“We Are People Who Know People” – Learning from Micah and Making Connections Within the Disability Community

Written By May Tulin

I arrived late to American Sign Language class last night and fumblingly signed, “Work was great today.” Work was great because I got to talk with activist Micah Fialka-Feldman. Since elementary school, Micah has fought against segregated education and limited social opportunities for people with disabilities like himself. He is best known for successfully filing suit for discrimination against Oakland University when enrolled as a student in the University’s OPTIONS program. Micah offers workshops across the country on self-advocacy.

Last night, two of our summer interns, Kelsey McFarland, Christina Vanciu, and I clustered around the computer to Skype with Micah. He appeared on the computer screen with a thick brown beard and an affable, awkward laugh. “So how’d you find your internships?” he asked. Micah was just returning  from his own internship at the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. There, he runs workshops about ableism, sexism, and homophobia.

From our conversation, it was easy to understand his successful self-advocacy: he is at once disarmingly friendly and sharp. He follows one easy question, “So how’d you find your internships?” with a charming chuckle. He follows that with a more pointed question about one of our partnering agencies, “Is it segregated?”

Organizations like our own can learn a great deal from self-advocates like Micah. Last night, we hoped to learn from Micah about his speech-writing and delivery techniques. Micah told us that because he doesn’t read, he uses Powerpoints with images as prompts for delivering his speeches. Kelsey responded, “Making Powerpoints with our Buddy Ambassadors shouldn’t be hard.”

I heard in Kelsey’s statement a million connections. She echoed what activists have to say about curb-cuts or inclusive classrooms. Inclusivity and accessibility aren’t that hard – it’s just that non-disabled people aren’t used to hearing the voices of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

To hear Kelsey say this made me think about the impact of spreading Micah’s word. The network that we have with Best Buddies California is huge. We have the potential to connect hundreds of families from our school-based programming to the vibrant disability community of the Bay Area. For example, Micah’s family introduced me to the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center and to the local Berkeley blogger Stacey Milbern. These are connections to a world of possibilities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, connections that I want to share.

What makes Best Buddies unique from other disability-related non-profits is that we are experts at making connections. We can connect students with and without disabilities, special education teachers who wish to collaborate, celebrities and Buddies in our famous Bike Ride, and Micah with an intern. Simply put, we are people who know people. We have so much potential to keep making these connections - this is why I go to work in the morning.