CLD Spotlight: Kylie Moore, GaLEND's First Self-Advocate

Kylie Moore was a self-advocate of the first Georgia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (GaLEND) cohort from 2011-2012. GaLEND is a one-year interdisciplinary training experience that prepares tomorrow's leaders to provide coordinated, culturally competent and family-centered care to children and their families.

Kylie has cerebral palsy and lives with her family in Roswell, Georgia. She graduated from Reinhardt University in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Kylie was always interested in helping people with disabilities, so becoming a disability advocate was a promising career fit. During her junior year of college, she completed an internship at a non-profit organization that serves individuals with developmental disabilities called EnAble of Georgia. There, she was asked to teach advocacy and human rights classes to seven adults in their program. Self-advocacy is one of the most critical ways that persons with disabilities can fully integrate into community living. Self-advocacy is speaking up for oneself and one's interests, needs, and rights.

After graduation, Kylie enrolled in Partners in Policymaking for more training in public policy and disability advocacy. One of Kylie's classmates offered her a job at her organization, Great Prospects Inc. At Great Prospects, she taught self-advocacy, job, and life skills classes to young adults with developmental disabilities transitioning out of high school while completing her GaLEND fellowship.

Kylie currently works with the Bobby Dodd Institute, an organization that assists people with disabilities in securing benefits to job placement services and creating job opportunities for people of all abilities.

Continue reading for a Q&A with Kylie Moore, GaLEND’s First Self-Advocate.

How did you learn about the GaLEND program?

When I graduated college, I was still determining what career path to take. I knew I was interested in helping people with disabilities, but I was uncertain if I could find a career in that field. A friend recommended that I enroll in Partners in Policymaking, a training program for self-advocates and family members of people with disabilities. It was a great experience. One of the speakers at the training was Stacey Ramirez, who worked at the Center for Leadership in Disability. After the training, we stayed in touch and a couple of months later, she told me about a new advocacy fellowship called the Georgia LEND program. I read the program's criteria, and it sounded like a fantastic opportunity that would help me grow as a professional. I applied and became the self-advocate for the first Georgia LEND cohort from 2011-2012.

As a member of the first GaLEND cohort, what was your expectation from the program? What did you accomplish from the program?

When I first heard about GaLEND, I thought it would be a great way to gain more self-advocacy skills and learn what disability advocacy organizations do in Georgia. I also looked forward to being part of an interdisciplinary training team and learning from the other professionals in my cohort. As a 23-year-old college graduate, I was honored to be in a room with doctors, lawyers, psychologists, PT, OT, speech therapists and parents of people with disabilities. I knew I had a lot to learn from them. I did not realize how much I had to offer the cohort.

About three weeks into the program, Mark Crenshaw, the Director of GaLEND, asked me why I was so quiet during group discussions. I said that I was taking all the information in and wanted to hear what the experts in the cohort had to say on different topics. He told me that I was missing the entire point of LEND. Mark said, "You are the person living with a disability, meaning you are the expert in the room. If the other cohort members don't hear from you and learn from your experiences, then the GaLEND process will not work." This conversation has had a profound impact on my life and career. I knew that people with disabilities must become experts in their lives and should always have a seat at the table when important decisions are being made. To this day, when I am teaching other self-advocates, I am reminded of the life-changing conversation I had with Mark, and I tell my students how valuable their voices are and that no one will understand their lives better than they do. Throughout my time at LEND, I became more confident as a self-advocate, learned more about public policy and systems of care, and made some great connections in the disability community. I will always be grateful to be the first Self-Advocate in the GaLEND program.

Tell us about your experience teaching 100 people with disabilities to become advocates. How did you come across this training and advocacy opportunity with SourceAmerica? 

I first became involved with SourceAmerica when I attended their annual Grassroots advocacy conference in 2019. The Bobby Dodd Institute selected me as their Self-Advocate to represent them at the conference in Washington, D.C. It was a fantastic experience. All the self-advocates took a training class during the conference to prepare us to meet with our legislators on Capitol Hill. I made a strong connection with the facilitator of the training, Rick Sebastian.

Rick and I have stayed in touch over the years, and last February, he asked me to co-teach the self-advocacy training with him at this year's conference. In the four months leading up to the conference, Rick and I taught seven online training classes to over one hundred self-advocates nationwide. At first, figuring out how to teach and connect with over one hundred people online was a little overwhelming. I had never taught a self-advocacy class with that many people before, but everything changed once I learned about the fantastic and powerful self-advocates.

Throughout these seven classes, I was impressed by how much each self-advocate shared insightful information about their jobs and lives with us. Rick and I taught self-advocates one final class at the Washington D.C. conference a few weeks ago. I am so glad I met all the self-advocates in person and helped them prepare for their congressional meetings on Capitol Hill. It was indeed an incredible experience.

A year after attending the first grassroots conference, the Bobby Dodd Institute nominated me for the SourceAmerica Tom Miller Advocacy Award. The Tom Miller Award recognizes an employee with a disability who has demonstrated outstanding achievement and a remarkable passion for self-advocacy. I was honored to be the recipient of this award in 2020. It was a significant accomplishment in my career.

Do you have additional projects you are working on that you would like to share with us? 

I will launch my blog with the Bobby Dodd Institute in a few weeks. In my blog, I will discuss several topics affecting the disability community. I am very excited to share my thoughts and experiences with others. I also want to teach more self-advocacy classes with the Bobby Dodd Institute and SourceAmerica.

Do you have additional thoughts on employment for people with disabilities and being an advocate in the employment space?

I believe all capable individuals with disabilities should try to get a job or volunteer in some capacity. As people become adults, what they do for work becomes part of their identities and how others see them.

When people with disabilities have a job or a place to volunteer, it gives them a sense of purpose and meaning. As an advocate, I will continue to work hard to ensure that people with disabilities have meaningful employment opportunities. I will continue to utilize my relationships with legislators in Washington, D.C., to educate them on employment issues facing the disability community.