Newsletter Date: October 29 HE UZZ 2010 T B Issue # 3 Volume 2 Joke of the Quar- Advocacy in Action: By Mr. James Burney ter: What kind of Have you ever felt Example setting is another way I feel people so strongly about with disabilities can advocate in their daily lives. Live medicine do you an issue or a topic the life that you want to live and do not pay attention give a sick pig? that you wanted to to negativity from others. Do not be afraid to go out tell others your in your community and enjoy yourself just like every- opinions but you one else. By doing this, you prove to people that eve- just did not know ryone is equal and everyone likes to be treated how? Advocacy regarding on social issues helps equally. People with disabilities should interact with people express their beliefs and solve their prob- the public the same as everyone else. Eventually, lems. Advocacy, by definition, means active verbal people will understand that we all belong to in the support for a cause or position. In this article, I community and should be respected and treated with want to explain different ways individuals can learn kindness. By advocating in this way, you will create a Answer– Oinkment to speak up for themselves and get their opinions chain reaction where other people with disabilities heard. Through communication, education, exam- feel comfortable going out and people without dis- By : Lori Shapiro ple setting, and support systems, are ways I believe abilities will understand that we can still enjoy all the that people with disabilities can advocate in their fun things that communities have to offer and that every day lives and make a difference within their we live our lives just the same as them. community. I also feel that finding a strong support sys- Communication is very important in every tem or reaching out to an advocacy group is a good Inside this issue: person's life. In order to advocate, one must use way to practice advocacy in your life. Support sys- communication to explain how one feels about a tems provide someone with a way to express how topic. One aspect of advocating for people with you feel to people who have been through the same Advocacy in Action 1 disabilities is to share stories and past experi- things in their lives. By forming a group to advocate ences .This is important because if we want people for your needs, it makes a bigger impact on society Fins, Feathers, and Paws 2 to know our problems and to respond, we have to and also takes off some of the pressure to do it all by tell them. Be open about your feelings and opin- yourself. If you are the type person who does not feel Upcoming Elections 3 ions. Do not bottle those emotions inside because comfortable talking to a group, you can use your sup- Worker Bees 4 no one will know that you are unhappy with how port system to advocate for you. This gives you an you being treated or how you feel unless you ver- outlet to get your opinions heard without putting Rock News 5 bally expressing the way you feel. Do not let your yourself in an uncomfortable situation. Support sys- bad past experiences hold you back from your fu- tems provide encouragement and a life line to those Protest 6 ture. Use communication as a tool to get your point who need to be heard but also need some help in across so that other people with disabilities will feel advocating for themselves. You can find support sys- Protest 7 comfortable speaking up as well. tems in your local area by attending meetings or Education is also an important way to ad- reading articles online that discuss the issues you find A Day in the Life of Tim 8 vocate for people with disabilities. People with dis- most important. abilities should strive to educate others on the is- Advocating on the topics that you believe in is very This Is What I Think 9 sues that people with disabilities face in society. important. Without communicating, educating, ex- We must make others understand our needs, how ample setting and finding support systems it is very Events and Classifieds 10 we feel, and what is important to us if we want to hard to practice advocacy in your everyday life. Do see a change in how people with disabilities are not be afraid to speak up for yourself. By standing up treated in their community. The best way to do this for what you believe in, you will give others the is through teaching people how we want to be strength to do the same. Hopefully, learning about treated and keeping an open mind in order to solve advocacy will help to bring about the change that we our problems. need in our society. THE BUZZ Page 2 Fins, Feathers, and Paws: By Jeremy Norman Hello! It’s Jeremy and I up he could have died. I apartment and my own want to talk about my cat gave him a second job I could have any ani- Mew Two. My cat Mew chance to live a happy mal I want. But I have to Two is very special. When life. That day I became stick to a limit of ani- I still lived with my Mom his hero. He is very mals because I live in an the neighbors next door healthy now and he’s apartment. But back to had a litter of kittens. doing very well. He’s a Mew Two’s Health. He is One of them was the very happy fat cat. not a runt anymore. He runt. They call the small- Whenever I’m home he also has deformed front est kitten or animal in a plays with me and fol- paws. He has eight toes litter the runt because of lows me around the on one paw and seven its size. Because it was house. Every night when on the other. It makes the runt the neighbors I am in bed he sleeps on my Mew Two more spe- abused it by taking it by the bed with me. When cial like me. Me and the tail and swinging it he wants something he Mew Two are a match and letting it hit things. will pat me on the face for sure. So when I saw that I went with his paw and he will over the next day and I show me what he wants Well I’ve hoped you’ve recognized that most of and then we will play the kittens were taken. together for thirty min- learned from this arti- The only two left were utes. When I play with cle. Thank You for read- the runt and his brother. I him it takes all of my ing it. This is Jeremy worries away. asked the lady if I could saying over and out. take the runt home with me and give him a good I’ve always wanted a life. The lady said,” I cat, but my Mom would- thought nobody would n’t let me when I was pick him because he was little because she al- the runt.” I looked at the ways questioned how lady and said, “ I saw are you going to pay his what you did to him and I vet bill when you have should call animal control no job. If I asked her on you. She gave me the again she would ask do most evil look. So I you have money for flea walked home with him treatment. I would say and I played with him. If I no. So we left it at that. wouldn’t have picked him Now that I have my own THE BUZZ Page : 3 Mid Term Elections– By Lori Shapiro and Josh Harris Your peers at Our Voices are committed to promoting advocacy within our organization and the community at large. In a few days there will be a op- portunity for all of us to be heard loud a clear, on Tuesday, November 2nd is election day. This midterm congressional election is a competitive and im- portant race which revolves around many issues that are near and dear to the heart of Hope House such as healthcare and the economy. The incum- bent 2nd district congressional democrat, Glenn Nye is being challenged by republican candidate Scott Rigell, and the independent candidate Ken Golden. Additional races include city council and school board officials. Glenn Nye is the Chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology. His platform revolves around reducing govern- mental spending, increasing tax cuts and standing up for military families. Nye “voted against the bailout and wants big banks to repay every taxpayer cent. He supports tough new rules to make Wall Street accountable and pre- vent a future financial crisis” Source: http://www.glennnye.com/issues Scott Rigell is founder and Chairman of Freedom Automotive in Virginia Beach and former president of the Hampton Roads Automobile Dealers Asso- ciation. His platform revolves around job creation, cutting “government programs are ineffective or cannot demonstrate tangible results”, health care reform and energy independence. Source: http://www.scottrigell.com/ where-i-stand-on-the-issues/ Ken Golden’s platform revolves around providing resources to businesses to create jobs, energy independence, and increase in national defense, educa- tion reform, and creating national wide standards to make new and current off shore drilling safer.