Make An Impact During Giving Tuesday Making Choices, For a Life in the Community Jake Martine will tell you his ultimate goal in life is to live and dream big. And to Jake, that means having fun in life, having a job, a home of his own, getting married and having a family, growing big…
Using Their Voices
The St. Louis Self-Advocates, the Arcs newest advocacy group, kicked off their summer programming in a big way. Hosting”St. Louis Self-Advocates Present: An Evening with Rep. TracyMcCreery”, the grouptook full advantage of the timepolicymakersspend working intheir home districts. Theyoung self-advocatesinvited local legislatorsto meet virtually for aquestion-and-answersessionto ensure their voices were heardon various issues. Advocating and…
Leading the Way
When you first meetMichkealand Samantha, it is clear that they are leaders. These two young adults are friendly, open, and excited to meet new people perfect traits to help lead a group to empower others and connect people. The St. Louis Self-Advocates is a new group founded through the Arc this past year. Their mission:…
I Vote Because
This October the St. Louis Arc is joining other organizations in sharing the importance of voting in the November mid-term elections. Organizations around the nation are asking people to complete the statement I vote because. Ann Mangelsdorf, assistant director of Family Support and Advocacy shares its fun and inspiring to see what motivates people to…
Supported Decision Making
How did you make decisions in the last month? Did you get advice about a medical procedure, google information about car repairs, or talk to your best friend about a relationship issue? We all get support for decision-making. Why cant the same be true for a person with a disability? An Alternative to Guardianship Arc…
St. Louis Arc – What’s in a Name?
It started with a small seed in the 1950s: an idea that all children had the right to an education, medical care and places to play, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Back in 1950, there werent many choices if you had a child with an intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD). Services and supports were…
20 Years of Neighborhood Experiences
Neighborhood Experiences is a unique program which engages participants, ages 13-20, in volunteer and work experiences to achieve personal and career goals.
Advocacy Isn’t Just for Professionals
What is Everyday Advocacy? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines advocacy as to support or argue for or plead in favor of. Being able to advocate for a cause or for oneself is important if we want or need to get the responses we desire. Many people think of advocacy as only legislative advocacy, but it is so…
Spread the Word
On March 1, 2017 the nation observed Spread the Word to End the Word, a day dedicated for society to stop and think about the use of the R-word. At the St. Louis Arc, the Social Justice Committee honored the day by asking the question Which words would you like people to use to describe…
What Does it Mean to Live “Independently”?
How I Felt Before My Autism Diagnosis Recently we came across an article by Thomas Hassell, a contributor to The Mighty, titled How I Felt Before My Autism Diagnosis. Thomas shared how he is different now, verses when he was younger. That got us thinking about Arc participants who are transitioning to living independently, many…