When I was sworn in, and I took my vows, I was very proud. I am very proud of my agency, The Jefferson Rehabilitation Center, and NYSARC.

I take my responsibilities as a Board of Governors representative very seriously. There are some standing committees that I’ve been asked to be a part of and I hope to review those with my mentor in the next month or so. I’ve learned that as a Board of Governors representative I have a voice, I can speak for my agency, give important input, vote, but I also think a very important thing to do, as a board member, is to listen. By listening you develop a sense of responsibility. When you’re on the Board of Governors, you need to be fully committed to what you are doing.

All of the presentations and workshops I attended at the Convention were very good. MaryBeth Schneider, from the NYSARC, Inc. State Office, and I led a session on end-of-life decision-making for self-advocates. I think it was a very important thing to provide. I also did a similar training at my own agency on this topic. A lot of people with developmental disabilities do not know how to go about having a voice about what they want. It’s important that they’re heard. Quite often during the presentations, at the end-of-life, the person who was living wasn’t even involved. That’s an important issue to me: for them to be able to have their voices and develop a sense of self-worth.

In my next column for The Self-Advocate Corner I’d like to shed light on some significant transportation issues in the North Country and the impact it’s having.

I would like to wish everyone at NYSARC a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

David Liscomb
Chairperson, NYSARC Self-Advocacy Advisory Committee; Representative, NYSARC Board of Governors