Guest Post

The Minnesota Council on Disability continues to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Poppy Sundquist, an advocate from Saint Paul, shares a perspective on disability and employment. Poppy writes about finding on-the-job adaptations that work, dealing with transportation challenges, and being your own advocate.

Jules Edwards, co-founder of the Minnesota Autistic Alliance, writes about how stories of autism are often portrayed as either being full of hardship or used for inspiration and are frequently told from someone else’s perspective. Jules explains that being Autistic is not all sunshine and rainbows, nor is it doom and gloom. It can, in fact, be joyful.

The Minnesota Council on Disability supports maintaining the work of the subminimum wage taskforce. The Arc Minnesota’s CEO, Andrea Zuber, has written a great post to ensure there is no confusion about what the task force does and why it is important for Minnesota!

Erica Barnes, administrator for the Chloe Barnes Advisory Council on Rare Diseases, writes about Rare Disease Day. Erica shares her personal story, the barriers people face in the rare disease community, the importance of equity, and more!

MCD is pleased to invite Jillian Nelson as our World Autism Awareness Day guest contributor. Jillian is a Queer autistic advocate from Saint Paul. She is the Community Resource and Policy Advocate for the Autism Society of MN and a member of the Governors Council on Developmental Disabilities, the State Rehabilitation Council, and Co-Chair of the Anti- Discrimination and Intersectionality committee for the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. Jillian is determined to change the narrative about what autistic people are capable of and what life with autism is like.

Autism Awareness Month Guest Blog by Noah McCourt: If we’re going to have “Autism Awareness Month” than let’s do it right and actually take the time to be more than “aware” about autism and celebrate the value that neurodiversity adds to the human experience in ideology, in perspective, in relationships and in our communities.