Monthly Archives: July 2015

Champions of change: Vermont’s disability rights activists

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Vermont resident Max Barrows was recently at the White House to receive a “Champions for Change” award for his work to “uphold and expand the spirit of the Americans With Disabilities.” Barrows, 29, has autism and works for Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA) as the Outreach Director. GMSA is a statewide self-advocacy organization in Vermont that is run and operated by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. GMSA has more than 600 members involved in 21 local self-advocacy groups. We talk with Barrows and two other GMSA members with developmental disabilities about their work, challenges and hopes.

Max Barrows, Outreach Director, Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA). Barrows, a person with autism, received a Champions of Change award from the White House.

Nicole LeBlanc Advocacy Director, Green Mountain Self-Advocates. LeBlanc, a person with autism, completed a 10-week internship at the Washington Center in Washington, D.C., and earned a certificate of professional studies from the University of Vermont.

Stirling Peebles, Advocacy Educator, Green Mountain Self-Advocates. Peebles, a person with Down syndrome, has produced videos about the life histories of several leaders of the self-advocacy movement in Vermont. She has attended the “Think College” program at UVM and done internships at WCAX-Channel 3 News and ORCA Media.

The changing face of cancer care in Vermont, 7-22-15

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Cancer is the leading cause of death in Vermont. Each year, 3,600 Vermonters are diagnosed with cancer, and more than 38,000 Vermonters are living with a current or previous diagnosis of cancer. We talk with advocates, patients and physicians about the changing face of cancer care in Vermont:

David Cranmer, coordinator, Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer (VTAAC), and a cancer survivor

Dr. Jim Wallace, medical director of radiation oncology, UVM Medical Center

Theresa Lever, Patient Navigator for the cancer program at University of Vermont Health Network, Central Vermont Medical Center

Beth Rusnock, president, National Life Group Foundation, sponsor of the Do Good Festival, which raises money for cancer support and treatment

Amy, patient at Central Vermont Medical Center who, along with her husband, was recently diagnosed with cancer

Made In Vermont: The Marriage Equality Revolution

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lippert & amestoyVermont marriage equality trail blazers Rep. Bill Lippert & former Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, outside WDEV after The Vermont Conversation, July 8, 2015.

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples could wed throughout the country. The avalanche that swept America actually began as a snowball  high up in the Green Mountains in the late 1990s. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in Baker v Vermont that the Vermont state legislature must craft a law granting all of the rights and privileges of marriage to same-sex couples. In 2000, Vermont legalized civil unions, the most sweeping grant of rights to same-sex couples up to that time. In 2009, the Vermont state legislature legalized same-sex marriage, making it the first legislature to do so. We talk about Vermont’s role in the marriage equality revolution with some of the pioneers of that effort:

Former Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, author of the groundbreaking Baker v Vermont ruling.

State Representative Bill Lippert, who led the fight for passage of civil unions in 2000, and same sex marriage in 2009.

Susan Murray, attorney with Langrock Sperry & Wool, who represented the plaintiffs in Baker v Vermont, along with attorney Beth Robinson (now a Vermont Supreme Court judge).

Stacey Jolles & Nina Beck, a lesbian couple who were one of three same-sex couples who sued the State of Vermont in the late 1990s in Baker v Vermont, catalyzing the fight for marriage equality in Vermont, and in the U.S.