Conversations with Self-Advocates
WITH recently expanded its Self-Advocate Advisory Committee (SAAC), which, among other things, reviews the proposals that the Foundation receives and provides input on whether or not applicants should receive funding, and whether a proposal is designed well for people with disabilities.
Today’s conversation is with SAAC member Jessica Jimenez.
Jessica Jimenez (Description: Young woman with light-brown skin and long dark hair wearing striped t-shirt)
How did you learn about WITH?
Jessica: I learned about WITH Foundation through a colleague that was involved with YO! Disabled and Proud. They informed me that there were positions available and encouraged me to apply.
What has been your experience with health care through the years?
Jessica: I am still fairly new with working with healthcare. I started about three years ago working with people with disabilities. I myself am disabled but I have never really understood much about health care until I needed to provide resources for low income and undocumented individuals while interning and volunteering throughout college.
What is the most common misconception that people have about you?
Jessica: Many people don’t think I’m disabled. My epilepsy is only noticeable when I have a seizure, just because I may not be having a seizure all the time, often times my seizures are not noticeable. Not only am I mistaken for being an able-bodied individual, often times individuals mistaken my ethnicity.
Was there an “aha” moment when you realized that you wanted to advocate not just for yourself, but for others with disabilities too?
Jessica: The moment I realized I wanted to advocate for people with disabilities was in college. I was majoring in Women Studies and I decided to do a research paper on Women with Epilepsy and Reproductive Health. I didn’t just want to do it on Women with epilepsy. I wanted to do the research on Women of Color primarily Latinx women who grew up in poor neighborhoods and were more likely to be in bad health, but there was no research. There was no academic papers on women of color. I was bummed. I had to change up my project. There was also a time while interning for an organization called California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, I proposed to include the disability topic in one of the reproduce justice workshops, their response to me was that it wasn’t the time.
What kinds of things would you like to accomplish on the Advisory Committee of WITH?
Jessica: I would like to create press releases, work on grants, hopefully some public policy work that can encourage our committee to have a voice.
Thank you Jessica!
The mission of the WITH is to promote the establishment of comprehensive healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities designed to meet their unique and fundamental needs.