At Independence, Inc. we work very hard to increase the all types of community participation and civic engagement by people with disabilities. In order to do that, we have reached out to each of the candidates for Mayor and City Council in Minot and asked them a very simple question.
Our first response is from Lisa Olson. According to her KMOT election bio, Lisa Olson was first elected to the Minot City Council in 2010. Olson has pushed for flood protection for the Minot area along with affordable housing options. Olson has said that women are an under-represented part of the community and has stressed the importance of women serving in local government.
1) If you are elected, how will you work to make Minot a more accessible community for people with all types disabilities?
I am a career educator who has spent the last 18 years in special education. A large part of my job is to serve as an advocate for my students within the school setting. I proudly accepted the Independence Inc Advocate of the Year Award in 2014 for my efforts at TGU Granville School.
I strive to apply those same ideas in city government. My voting record will show that I have supported accessibility ordinances to make Minot easier to navigate. I believe that most people are aware of and try to accommodate for physical disabilities, but I believe it is also important to accommodate for invisible disabilities such as Autism.
I hope that my role in municipal government can also help promote open communication about disability awareness so that advocacy is commonplace among all of our citizens.