VOICES and Choices

VOICES was created to empower more self-advocates and along with People First of Dane County, Wisconsin work together to help those with disabilities become more independent and more integrated into their communities.  A major goal is to help consumers have their opinions heard by agencies supporting them and the community at large.  We want people to understand that having a disability doesn’t change the fact that we all want to be loved, respected and to make decisions about our own lives.

VOICES and People First work to help people of all abilities understand they have rights and they have a say about their own lives.  This is done through group meetings, speaking engagements, political affairs, and training sessions.  At VOICES, we try to give people with disabilities more tools to use to create the lives that they want. We conduct trainings about making choices in different areas of life.  We also try to help support staff understand the people they support have their own opinions and they can make choices about their own lives. 

Some specific issues being addressed at this time are:  

• helping people have better job opportunities and better pay,
• better transportation services,
• opportunities to purchase their own homes,
• opportunities to have the kinds of relationships that they want to have and the freedom to be themselves.

In addition to groups and trainings, VOICES also assists with a quarterly newsletter in Dane County called CHOICES that helps to keep people informed and share personal stories of self-advocates in Dane County.

Choices Newsletter

Choices newsletter is a newsletter for consumers and agencies in Dane County’s developmental disabilities system.  Until 2008, a majority of the content was written by service providers.  This past year, 15 individuals with disabilities were recruited who now write most of the newsletter content and enrich their own lives in the process.

Emily has taken a lot of writing classes and has dreamed of being a journalist.  She enjoys being a part of a team of reporters and making contributions to the newsletter.

Catherine has been conducting interviews and writing about them as a Choices reporter for a year.  Writing for the newsletter gave her the confidence she needed to write to her distant family and express her feelings of sadness at being so far away.  Her family responded by working harder to make her feel a part of their lives, including bringing her for visits and buying her a cell phone for Christmas.

Dora created Dora’s Pet Corner for Choices several years ago with the help of a previous editor, though Dora needed support to fully participate in the writing process.  Now, a volunteer from the Dane County Timebank supports Dora to develop better writing skills and participate in the while process of writing an article.

Click here to view past issues of Choices