“What’s the Word?” is an opportunity to hear directly from self-advocates about what’s important to them. This month’s article features Erin Miller an advocate from the Milwaukee area. 

You can read a small part of the article below. Click the button below to read the whole thing! 

“As a student, whenever other kids called me ugly names (including the R-word) on the playground, it hurt. And during those lonely times I comforted myself by saying: “they’re wrong. I’m smart.” I repeated that to myself, over and over and over again, to tell myself that I’m worth something. That I’m a person. Little knowing that my way of defending my own dignity was sacrificing someone else. So, if I was worth something because I was “smart”, what did that mean about people weren’t “smart”? It would be saying that someone else isn’t human—and isn’t worthy of being treated like a person.”

If you or somebody you know would like to be featured in “What’s the Word?” contact Jeremy at jeremy.gundlach@wisconsin.gov.