Hi Everybody,
As SUFU’s Legislative Associate, it is my job to find out what issues are really important to you & work together with you as SUFU Members to make sure that our voices are heard by people who can make a difference, including the Maine Legislature.
I consider myself part of the SUFU Team & you, the SUFU Members are my coaches, letting me know what you want me to do. I work for you. That’s why hearing from you, the SUFU members, is so important.
What you say & how you feel about issues needs to be heard because people who don’t have disabilities can’t completely understand what it’s like. You can teach so many people about what your life is really like by working together as SUFU Members to tackle issues that affect us as people with disabilities. You have more power to change things than you might think! 🙂 I’ve learned so much from everybody in my short time here & I can’t wait to learn more from you! 🙂
I really like my job and I’m so glad that I’ve met & gotten to know, and learn from some really great people! In 2016, I really want to get to know more of you & hear from you about what you think. There are a few ways to do this…
- You can respond to the SUFU Blog or the SUFU Membership Page on Facebook
- You can join the SUFU Legislative Chapter
- You can email me: aolmstead@sufumaine.org
- You can call me: 827-1047
- I’m also going to do as much as I can to attend Chapter Meetings & Roundups in 2016
These are some questions I’m really curious to know from everybody (and you can let me know by doing any of the things above)…
- What issues really bother you as a person with a disability?
- Are there ideas you have of things we could do together as SUFU Members to make things better?
- What would you want to say?
- Who would you want to tell?
By working together as SUFU members to solve problems that face us, we’re that much stronger at making our lives better. Again, you have more power to change things than you might think!
If we can work together and take action on issues that really bother us, it shows not only the people of Maine, but ourselves too that as people with disabilities, we have the power to make our lives better and we don’t need to wait for other people to make changes for us.
It won’t be easy & sometimes there will be problems but I believe in my heart that we all deserve a life that means something to us. Let’s work together & make our lives better!
Until Next Time,
Avery
Hi Avery! I wrote about this on the facebook page as well, but I think one interesting thing that is bothering me is the growing problem of obesity with people with disabilities and I wonder if Sufu/Legislative Chapter could provide more support. For example, could SUFU offer more support such as more opportunities to exercise/help get in shape?
Hi Tucker,
I think that’s a really interesting idea & I’m wondering if that’s something where the sports Chapter could be directly involved?
Laurie, Tyler, David Unger, Monique, thoughts?
P.S. Tucker, what ideas do you have?
I think the Sports Chapter could, but there are other things that SUFU might be able to do, like helping SUFU Members get Gym Memberships if they want them, continuing to partner up with health organizations like Snap- Education with SUFU has done in the past,etc. If we worked on legislation at some point promoting health in some fashion it might help beyond SUFU Members, with people in the disability community as well.