Joe Meadours on next Generation of Leaders

Well, I would like to see self advocates given more opportunities, for self-advocates to have a voice at the table. I mean, and more, you got myself, you got other leaders across the country. But I am worried about the self advocates that are sitting at home doing nothing. We don't take the time to help them to become leaders of tomorrow. And sometimes it is their choice to stay at home, but again we don't help them produce a product. A lot of times we depend on the people who have been around for a while and that is fine, but again if we don’t come with new leaders or young leaders we are going to be facing a lot of problems. I don't want to see that happen. So, one of my personal goals is to help the youth movement, somehow. We can’t let it die right now. We’ve got to. If we don’t, we will be facing problems that we faced 10-15 years ago –from day programs to sheltered places to group homes and possibly open up state institutions again and nursing homes. And we don't want that. We have worked too hard to get where we are at today, and if we don't help the youth population or the generation after me, we'll be facing problems. I think we need new leaders in the movement, new ideas. Help the new population that's coming up –people who are just getting into the movement, help them to become leaders of tomorrow. So when I am old and gray, they are there behind me. I hope to be doing this my whole life, but help us to understand what they want and listen to what they have to say. It's going to be their movement soon. I mean you got people slowly but surely straying away from the self-advocacy movement and doing other things. So you have to help the new leaders that are coming up. Train them or find out what they need and find out what they want to work on, because I think it's going to be their project soon, in the next five to ten years. I think they want to take different challenges and take that risk. We took that risk too, and we had the support and everything. But they will take the risk because we learn from our past, what we did, and they will take that risk, too. They probably will be more successful because they will learn from our mistakes –what you should or shouldn’t do. So, I think they will be more successful at it, whatever they take on, because they will learn from us, from the struggles and the challenges that we went through every day. I am hoping people ask my advice –maybe to be on an advisory board. Bring on the old timers somehow –five, or six or ten of us who has been around almost since day one of the self-advocacy movement. Use us as an advisory board. Just call and say, “Hey, let’s have a cup of coffee. Let’s talking about this.” So, almost like being a mentor or peer to peer. Today’s leaders are leading the pack as we are educating tomorrow’s leaders to go on to lead on.