Pac Rim 2009 Info
Keynote Speakers: Amber Smock
Johnny Crescendo | Andrew J. Imparato | Lee Grossman | Billy Kenoi | Amber Smock
Monday May 4th, 2009: 9:00 AM -10:00 AM in Lili’u Theater, on topic of Youth and Advocacy
“Youth Power in Today’s Disability Rights Movement.”
In the last ten years, youth leadership development in the disability rights movement has boomed. Spurred by the realization of the need for new young leaders after the passage of the ADA, a wide range of disability organizations now have leadership development programs. Young people have created and led organizations or events as diverse as Kids As Self Advocates (KASA), the National Disabled Students’ Union (NDSU), the National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) and the ADAPT National Youth Summit. Increasingly, as the Millennial generation comes to dominate youth disability leadership, we are seeing fundamentally different visions for education, jobs, socializing, and mobilizing for social justice.
Chicago is the home of the Alinsky model of community organizing, a way to put power in the hands of the oppressed. At Access Living, we practice a version of direct action community organizing that is informed by this model. Yet nationwide, youth with disabilities are finding many ways to advocate on issues of importance to them, such as access to jobs and education, as well as disability awareness in schools nationwide. We are finding a lot of ways to “get it done.” Given the diversity of advocacy styles and identities in the youth disability rights community, what does OUR disability rights movement look like?
Biography: Amber Smock
Amber Smock is a youth and women’s disability rights organizer. She is the Youth Leadership Coordinator for Access Living, the independent living center for Chicago. She is also a co-coordinator for Chicago ADAPT and consults with the ADAPT National Youth Summit. She is a co-founder and member of Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA), a grassroots action group of women with disabilities and Deaf women. In 2008, Amber received the Founder’s Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women in recognition of her emerging leadership, and with the award money has been meeting and organizing with women with disabilities around the US and in South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Amber has a severe hearing loss and grew up oral in mainstream schools. At the age of 20 she became involved with the Deaf community, began learning American Sign Language, and now uses sign language interpreters and videophones at work.
