Many nursing homes, transportation agencies, senior services, housing authorities and other groups that heavily impact people with disabilities have Advisory Committees. And, low income and disabled people are often asked to serve on them.

Are these committees just window dressing? Is a committee member like a wedding planner who’s only allowed to plan the reception centerpieces?

How can a disabled committee member make their committee more useful? Does committee work teach skills to influence governmental decisions? Do the people who sit on these committee end up doing staff work without getting paid for it?

Today, we talk to four veteran Advisory Committee members with disabilities about their work on these committees. And, we air excerpts from Jacob Lesnor-Buxton’s article on this topic, “So The State of California Is Requiring Me to Listen to You People.”

Our guests are:

Amanda Stahl from Kentucky’s Advisory Board for People with Developmental Disabilities and its Protection and Advocacy Board;

Christine Fitzgerald and Mr. Aaron Morrow from Advisory Committees for VTA, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority;

Bonnie Elliott from the Access Advisory Committee of the City of Santa Barbara; and

Dani Anderson from the board of the State-wide California Independent Living Council.

Production Team for this program:

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