"When I talk to people they see someone who has physical disabilities being independent and an effective advocate for himself and others."

Advocacy is something I have been passionate about since high school. Today my advocacy work involves speaking to professional associations, parent groups and mentoring individual AAC users.

In June of 2019, I was invited by the International Communication Project to be one of their speakers at a side bar event at the United Nations during the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Advocacy for others is something I have always taken seriously. When I was in high school I organized three fund raisers, one for the orphans of the Rwandan genocide and two for the refugees from Darfur. Through my advocacy I met Paul Rusesabagina, the hero in the movie Hotel Rwanda.

Doing fundraising carried over after high school when I started working for the Afya Foundation and the Jewish Distribution Committee (JDC). We were helping people in developing countries who were in need of medical supplies.

Then in 2019, Self-Advocacy Association of New York State (SANYS,) invited me to make a presentation to students at Columbia University. I enjoyed doing this and look forward to other opportunities where I can educate and inform about self-advocacy for people with disabilities.