Michelle Appleby, Class of 2006

Ginny Ellis, Kathy Connor ('02), Michelle Appleby ('06),
James Huben, Aldea LaParr

When I was participating in Partners in 2006 as a self advocate, I was serving on the Board of Directors for the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living and I was a stay at home mom to my two daughters. When both my children reached preschool/school age I decided it was time to go back to work.

In December 2007 I stepped down off the Board of Directors at Northern Regional Center for Independent Living and took a position as a Systems Advocate.

My role as a Systems Advocate was to work with a grassroots network of 19 other Systems Advocates in New York State to make changes on the local,State and Federal levels of government.

These changes were to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.

As a result of this position, and  in order to make connections and build relationships with policymakers, politicians and various agencies in the community, I was appointed to the Jefferson County Community Services Board and PWDD Subcommittee by the Jefferson County Legislature in April 2008.

I served as PWDD subcommittee Chair in 2010 and I was re-elected as chair for 2011.

In June 2008, I received the Excelsior Award For Excellence from the New York State Assembly for outstanding dedication and committment to my community!

In February 2009, I was appointed by Governor Paterson to the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council and to the Systems Change and Community Eduction Subcommittees.

In January 2011, I was appointed by the Watertown City Council to the Watertown, NY Transportion Commission to fill a vacated seat. I was re-appointed in April 2011 to serve in my first 3 year term on theCommission.

Although my position as a Systems Advocate was eliminated due to budget cuts in January 2011, I still remain active in all positions on the city,county and state level.

In February 2011, I accepted a full time position at Community Action Planning Council of Jefferson and Lewis County. In this positon I work as an Intake worker and serve as the contact person for Fair Housing
Discrimination Claims.

As an intake worker I work one on one with low income families to assess what needs they may have in achieving self reliance and refer them to programs and services that might help them achieve that goal.

If it werent for being accepted into Partners in 2006, I don't know how much I would have improved "quality of life" for my children and I.

With the knowledge I obtained thru partners I feel I am able to contribute not only my own personal knowlege and experience of programs and services to the various clients and positions I serve in but also provide a better understanding of how programs and services work to people with disabilities and their families who need this information.

I think Partners definitely empowers people to make a difference whether its personal or professional.

The sky doesn't have to be the limit. There are endless possibilities :)

NYS Partners in Policymaking Class of 2011--It's a Whole New World!



Ann Kurz, Joyce Steel, Nancy Hinkley

 The 2011 NYS Partners in Policymaking class is underway. While many things are familiar to Partners Grads, this year's class gets to do lots of things that are new to Partners in NY: web content, discussion groups and webinars.

Technology has arrived!

The new class has around 70 members. Half of them work on line and meet, and half work entirely on line.


Jim Huben from the DDPC and Partners Working on Vision Boards



The meeting group met last week in Ithaca. Kathy McCarthy-Proulx and Ann Kurz presented on "Vision". The Partners created vision boards for themselves and for their children. Partners presented their vision boards to the group. They shared their stories. They heard "the microphone is your friend!" Al Condeluci presented...

Just like the 'old days.'



Partner Jay Bea In Person!


But it is NOT the old days!!!

The entire program was presented in real time as a webinar to the at-home learners--and when it came time to present, the on-line Partners were able to post a photo of their vision board and speak right in to the room about their own visions.



Sharing Vision On-Line!


Partners on and off line commented about what they had learned--and about how connected they were beginning to feel!

(I have to say, it gave me chills!)





Trish Wasburn: The United States of Autism

Trish Washburn ('06) and her family from the Albany area is one of 19 families from around the country who will be featured in the upcoming film The United States of Autism.

See news footage of the filming in Albany.

Read about the filming at Camp Colonie and Hippotherapy .

The film's website is here.

Wretchers & Jabberers: The Partners Connection

Partners Grad Jennifer Russo (2007) is the Marketing Director for the Syracuse University School of Education and of the newest film from award-winning producer and director, Gerardine Wurzburg and producer Douglas Bilken, PhD from Syracuse University. Jennifer designed the t-shirts, banners and promotional materials. She will get to travel with the film when it premiers in other parts of the country.

Partners Grad Jennifer Seybert (also 2007) was also involved in the screening. She is attending Syracuse University for a Masters in Disability Studies and was handing out literature when I saw her. Her typed comments added much to the Q&A session after the movie.


The film, Wretches and Jabberers, tells the story of two men who have autism and, after years without a communication system, learned in adulthood to communicate by typing. The two men, Larry Bissonnette and Tracy Thresher travel with their support people, Pascal Chang and Harvey F. Lavoy, and a film team to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland to "bring people's understanding of disability to a positive place."

The movie primiered October 16, 2010 during the Syracuse International Film Festival and was followed by a panel discussion with the film stars and team. In the spring the movie will show in major cities like New York and Chicago.

For my review of the film click .here.

Attention Partners: This movie needs to show in your town!!

This is What Happens when BOTH of Your Parents are Partners Grads!

Meeting Governor Patterson!

Daven Whalen: Town Hall Trainings

Dave Whalen, Partners Graduate Class of 2007 started a new initiative this past spring.

A couple years back Dave proposed that his town, Amherst (outside of Buffalo) create a disability committee, the town did and appointed Dave to it. It turns out that every town government can have a disability committee to help them address physical accessibility, accessibility of civic participation, access to leisure, as well as training for emergency first responders. Dave found that creating a committee was a great way to build relationships in his town and he was able to help his town avoid hefty DOJ fines for inaccessiblity.

In the process Dave met and became friends with Dan D'Andrea, a citizen in his community who uses a wheelchair and is very interested in access, especially in town parks and recreation. The two put their heads together and together with Aimee Levesque, D'Andrea's Charitable Trust, and The Advocacy Center developed a training for people in other communities wishing to build access in their towns.

The first training was held at People First in Buffalo this spring and other trainings will be scheduled around the state this fall and next spring. Dave hopes that soon every community will have a disability committee giving input and increasing access as a matter of course.

You can read more about the formation of Town Hall Trainings and one of Dave's other projects, accessbuffalo in this article.

The Inaugural Town Hall Training Class (4 Partners in attendance!)

Trish Washburn 2006

Trish Washburn has been very active advocating for people with Autism. She is pictured here with her children CJ and Buddy volunteering at the Albany Chapter of The Autism Society of America 5K Walk/Run this past September. The second picture is CJ and Buddy with State Senator McDonald at the walk.

Trish was also very active advocating against the Autism Insurance Bill that is currently on the desk of Gov. Patterson to be signed. She feels that this bill will actually make it more difficult to get needed services for people with Autism. She and her family were also featured in a documentary about families impacted by Autism this summer,--read the articles about it here and here.