How a program at FREE in Oakdale helps people with developmental disabilities advocate for themselves

The 20 students, outfitted in caps and gowns in varying colors, received their certificates and pins during a graduation ceremony Wednesday in Oakdale. Next, they tossed their caps in the air, signifying completion of a course designed to give people with developmental disabilities skills to advocate for themselves and others.

The six-week course, developed by the upstate-based Self-Advocacy Association of New York State, also known as SANYS, was held at offices of the Long Island-based nonprofit Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc., or FREE.

Among the graduates of "SANYS U, the School of Grassroots Advocacy," were four FREE support staff who took the course to bolster their approach to advocacy. They also helped other students with their work on leadership projects — among them a letter-writing campaign on the importance of the federal Medicaid, which, along with the others, was presented during the graduation ceremony, said Jaime Crispin, FREE's director of advocacy and community engagement. 

Logan Morris, a direct support professional at FREE and one of four staffers who took the course, teared up during the ceremony as she talked about the program.

"I get to work with these wonderful people everyday and they have changed my life in many ways," Morris said. "I've never been more fulfilled in my work." 

The idea behind the course, said Marisol Getchius, a SANYS regional organizer for Long Island who attended the ceremony, was to help participants empower themselves.

"They need to know they have the power to make decisions for themselves, whatever that looks like," she told Newsday. 

Michelle Flood, the SANYS Long Island regional coordinator who was also at the graduation, said through the course, students are learning to be their own advocate "on a small level, on an everyday level to things like what you want to wear or what you want to eat, all the way up to being able to find the leader within themselves, so that they can speak up for themselves and others, and speak to the elected officials about the impact on things like Medicaid cuts have on their lives."

That focus underpinned one leadership project in which students read from letters they wrote and planned to send to their state and federal elected leaders in support services they receive, which they fear they may lose with Medicaid cuts.

The $880 billion federal program is paid for predominantly by taxpayers. The Republican-controlled Congress is considering work requirements for Medicaid. Republicans are also looking at paying a reduced, fixed rate to states. 

Graduate Kassandra Valcin, 32, of Commack, was among several who talked about the importance of Medicaid in their lives.

"When I go to program, to my doctors, when I volunteer in my community with my program, I learn a lot of skills," she said. "If my community prevocational program didn't exist anymore, I won't know what to do during the day."

After the ceremony, Valcin said in an interview she had learned a lot from the program about "speaking up for myself and others."

Another graduate, Alexandria Duran, 33, said she lives in a FREE residence in Shirley and works at there as an assistant to an employment specialist staffer. Duran said she does things "like computer work, sending emails, getting stuff ordered for the houses. I do it day to day and it's very fulfilling for me. So it means a lot to me to be able to help" others. 

With AP

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie