Today Eric talks with Rita Bouillon, Principal of South Valley School, about how she got started in advocacy and what South Valley School is all about! Fun fact, our host attended South Valley after he graduated from High School! 

Information Specialist Eric Stoker Interviews DD council staff to learn more about what they do and also learn more about how they got into the dd council field. 

Eric let's listeners know that season 2 is coming up. 

[TBD]

In this episode, Eric Stoker discusses healthy relationships with Jennie Ostermiller. They discuss how to recognize healthy relationship, and how to break down barriers and stereotypes that individuals with disabilities face when exploring relationship possibilities. 

To learn more about healthy relationships and download a free workbook, visit the the Partnership 4 Safety webpage, a Program of The Arc of Spokane, by clicking here: http://arcwhatcom.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Healthy-Relationship-Workbook.pdf

Note: The opinions expressed in this podcast and the provided resources belong solely to the individual and do not constitute endorsement by the Utah Developmental Disabilities Council and are provided only as a resource to the community.

The history of self-advocacy starts many years ago, when cultural shifts pushed individuals who lived with differences into work houses, asylums, and institutions. Eric Stoker, UDDC Information Specialist, and Dr. Matthew Wappett, Director for the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University, explore how self-advocates have had to develop abilities to change this cultural norm, and they discuss how these skills will be necessary to continue to challenge barriers that self-advocates face today.

Learn more about the history of disabilities, visit the Parellels in Time website with interactive sections for each era. https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/index.html

Learn more about Dr. Matthew Wappett on the Center for Persons with Disabilities' website. https://cpd.usu.edu/staff/?id=1371

This is a project of the Utah Developmental Disabilities Council. www.utahddcouncil.org

UDDC Projects, including this website, are funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Community Living. https://acl.gov/

Trailer Transcript:

Good morning everyone! My name is Eric Stoker and I’m the  Information Specialist for the Utah Developmental Disabilities Council, and welcome to the introduction of the UDDC’s new podcast called Develop Abilities. We chose this name because at the Utah DD Council we believe in developing abilities and focusing on living with disabilities. It’s even in the Council’s name! If you cover up “mental” from Developmental, and “dis” from Disabilities you get “Develop Abilities.”

The reason we are doing a podcast is because we want to share and teach people with disabilities and other self-advocates about different topics that impact a person with a disabilities lives and fun things to do as well along with finding your voice. There are so many great advocates out there doing this and developing their own abilities. There are family members and advocates helping to strengthen our communities. There are lawmakers and friends who want to see the world be the best it can be, and we want to share those stories with you!

In this podcast we will talk about disability history, relationships, adaptive recreation and Independent Living and so much more. We want to talk about all the things that matter to people living with disabilities, from the everyday visits to the grocery store and the big life events like moving out or getting married.

If you have any other topics that you would like to see on this podcast please email us at [email protected] and we will make sure that we put it on our list. I just want to let everyone know that our first episode is coming up and the topic will be on disability history so stay tuned for that. I look forward to being your host for that episode and I have a great cohost lined up. Have a great day everyone and see you when our first podcast comes out.