I advocate, first of all, for myself. Second of all, to better my community and the world. There's many examples I can think of, but one specific example of when a bathroom door wasn't accessible and I advocated for an automated door for a building that I frequently used prior to the pandemic.

One of my favorite things about advocating is not only putting- not only for Central- not only do I want to put myself out there, I want people to learn from my perspective of what self-advocacy is, what self-advocacy is about, what they can learn from self-advocacy, so that more individuals can learn- more individuals can join our Central group.

Hi my name is Faye Alexandra Jones and the reason why I became a self-advocate is because I feel that people with special needs need a voice. Also, someone to be a role model to younger kids who have special needs or not…

My name is Donna Jay.

I live in Salem Ma. There are many advocacy areas that are important to me. I advocate to make sure everyone knows they have a voice and knows how to use it.

I enjoy playing video games, watching TV shows, anime and movies, hanging out a few of my friends. I am currently working full time at the Chipotle in Medford, Massachusetts.

Al Milne is from the Southeast Region. He lives independently in North Easton, MA. Al was inspired by Gail to join the board. Al has been with MASS Advocates for over four years.

God is at work in my life in many ways. God is there in the rough times, like recently when my brother had a stroke. Your hugs helped me feel God's presence of healing.

In August I had a yearly mammogram. Two weeks later they told me they had to redo it. The Doctor came out and told me he needed to do a biopsy.

My name is Crystal Guyette. I'm 27 years old and have lived in Leominster for 6 years. For the past 10 years I've been going to and from foster homes. This is why I am an overcomer.

Christina is a new MASS Board member in the Northeast Region. Below is the impressive speech she gave at the MASS conference, when running for the board opening:

"Good Morning.

This is a story about my life before I knew about advocacy. It's a story about how advocacy changed my life and how I'm able to advocate for me. Since I started I'm a much better person because of the support I have with Bridgewell and advocacy.

My name is Sandra Jones and I was born in Boston. My parents were young teenagers and when they learned I had a lot of medical issues, they felt it was better to let someone else raise me. So I don't have any memory or connection to my birth parents.

Hi, my name is Richard Berman. I live in Newton on my own, and I am very active in my community. I am supported by Best Buddies and volunteer for them through fundraising events like our Team Believe.

My name is Patty Quatieri, and I am a woman who has the developmental disability, cerebral palsy. I would like talk about public transportation. Every morning I take 2 buses and 1 train to work.