Lucy Schmitz: People with Disabilities and Self-Advocacy

Lucy Schmitz will speak about the differences between historically typical forms of activism for the rights of people with disabilities and self-advocacy, give a brief history of the emergence of self-advocacy during the 1960’s and ‘70s, and talk about its place in the world of disability-rights advocacy. Additionally, because her work focuses on empowering people with disabilities to advocate for themselves both politically and in their daily lives, Lucy will speak about the impact of learning self-advocacy skills on marginalized communities — this is what makes her most excited about her job. Lucy Schmitz grew up in Maplewood, and was formerly the Youth Representative for the National Ethical Service. She graduated in May from the Dual BA program between Columbia University and Sciences Po (France’s leading university in the social sciences), earning two BA’s, one from each school. At Sciences Po, she studied history and political science and at Columbia she studied Political Science and Human Rights. Now, Lucy is one of two self-advocacy specialists for Adapt Community Network (formerly United Cerebral Palsy), where she teaches self-advocacy skills to adults with developmental disabilities.