What motivates you to self-advocacy? For me to begin with, it is meeting my basic needs–health, employment, transportation, housing, and relationships. Then I want to include fraternal love, solidarity, and a sense of justice. Perhaps it is just my imagination, but I believe I can touch other people and make a difference in their lives by word, deed, and example. Fraternal love and solidarity are beautiful things, uniting diverse and unique individuals together for a common cause. This country requires unity now more than ever. I don’t know how we lost it, but we desperately require it back. We weren’t meant to be divided. I have a great desire to empower all people, and especially those with developmental disabilities, to live to their full potential in communities of their choice.