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Welcome to the 2021 TASH Conference - Virtual Edition website!

Each year, the TASH Conference brings together individuals with significant disabilities and their allies to share resources and success stories, learn about field-driven best practices, and network within a community engaged in shared values. The conference is attended by passionate advocates, leaders, and subject matter experts from every corner of the disability community. Conference attendees play an important role in supporting individuals with significant disabilities to overcome various barriers in order to live their best lives. Central to this work is the premise that individuals reach their optimal potential only when they are given the opportunity to live, work and thrive across the lifespan in the same communities we are all members of. The Conference is intentionally designed to support the interests of professors and researchers from leading institutions; those involved in local, state, and federal governments and public policy; special and general educators, and school administrators; home and community-based service providers; students, family members, and most importantly, self-advocates with lived experience.

This year, while we are taking the Conference virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that our unique approach to providing exceptional first-rate content and building strong community ties and connections across various stakeholders will yield an extraordinary event! We have taken extra steps to bring people closer together during these times, as well as to create an amazing virtual environment that expands our knowledge and spurs our creative thinking into action!  Our Conference theme, Celebrating Community and Connections, reminds us of the value of gathering together as a diverse community to advance equity, opportunity and inclusion for all!

Need technical assistance during the conference? Please email our support staff at helpdesk@tash.org.

The 2021 TASH Conference is dedicated to TASH co-founder, Dr. Lou Brown. Learn more about Lou’s impact and legacy to the disability rights movement here.

Back To Schedule
Thursday, December 2 • 2:15pm - 3:00pm
Self-Advocacy: Find Your Voice and Raise it for Change

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Self-advocacy starts at different places for people, but it always starts with someone wanting to make a change for something they care about! We see every day how important lifting our voices can be to bring about the change we want to see in our communities, workplaces and the country. Members of Project ACTION!, DC’s self-advocacy coalition, believe our voices are powerful and will share how we learned to advocate. We will share that it was scary in the beginning. We were nervous but we kept practicing and encouraging one another. Now we testify before City Council, government hearings and many people, and we aren’t afraid anymore. Come to this interactive session to hear how Project ACTION! members started to advocate for things that were important to us. We all have issues that are important to us from getting funding for a night school program, training the police and medical workers to work better with people with disabilities, getting funding for direct support workers.
Presenters
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Ricardo Thornton

Executive Member, Project ACTION!
Donna Thornton is a strong self-advocate and presenter.  She worked for over 30 years at the National Institutes of Health and retired in 2018.  She is a passionate mentor to people new to self-advocacy.  She believes everyone should have the right and supports to pursue a career... Read More →
avatar for Robert Kennedy

Robert Kennedy

Co Vice-President, Project ACTION!
Robert Kennedy, Jr., is a strong self-advocate and has served in several leadership roles during the almost 30 years he has been a member of Project ACTION! He is the current Co-Vice President of Project ACTION! Robert graduated from the DC Advocacy Partners Class of 2013 and has... Read More →
avatar for Phyllis Holton

Phyllis Holton

Deputy Director, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities
Phyllis Holton is a passionate disability leader working with self-advocates to be the "Leaders and Change Agents" that they are.  I work with Project ACTION!, a self-advocacy coalition of over 125 adults with disabilities in the Washington-metropolitan region.  I work for Quality... Read More →
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Vanessa Monroe

Executive Member, Project ACTION!
Vanessa Monroe is a District of Columbia resident and Project ACTION! member.  Vanessa is also a talented artist who works of out Art Enables studios in Washington, DC.  She has sold many of her art pieces.  She is also a strong self-advocate and speaks up for issues that are of... Read More →
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Keith Wright

Board Member, Project ACTION!

Thursday December 2, 2021 2:15pm - 3:00pm EST
Online Platform
  Breakout Sessions

Attendees (54)