3 Islands Host First-ever Self-Advocacy Summer Camps (NMC UCEDD)
September 9, 2013
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The Self-Advocacy Summer Camp was first brought up by Frank Cabrera of the Autism Society of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands as part of an AIDD call to establish a self-advocacy group in the CNMI during the 2012 Self-Advocacy Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii. On July 22, 2013, the nearly two-year-long effort culimated in all three islands having had their own Self-Advocacy Summer Camp -- and they all have been a success!
The CNMI tri-agencies (the Council on Developmental Disabilities under the Office of the Governor, the UCEDD out of the Northern Marianas College, and the P&A administered by the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems Inc.) along with the Autism Society of the CNMI and the Coalition on Anti-Stigma of Mental Illness, are proud of their collaborative drive to not only help establish the first CNMI Self-Advocacy Group called VOICES (Very Outspoken Individuals Can Each Succeed) but to also begin the annual event of the Self-Advocacy Summer Camp for all three islands run by each island's VOICES Chapter.
