Monthly Archives: January 2017

If you are reading this, it’s probably safe to assume that Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) services have impacted your life in a positive way.  If so, your advocacy in support of these services is needed now more than ever! The 2017 Oregon legislative session starts this week, and it’s more important than ever for YOU to take action in support of the programs and services that impact your life. Our legislators want to hear from you and benefit from your experience, so write an email, make a phone call, or give testimony at a legislative hearing! As you may have heard in the news, Oregon has a $1.8 billion dollar budget shortfall that may result in further cuts to already underfunded EI/ECSE programs which have been unable to provide the levels of service that children and families need. The Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means [...]

Oregon AEI was privileged to ask Senator Sara Gelser to share her thoughts about ways parents can get involved in advocating at the state level on issues that are important to them.  How did you get involved in advocating on behalf of people with disabilities? The day before my 21st birthday, I gave birth to my oldest child who was born with physical and developmental disabilities. Through the first years of his life, it became clear to me how much economic, educational, and health care privilege impacted his ability to make progress and exceed expectations. It seemed like such a profound injustice to me that a child could be limited in meeting their potential through lack of access to services, education, or health care. That’s why I got involved with advocacy for children with disabilities. Around the time my son was born (1994), Fairview was also in the news as [...]