Happy Holidays from Ramp Your Voice!

I want to wish all of the supporters, followers, and fellow disability advocates a very special Happy Holidays!!  This year has been such a growing experience for me as a person, a budding macro-minded professional, a writer, and a disability rights advocate.  I never fathomed the idea that I would have my own organization like Ramp Your Voice!; much less receive incredible responses surrounding its existence.  Ramp Your Voice! just turned 5 months old last week, and boy, has the journey been amazing.  As I have said from the beginning, this work is bigger than myself; it is a part of my purpose to do my part to ensure that minorities (particularly women) with disabilities have a platform where they are recognized and respected both within the disability community and in society.  I plan to reach out to minority disability advocates in 2014 and beyond because this is their space to share their experiences and build an empowering community.

I have SO many ideas lined up for Ramp Your Voice! in 2014.  I have no earthly idea how I am going to accomplish them all, but I am willing to put forth the tremendous effort to do so.  I want to connect with my fellow supporters and advocates that goes beyond the articles published on this website; I want to share more of my life with you, and vice versa.  I want to hear and learn from your struggles and your successes; Ramp Your Voice! is YOUR safe place where you can be who you are and not shrink from your true essence out of fear of judgement or shame.  I have brainstormed several ways to bring more your way so that Ramp Your Voice! can be the entity you need, and I pray that my plans are able to come to light in the new year, and beyond.  I know in my spirit that Ramp Your Voice! has the potential to be a real game-changer in the disability rights and advocacy movement, and I am determined to make that happen!

I am going to take a few days off this week to reflect on the many blessings that were bestowed upon me in 2013.  I am very humbled to have connected with such empowering people this year who motivated me to branch out on my own, and to believe in myself.  This is truly a “Happy Holidays” season for me because I have the greatest gift of all:  I am doing my life’s work, and making a positive impact on others.  I could not ask for more than that, and I pray that I am able to positively affect more lives during the new year.

Here are my three wishes for each and every one of you this week:  cherish the time spent with those you love; reflect on how much you have grown in 2013 (both the challenging times, as well as the worthwhile ones); and contemplate what actions you can take in 2014 to be one step closer in making a difference in the lives of others.  Conducting this “self inventory,” so to speak, is how I began on my own path; if it worked for me, then I have high hopes that it will work for you.

Happy Holidays, and thank you so much for embracing me and my vision.  - Vilissa

(Enjoy this holiday classic from the late, great Luther Vandross, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”)

(Featured headline image:  Courtesy of Vintage Gal on Tumblr.)