In honor of July being Disability Pride Month, we are so excited to bring you a conversation with longtime advocate Jawanda Mast.

Jawanda Mast is the NDSC Grassroots Advocacy Manager. She has been involved in disability policy advocacy since her daughter Rachel was born with Down syndrome almost 25 years ago. Jawanda has graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Arkansas and was honored with the 2017 Alumni Community Service Award for her body of advocacy work.  She and her daughter Rachel spent eight years advocating for the passage of the federal ABLE Act and have spoken around the country on ABLE, Advocacy, and Inclusion. Her daughter Rachel opened the first Kansas ABLE Account. She has provided written and oral testimony on a variety of federal and state policy issues and has served on many state-appointed committees.  Jawanda believes we all have a story and we can use those stories to impact change at all levels. She is passionate about the meaningful inclusion of individuals with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities in all aspects of the community and has presented at many conferences.  Jawanda says her work is a #laborofloveandconviction.  

You can find Jawanda @sassysutherngal (Twitter), www.thesassysoutherngal.com, @thesassysoutherngal (IG and Threads), and www.ndsccenter.org. 

In this episode, we talk about ABLE Accounts. You can head to the Able National Resouce Center at https://www.ablenrc.org to learn more and find links by state to open an account.