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WHY GIVE TO THE FOUNDER AND HIS PROJECTS 

 

My name is Herb Hoffman and a victim of Cerebral Palsy since birth. I’m seeking your help. Please consider donating to help persons with disabilities live on their own. You can read about my campaign at our https://www.gofundme.com/herbhome . You can read about the programs on two of our website, or read below. One of the websites is http://olmsteadnetwork.org  where people are able to donate to our causes. The other is http://www.congressofdisabledpersons.org . These two organizations work together to advocate for the rights of all people with disabilities. We also have an online store that sells adaptive products so persons with disabilities and elderly people can live independently with dignity. The website of our store is http://www.olmsteadproducts.org .

MY LIFE

My disability left me to use my left foot to type and do most things that your hands do. After proving that persons with disabilities could obtain a degree in Earth Science from Southern Illinois University (the first university to allow severely disabled students to attend). I fought very hard for a job with the National Weather Service (I became the first severely disabled employee to be employed by NWS. Learn more about my job in my chapter “Have Wheelchair, will Work”). When I got fired after 34 years of service, I retired and started these two organizations to advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities. I would like to share a news video about my employment (to be available soon). I’m starting an autobiography about my life to help parents with their disabled children understand that just because their child has a disability, does not mean that they can’t become great and contribute to society. History is full of documented stories of how persons with disabilities can make their mark in history if given a chance. I hope to sell the book to help finance projects, and advocate building accessible and affordable housing. I’m also working on several different websites on how persons with disabilities changed history. One of them is OLMSTEAD NETWORK HEROES OF THE  DISABILITY MOVEMENT.html,There can be found on the Olmstead website. I am a member of many organizations, i.e. Not Dead Yet http://notdeadyet.org/ and thewellofmercy.com/. Not Dead Yet is against legislation for assisted suicides. I signed an order to save a baby from assisted suicide while I was on a state board. The Well of Mercy helps mothers’ with an apartment, and other services before the baby is born. They give mothers a chance to keep her child or find a good home for their new born, thereby not becoming a killers, while being depressed. A priest told me about a dream that he once had where GOD showed him a unborn baby dressed in white and wearing a robe. GOD said to the priest, “Behold your Pope, and my servant, that you never saw”. The point is that a mother-to-be doesn’t know what her child would become unless given a chance at life.

You might ask why I was born. Here is a passage from a book that I write, “…I could swear on a Roman Catholic Bible that when I was born, the nurse took me from my cozy mother’s arms and brought me in a dark room. She put an oxygen mask my small noise and told me to breath. I told GOD that I didn’t want to stay in this world, but I took a breath and said to myself, “I guess GOD had other plans”. My book will tell what I did with what GOD gave me.

ADVOCACY WORK

My advocacy work started during high school when students asked the PTA if they would let us buy coke in the lunch room. I voiced my opinion after a PTA member told us that she didn’t allow her daughter to buy coke at lunch. This member told my mother that I know how to make myself heard. I became President of the Student Body. I used this advocacy all my life. I had to fight the State of Illinois to pay for my college education and employment (details are in my autobiography).

 LIST OF MY ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES

  • 1970 – 1973 A group of persons with disabilities and allies advocated Southern Illinois and the town of Carbondale, Illinois for curb cuts. We also advocated for personal assistants to help us with our needs. Today, Personal Assistants help more than 1,000,000 live independently.
  • 1975 -1979 Member of the Illinois Developmental Disabilities Advocacy Authority (IDDAA). Held the Treasury and V.P. posts. Had the responsibility of authorizing the state grants to organizations promoting major environmental improvements which aid the handicapped. Managed annual budget for grants in excess of $900,000.00. Manager of the IDDAA monthly newsletter promoting the independent living of all types of physical and mental disabilities in the state of Illinois. Advocate for all types of disabilities on the local, state, and federal level.
  • 1977 – 1980. Aided in the creation of the first statewide advocacy organizations. In Chicago, Illinois, I founded Access Living.
  • 1977 – 1979. Directed the talents of four individuals for the IDDA Newsletter, while in the capacity of Committee Chairman for Public Information and Training with the IDDAA (Illinois Developmental Disabilities Advocacy Authority).
  • 1979 – 1981. Aided a group of advocates in charge of mapping Chicago sidewalks for curb cuts.
  • 1980 – 1982 Served as Board Member of Access Living of Chicago.
  • 1977 – 1984. V.P. of Counsel on Disability Rights.
  • 1977 – 1987. Columnist for a disability national monthly newspaper, “Achievement”. My column was titled, “Thunder from the Valley”.
  • 1980 – 1985. Aided group to make the Chicago Transit Authority accessible for persons in wheelchairs.
  • 1977 – 1986 Member, and Employment Chairman, of ‘Congress of the Physically Handicapped, Inc.’.
  • 1984. Founder of Universal Consultants, Inc. Its mission is to promote accessibility for persons with disabilities.
  • 1983-1985. Board member on Access Living of Metro Chicago. This was the first newly created agency in Illinois. Aided in getting funding.
  • 1984. Aided in hosting first Chicago Mayoral debate for persons with disabilities
  • 1985-1990. Work with a group to pass the ADA Act
  • 1990 -1994. Worked to pass Education Act allowing students with disabilities to be mainstreamed
  • 1995-present. Advocacy Committee of Access Living.
  • 1998-2002.  Housing committee
  • 2002-2005. Member of Illinois Olmstead startup committee
  • 2005 – Present. Advocacy chairman and CEO for Olmstead Missions Network.
  • 2008-present. Work with advocacy groups on state and national issues to insure the rights of people with disabilities.
  • 2015 – Present. Chair for http://www.congressofdisabledpersons.org. Start national advocacy group to write legislation to insure the accessibility for people with disabilities. Focus on the areas of housing, Personal Assistants care, and employment.

Thank you for your consideration. I hope that you can help.

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