If you are a young adult with disabilities who would like to make a difference for others with disabilities, the perfect opportunity just came up for you.

The CPD Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) needs  a young adult self-advocate to join them and represent the needs and concerns that you and your peers deal with every day.

This is an opportunity to share your perspective on the issues that impact you and to provide feedback to the CPD about important focus areas that need to be addressed.

Dr. Bryce Fifield, CPD Director, states, “The input and perspective of people with disabilities is critical to our success.  We cannot be effective without your help in setting priorities.  Participating on the CPD’s Consumer Advisory Committee helps us and it helps you.  You will meet new people, work with fellow advocates, and help us make a difference in every Utah community.”

If you are interested in finding out more about how you can become a member of  CAC , or know someone who would be interested, please contact Gordon Richins,  CPD Consumer Liason.

This CPD Legacy Story is from Nancy Dold, a 2009-2010 student of the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities/Infant and Pediatric Audiology (URLEND/IPA) program.

The URLEND program is a multi-state collaborative CPD program that provides training to advanced standing trainees in health care and prepares them to become leaders in the Maternal and Child Health Care field.  The IPA offers additional training in the field of pediatric audiology.

Nancy Dold, URLEND Trainee

My name is Nancy Dold and I am currently an assistant professor at the University of Montana in the Communicative Sciences and Disorders (CSD) department.

This past year, I participated in the 2009-2010 URLEND training program and it has enriched both my work and personal life in many ways.

Most importantly, the enrichment grew from interconnections made with the staff and coordinators of the URLEND program as well as other trainees.  These interconnections were specifically cemented with face-to-face contact through attending the initial orientation, clinics, and conferences during the year.  It was during these face-to-face interactions that I was able to really get to know people and appreciate a variety of perspectives.

The URLEND Leadership project assignment provided another way that face-to-face interactions benefited me.  Three of us were assigned to complete a final project. After working together, I appreciate the dynamics of our group and we all formed a very strong professional and personal bond.  For this project, our development of interpersonal connections was more important than a publishable end-product.  I know that, although these two other people live in two other states, I can call on either one of these people for information or advice, either professionally or personally.  Our growth in coming to an individual and collective understanding, was immeasurable.

The URLEND staff offered me opportunities that I would not have considered on my own.  I would not have taken time off work to attend conferences or clinics, but the support staff made the travel and accommodation arrangements very easy.

There were so many URLEND lectures which I would like to commend – the audiology and the autism lectures in particular; however, I will choose just one for comment.  The lecture on writing grants had a huge impact on me.  What I learned was the necessity for ‘exactness’ to meet a rubric, while still maintaining room for negotiation and creativity.  The lessons learned from this lecture will inform my future writings.

I salute the staff of the URLEND program.  The training requirements were rigorous, but worth it.  If I could change anything during the year, I would change my circumstances.  Working on a doctorate, and writing and teaching a new class while being involved in the URLEND program was exhausting, but I am grateful for what I consider a fortuitous experience.

Finally, I am wondering how I can maintain my connections and involvement with URLEND and how, through these continuing connections, I can make a difference with the leadership skills I have gleaned through URLEND participation.

I thank all of the staff for the opportunity to participate this year and I am grateful for the sharing of ideas and knowledge not only from the staff but from the other trainees.

Did you hear something funny? Add it to your list of what went right today.

List the good things that have occurred today, for example:

Did you survive the day?
Did you hear something funny?
Did you get through the day without calling 911?

Perhaps you talked to someone who made you smile, or read something that made you think. Maybe you coaxed a smile from somebody else.

Did you call a friend, neighbor, or relative for help and they came?
Or did someone else cook a meal, or call to check on you?

You choose the good things you will remember about today. List them all!
Savor for 5 minutes, then hug yourself.

Good job!

We’d like to thank Jeanie Peck for these snippets of wisdom. She provides mental health therapy for parents involved with the Up to 3 Early Intervention Program.

Do you ever feel like this? Anger is an honest emotion. What counts is how you deal with it.

Embrace your anger.

Do not ignore it.
It is an honest emotion.
What counts is how you respond.
Use your anger to confront and work through problems.
Pay attention to when you become angry.

There are consequences to your anger if you react in anger, so stop, think and act.

Get a red notebook and write down your MAD/ANGRY feelings. When you’re done writing, take that page, rip it up, throw it in the wastebasket, and tell the anger good-bye.

We’d like to thank Jeanie Peck for these snippets of wisdom. She provides mental health therapy for parents involved with the Up to 3 Early Intervention Program.

Our next CPD Legacy Story is by Gordon Richins, Consumer Liaison for the CPD.  As Consumer Liaison, Gordon does a wonderful job strengthening the relationships between persons with disabilities and the organizations that serve them, and the projects and personnel at the CPD.

By Gordon Richins

I have worked the past 13 years as the Consumer Liaison for the CPD.  It wasn’t my career plan of choice, but as things have turned out, it has worked pretty well for me.   I’m still a farmer at heart!

Twenty-three years ago I was an arrogant, red-necked, Republican, self-employed dairy farmer in Fairview, Idaho.  In August of 1987 that all changed in the blink of an eye when I was hit in the back of the neck with a bale of hay that fell off of a hay stack.  I was instantly paralyzed from the neck down from a broken neck. After many months of rehabilitation, I was able to sit in a wheelchair and gain some form of independence.  After being told I would probably only have seven years to live based on the results from past research, I realized that those seven years were going to be very difficult. I had returned home without much of a realistic outlook on how life would be with a significant disability.  In short, I went into a deep depression.

The Social Security Administration sent a vocational rehabilitation counselor out to the farm to meet with me, and this began my process of rehabilitation and earning a college degree. This gave me something meaningful to do every day and gave me some self-worth back that I felt I had lost.  All through college I never really thought I would ever get a job with my disability, but, oh,  how wrong I was.

After graduating from USU in 1994 with a BS degree in Agricultural Business I worked for 2 years as an AmeriCorps volunteer at OPTIONS for Independence, the Independent Living Center in Logan. This opportunity gave me an introduction to the disability community and the world of advocacy and how advocacy enhances the quality of life of individuals with disabilities and their families.  After two years of experience, I then applied for the Consumer Liaison position at the CPD that was advertised in the Herald Journal. I was very fortunate to be hired and entered an environment I really enjoy and I have been here ever since. I now feel useful, productive and have a totally new outlook on life.  The opportunities I have been given allow me to be a part of enhancing the quality of life for myself and other individuals with disabilities.

The CPD is a friendly, positive place to work.  It has helped me to replace my roller coaster ride of depression with productivity and hope. In my position here at the Center, I have learned how to become a strong advocate for myself and for others with disabilities.  I have had opportunities to travel to conferences and meetings in some great places and to meet amazing people. I have changed as an individual thanks to these opportunities here at the Center. I am able to better communicate with individuals with and without disabilities and I feel that my demeanor and personality have greatly improved over the last several years.  This has allowed me to represent the Center in everything I do and communicate with the many different types of organizations I am working with or have worked with locally, statewide and nationally. I am presently serving on the AUCD board of directors on a national level which has allowed me to connect with colleagues across the nation from multiple segments of the disability community.

Today I am not so arrogant, have given up most of my red-neck characteristics and I am still a Republican, but I will vote for the individual that I support regardless of party.  But now I am also happy and fulfilled.  Life has been grand over the past 13 years.