Sascha was sworn in to the National Council on Disability yesterday! (I included her comments below)
Thanks so much for all your support for Sascha regarding her appointment by Speaker Pelosi to the National Council on Disability! (We both really appreciate it!) Yesterday, at Speaker’s Pelosi’s SF office, Sascha was sworn in remotely with three other new appointees from across the country. It was a very uplifting ceremony, and I am quite impressed by the Council chair and the other new members. They give me hope in a trying time, and remind me of the critical need to keep our eyes on the prize, no matter what setbacks we may encounter.
Sascha is now on the NCD website! (It gives a brief overview of her community involvement.)
https://ncd.gov/council_and_staff/ncd_council_members
Since Sascha has a speech disability, her brother interpreted. (He was born to me 25 years after Sascha—with no kids in between!—and I also have a younger daughter, adopted from Vietnam.)
Sascha’s comments from the ceremony:
Good morning! I’m profoundly honored to be joining the National Council on Disability, and I want to express my deepest appreciation to Speaker Pelosi for providing me with this amazing opportunity. She has not only been an inspirational role model, but one of my biggest supporters, and I will do my best to live up to the faith she has placed in me. I also want to thank her district office staff members, especially Kory Powell-McCoy, for graciously hosting me today.
I was born in 1973, to a single, teenage mother, at a time when many children with disabilities were still placed in institutions, and inclusion and early intervention were very hard to find. Yet, in an era before Google, my mother somehow managed to find an inclusive, early intervention program in Woodstock, Vermont, and we moved there from our home in California not long after my second birthday. While the teachers in that innovative program were incredibly supportive for the four years I participated, other professionals were much more negative. In fact, when I was just three-years-old, a renowned pediatrician told my mom I would never be able to do much of anything. Thankfully, she had a different opinion, but once we moved back to California, that meant ongoing struggles with certain other professionals— who also had a limited view of my potential— to get the appropriate services and education. At the same time, my mother will admit she initially bought into the “medical model” of disability, and originally focused more on how to “fix” me, before she discovered the disability rights movement, and realized it was the rest of the world that needed to be fixed—to be made accessible, accommodating and inclusive. As a young teenager, as I became more involved in the disability rights movement, myself, I had the great privilege of meeting such trailblazers as Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, Wade Blank, and my fellow performers in Wry Crips Disabled Women’s Theater Group. I developed a deep pride in my community and culture.
While I have been involved in advocacy regarding a variety of disability issues, my main focus for the last 15 years has been on Home and Community-Based Services, and on issues related to self-determination for people with developmental disabilities. As a result, one major interest of mine involves community supports and services to ensure that disabled people are more fully integrated in their communities, and living in their own homes, while seniors are provided the support they need to age in place, without having to become impoverished to afford homecare. Another major priority of mine is to make sure that the domestic workers who make this all possible receive the living wages they deserve, in addition to the same labor protections as other workers. Finally, in my own life as someone with a speech disability, I’ve experienced firsthand the extent to which the voices of people with developmental disabilities are ignored or marginalized, so another important objective for me is to make sure all voices are heard and respected.
In closing, l would like to acknowledge the critical work being done by my colleagues in the disability and domestic workers rights movements, and to thank all of those who have supported and uplifted me throughout my life, including teachers, political and community activists and leaders, neighbors and dear friends. Finally, I’d like to express my deep appreciation to my extended family, and to the most important members of Team Sascha: my brother (who is interpreting for me today); my sister (watching from UC Irvine, where she is a college senior); my dad (also here with me today); and especially to my mom, who has been with me from the start. We definitely proved that pediatrician—and so many others— wrong! Thank you, and I look forward to working with you all!
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