Hello my name is Kyle J. Glozier. I’m a senior at California University of Pennsylvania in California, PA. I have been involved with disability rights since I was eight years old when I visited Atlantis Community, a center for independent living in Denver. I knew from that time that my driving force was disability rights.

I was always included in regular education from the time I was a five-year-old all the way through high school. I graduated in 2004 and then enrolled in Cal U where I am a political science major with concentration in pre-law. As I was in school, I saw my peer group with disabilities get behind as I excelled. In 2000 I addressed the Congressional Subcommittee on the Constitution when they were concerned with the proposed ADA Notification Act, which would have required the victim of discrimination to notify the violator before taking legal action. I was and still am opposed to that bill. I also opposed the Supreme Court’s decision in Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356 (2001). That case weakened the ADA, which was later restored by the ADA Amendments Act.

Through the connection with ADAPT, I had the opportunity to speak at the Democratic National Convention where I pressed both parities to pass what was then known as the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA).

In college I found it difficult because the supports I need were addressed from a reasonable accommodation approach and not based on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In IDEA school districts must provide accommodations to the student which must be written in the individual’s education plan. In college accommodations must be supported by documentation, just like in school. But since people choose to attend college and it is not a legal right to do so, accommodations can not fundamentally change the program (e.g. professors will not be lenient with regards to the requirements).

In my internship, I hope to learn real-world skills that I can take into the work world, stuff that you can’t get out of sitting in class or reading from text books. There are a lot of choices when I was thinking about my internship. But, wherever I am, disability rights advocacy is my first choice and I that is something I will never give up.