Our success story this year is about a self-advocate from Winona. He is a self-advocate who is very active in People First of Winona and SAM (Self-Advocates of Minnesota). He received our Self-Advocacy Award this past year at our Annual Meeting. He is currently Vice Chair of the SAM Advisory Council and is a representative to the State Leadership Council. Because of his involvement with People FIrst of Winona and SAM, both programs supported by Arc Southerastern Minnesota, he has gained the skills to make presentations about disability issues. He is always eager and ready to present at workshops (he presented at three of the four we held in Winona last year) and makes speeches when asked. At our Candidate Forum in October, with no prior notice, he was asked to present theRegion 10 Stakeholders Belief Statements to legislators. He did so without hesitastion in from of a crowd of about 60 people. He attends Arc's Day at the Capitol every year and isn't shy to speak to his legislators. In fact, he is well known by most of them.
One of Arc's goals is to provide apportunities for people with disabilities to be included in their communities. His involvedment with Arc's programs has helped to make this a reality for him.