welfare Network (DAWN) and Suffolk Law Centre on the Autism Education Leavers Passport. On October 14 th , lawmakers in Canada approved an educational passport, thanks to a University of Winchester graduate. The passport is geared toward helping young neurodivergent people transition from education to work. The 25-year-old, who graduated with a degree in Computer Aided Design in 2023, contributed to the content and design of the 35-page booklet. Luke drew from his experiences as a job seeker and the skills he learned at university. “I enjoyed what I learned at Winchester and the one-to-one tutoring I received,” said Luke, a volunteer with DAWN, where he is a website administrator. The booklet comes in response to the findings from the Office of National Statistics, which showed that almost 80% of autistic adults are not working and that they are the least likely disabled group to be in any employ...

As we enter August, we also enter the height of the festival season, whether it be hard rock, country, or my girlfriend’s favorite EDM; if you look hard enough, you are bound to find a festival for whatever you are into somewhere. However, if you're disabled, it is that much more challenging. When you are disabled, you have many things to consider when planning an outing indoors or outdoors. I am not suggesting that disabled people should be homebodies; rather, this piece and the article from Enable Magazine in Scotland will provide ideas so that no matter what kind of disability you may have, you can live your best life regardless of your abilities or disabilities. Anyone who knows me knows I love music festivals. I attended one earlier this summer called ‘Rock the Country.’ You can learn more about ‘Rock the Country’ and plan accordingly for next year at the following website  https://www.rockthecountry.com/ . The information on the 2025 festival is not yet available, but the sit...

All men were created equal. This is what it says in our Constitution. Discounting the irony in which it doesn’t mention the 3/5 slave’s clause. This is otherwise a good concept. It essentially implies that no matter one’s race, creed, religious belief, nationality, or any other distinguishing characteristic in America, they should be granted an equal opportunity. I have written a blog, which discussed a little bit of a piece of landmark legislation known as the American With Disabilities Act. However, today while doing some early morning reading, I was forced to ask myself this question, “Have we come all that far?”        This year on July 26, The Americans with Disabilities Act will celebrate 23 years. It is almost a quarter-century old. It’s almost at the point where it has to make a significant life decision and stop relying on mommy and daddy but has changed for people with disabilities since the Act? My argument is that on the surface, improv...