Arlais_Fale

Hi hi! First time poster on AMA. (Am I doing this right?)

I am so grateful for your time and attention today. I have a question about advocacy, one that leaves me awake at night.

Is it even appropriate for me to advocate for people with intellectual disabilities, as a non-disabled person?

To give a little background, I am not a person with intellectual or physical disabilities but I am an art educator for people with disabilities and my older sister is neurodiverse and I facilitate much of her needs, which is why I often talk about abelism and openly advocate for disability justice.

However, and there are times when I’ve been told to “stay in my lane” when talking about disability, because I don’t have any lived experiences as a person with disabilities. I understand my privilege and the unequal power dynamic between people without disabilities and with disabilities… but I truly feel like I’ve been impacted by “disability” through the way our society marginalizes and segregates people with disabilities.

I'd love to hear your perspectives. And thank you!

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. And I'm going to reflect on this for days.

Ps. You're doing such a good job!

My second question has to do with American Politics. Can you tell us a little about where your mind is at regarding this upcoming presidential election? And what are the things you're concerned about? And what are the questions we should be asking of our local and national politicians?