PRIDES Learning Series Session 10:

Advocacy in Action: Empowering LGBTQ+ People with Disabilities   

Nicole Adler will address building communities of support for LGBTQ people with down syndrome and other disabilities.  LGBTQ people with disabilities is a segment of the population that needs more awareness and support at all levels – from our local communities and on state, national and global scales.  She aims to amplify the authenticity and voices of LGBTQ people with disabilities and empower them to get involved in advocacy, be brave, share their story and to become the best version of themselves.

Nicole Adler is a speaker, human rights advocate, and host. She is a two-time governor-appointed council member of the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities and made history as the first Grand Marshal for SF Pride with Down syndrome.

PRIDES Learning Series Session 9:

Leadership: Leading Without Conforming

The Neurodiversity Community faces huge challenges in employment and community engagement. Historically we have focused on ground floor engagement, as our community grows we recognize opportunities for leadership. However leadership models and values are often in conflict with neurodiversity authenticity. To gain equitable inclusion we need to have neurodiverse leadership! Join Jillian Nelson to learn about how we can reframe leadership theories and lean into neurodiversity as a valuable tool for leadership rather than an impairment.

Jillian Nelson is a Queer autistic adult from Saint Paul, MN and is the full time Policy Director for the Autism Society of MN (AuSM). Jillian is passionate about disability justice and teaching others to advocate for themselves, as well as reforming existing systems through legislation and advocacy to create a more equitable and accessible society for people with all types of disabilities. She is passionate about diversity and intersectionality and how that unfolds in the mosaic experience of people with disabilities. She also enjoys exploring new places, theater, and the Minnesota Lynx, as well as spending time with her partners.

PRIDES Learning Series Session 8:

Championing Change: Building Inclusive Policies and Cultures for LGBTQ Voices in IDD Services

This training helps you learn practical ways to make your organization more inclusive and welcoming for everyone. You’ll explore real examples and personal stories about creating a sense of belonging, building fair policies, and providing better services for LGBTQ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

We’ll share simple steps to set up diversity committees, engage in inclusive community activities, create fair hiring practices, and write policies that reflect and respect all identities. You’ll also gain tools and ideas to make positive changes in your organization and in larger systems.

By the end of this training, you’ll feel ready to take action and make sure LGBTQ people with IDD are heard, supported, and treated fairly. Join us to help create a world where everyone feels they belong!

My name is Nick Burton, I am the CEO at N. Burton Consulting LLC. I have over 25 years working in the field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) focusing on programmatic design, implementation, and evaluation. I believe in the value of person-centered planning to ensure all people with disabilities can build a life that is important to them. I am committed to equity, equality, social justice, and ensuring that people have what they need to be their most successful.

 I have graciously been welcomed into the disability community first by family and then as a career path. I started my journey as a direct support professional working with adults and children in the community. I have been a case manager, agency leader, and most recently a senior executive in Maryland state government overseeing the programmatic support and services to people with developmental disabilities. 

My life has been focused on ensuring underrepresented communities have a seat at the table and voice in the fight. I grew up in Montana and have had the opportunity to live in other states such as Illinois, Oregon, and Maryland which has given me a unique perspective on Long Term Supports and Services (LTSS) across the county and how states implement Home and Community Based Supports (HCBS).

 My educational background is a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in public administration from Portland State University. I live in the great city of Baltimore, Maryland with my husband Thomas and our two cats Gary and Lois.

PRIDES Learning Series Session 6

Advocacy, Acceptance and Pride: Feeling Pride in All of Your Identities

This powerful session will offer a first-person perspective from a strong advocate, Thomas Mangrum, Jr., who is a leader of DC’s self-advocacy coalition, is active in DC’s Gay community, and participates in Pride, Black Pride and Disability Pride events. He will discuss the importance of both advocacy and acceptance. Phyllis Holton, long-time advisor to Project ACTION!, will highlight the importance of allies who stand with and support people with disabilities and other intersecting identities.

Phyllis A. Holton

Phyllis Holton has over 30 years’ experience working and advocating with and on behalf of people with developmental disabilities. Phyllis is the Deputy Director of Outreach and Development at Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, an advocacy organization supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families.  She coordinates several projects that support best-practice outcomes for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Phyllis is a long time co-advisor and volunteer with Project ACTION!, a self-advocacy coalition.  She supports members to coordinate conferences, solicit funds and manage grant funds, and increase their presence as self-advocacy leaders and change agents.  A communications expert, she amplifies the lives and impact of people with disabilities through the stories she writes.

PRIDES Learning Series: Session 4

Trauma-Informed Care in the Workplace

Presenter: Arc Telos Saint Amour

Employment opportunities have always been limited for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, opportunities for safe and affirming workplaces for disabled 2SLGBTQIA+ folks are even lower to almost nonexistent.

This presentation will explore simple, actionable tips and tricks to be more affirming to the disabled queer and trans people in your workplace, and in your life in general, centering around concepts such as intersectionality, lived and living experience, trauma informed care, and more.

Arc Telos Saint Amour (they/them) is a neurodivergent, autistic, disabled, queer and trans, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming person of Mexican Indigenous descent (Coahuiltecan), and a victim/survivor of childhood trauma who deeply believes self-agency and bodily autonomy. They are formerly gang-involved, justice system impacted, and consider themselves to be a harm reductionist and a person who uses drugs as part of their substance use recovery journey. This lived and living experience has led them to a deep belief in Native Indigenous animism, radical empathy, and the power of holistic affirmation. Professionally, Arc Telos spent over ten years as a national executive business developer, opening new businesses all over the US. Following this, Arc Telos spent another ten years as an executive leader in the non-profit field, leading organizations through-out the nation centering Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) practices and using trauma-informed and intersectionality-based frameworks. Currently they are the Executive Director of Youth MOVE National and the CEO of Arc Telos Consulting. Telos is of course more than just their career and identities. They are deeply passionate about all genres of music, documentaries, hiking and other outdoor adventures (in which they are infamous for achieving minor injuries and the loss of shoes), absolutely refusing to be anyone other than Princess Peach in Mario Kart or Mario Party, and consider themselves to be within the top 100 of all time high context ramblers that has an opinion on just about anything and everything.