35th Anniversary Edition
It Always Tells a Story
Impact was put together to educate about topics in intellectual and developmental disabilities, and for us to know we’re not alone. It brings new knowledge to people who don’t understand disability and to us as advocates and self-advocates, and to people all over the world. Each issue is a little different, but it always tells a story and we learn something about why people with disabilities stand up for our rights and how we make a difference in the world. We’ve come a long way, and I wouldn’t be living independently, with some help, if I had been born at an earlier time in history. That help is very important to me and to other people with disabilities, and it will be for our entire lives. But we are now struggling to keep the services we have. You wanted us in the community and you closed institutions, but who helps us find a home and how do we make enough money to pay for it? How do we get enough food to eat and transportation to live our lives? Everything costs money and we’re in a crisis now. We have to figure out how people with disabilities are going to stay afloat. Money is the No. 1 thing you have to have to make it work in the community, and if you don’t have a good credit rating, you’re kind of screwed. I worry that people with disabilities could end up living in the streets or heading back to institutions. Impact opens our eyes to looking at these things from a different perspective, like a family trying to understand we’re just trying to have a life.