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Youth As Self Advocates (YASA)

The roads are clean, the skies are clear, and the snow is melting. But we don't need warmer weather to organize youth to support youth. 

Youth As Self Advocates (YASA) is an independent and diverse national advisory board run by a panel of young people with disabilities. YASA has people from all different walks of life, and its goal is to support youth and young adults with disabilities or health care needs. The good news is that they are recruiting!

Here are a few parts of their webpage worth mentioning:

Our mission is to educate society about issues concerning us.

We are leaders in our communities and we help spread helpful, positive information among our peers to increase knowledge around various issues concerning us. We also help health care professionals, policymakers, and other adults in our communities understand what it is like to live our lives. We share our personal stories to help improve services and support for ourselves and other youth.

We embrace the slogan, “nothing about us without us”, a centuries-old saying that states no policy should be created without the full and direct participation of those it affects.

We share our voices at national, state, and local events and participate on numerous committees and boards in our hometowns.

YASA is accepting applications for volunteers and new members till the end of this week. Click here to learn more: https://familyvoices.org/join-yasa/. 

*Please talk to your parents or guardians first if you are younger than 18 years old. 

What's your opinion of YASA? Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comment section below. Comment your thoughts this week about the post, or just to say Hello! If you have any youth, ages 13-26, then join us Wednesday at 3:00 - 3:30 PM for our youth chats. Link below. Have a great day!

Resources:

  1. The SPAN Youth Chat: the-span-youth-chat

  2. Youth As Self Advocates (YASA) web page: https://familyvoices.org/yasa/

  3. Youth-Focused Videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGXju3IK5UOWXGDV1Fzfrc2DJuDDqOKTu

  4. Subscribe to SPAN's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SPANAdvocacy

  5. Link to SPAN's website: https://spanadvocacy.org/

  6. Link to SPAN’s Youth In the Know Resource Page: Youth in the Know

  7. We’re here for you!  Call SPAN if you need assistance: 1-800-654-7726

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