My name is _______ and I live in __________. I am a person with a disability/a family member with a disability. My name is Sarah Jones and I live in Vidalia, GA. I am a person with a disability. Explain why you are speaking to them. I am here today to speak with you about House Bill ____ which deals with _______. I want you to know that I support/do not support this bill. I am here to speak with you about HB 831, which would create an Employment First Council here in Georgia. I want you to know that I support this bill. Share your thoughts on the bill. This bill is important to me because ___________. This bill is important to me because it is the first step in moving Georgia towards an Employment First state. For those of you that don’t know, Employment First is the idea that employment in an integrated setting and earning a competitive wage should be the first and preferred option for people with disabilities receiving publicly funded services, like the Medicaid waiver I rely on. Address any misconceptions you know of. This is a great way to address the opposing side’s argument. Some people say that Employment First will force people to work or that it will force people to leave their day programs. This is not true. Employment First simply means that employment should be the first option explored. This would help me/my family by _____ OR This bill would hurt me/my family by _______. Be sure to make it personal. We need this because too often people with disabilities such as myself are told we cannot work. This happened to me when I decided I wanted to go to work after high school. I wanted to earn real money working in the community but people kept pushing me away from the path to employment. I had to work hard to get the supports I needed to find and keep a job in the community. As of this year, I will have worked at my local diner for 6 years. Employment First simply means that when people like me are exploring how they wish to spend their days, they will first be encouraged to look at competitive integrated employment. Wrap everything up. I hope you will keep me, and the many other Georgians with disabilities in mind when you vote on this bill. Thank them.
My name is _______ and I live in __________. I am a person with a disability/a family member with a disability. My name is Sarah Jones and I live in Vidalia, GA. I am a person with a disability. Explain why you are speaking to them. I am here today to speak with you about House Bill ____ which deals with _______. I want you to know that I support/do not support this bill. I am here to speak with you about HB 831, which would create an Employment First Council here in Georgia. I want you to know that I support this bill. Share your thoughts on the bill. This bill is important to me because ___________. This bill is important to me because it is the first step in moving Georgia towards an Employment First state. For those of you that don’t know, Employment First is the idea that employment in an integrated setting and earning a competitive wage should be the first and preferred option for people with disabilities receiving publicly funded services, like the Medicaid waiver I rely on. Address any misconceptions you know of. This is a great way to address the opposing side’s argument. Some people say that Employment First will force people to work or that it will force people to leave their day programs. This is not true. Employment First simply means that employment should be the first option explored. This would help me/my family by _____ OR This bill would hurt me/my family by _______. Be sure to make it personal. We need this because too often people with disabilities such as myself are told we cannot work. This happened to me when I decided I wanted to go to work after high school. I wanted to earn real money working in the community but people kept pushing me away from the path to employment. I had to work hard to get the supports I needed to find and keep a job in the community. As of this year, I will have worked at my local diner for 6 years. Employment First simply means that when people like me are exploring how they wish to spend their days, they will first be encouraged to look at competitive integrated employment. Wrap everything up. I hope you will keep me, and the many other Georgians with disabilities in mind when you vote on this bill. Thank them.