Over the last several weeks our self-advocates, families, and staff have shown how resilient our communities are and how well we have been able to work together to make things happen.

It has been amazing!

Our next big challenge is the upcoming elections – local, state, and national.

It’s so important that we all have a say in making sure our needs are being met, that we are making informed choices, and that it’s not an arduous process.

This is an important and exciting time for everyone, but especially for young people who may be voting for the first time. ILO is excited to help our ILO self-advocates participate in the process.

ILO is supporting a group of ILO families working together on a campaign called, “We Vote Remote.”

This non-partisan group will be providing information and resources to ILO’s self-advocates for DC and Maryland to:

• Make it easy to register to vote
• Request an absentee ballot
• Vote remotely
• Get help, if they need it

The goal of We Vote Remote is to inspire and empower adults with disabilities to advocate for themselves through informed voting, in a safe environment, with whatever help they may need.

• We understand better than most how important it is for us to advocate for ourselves.  We value our families, our friends, our lives, and our independence.
  
• We recognize the importance of social distancing and keeping ourselves safe right now by not being in public spaces.
• We know our well-being depends upon the decisions our leaders make and that those decisions will impact our future quality of life, health, and happiness.
• We reserve the right to help choose who will make those decisions.
• We vote remote!

Ben answers the 4th question on our Daily Quarantine Questions checklist, below: “When am I GOING OUTSIDE today,” with a walk in Seneca Park.   This is a reminder to step outside and take a breath of fresh air once in a while or a walk!

We Love to Celebrate!

May Happy Birthday!

• Darina
• Matt G
• Robert S
  
• Ellie
• Ella

Hello Olive!

Olive continues to share her wisdom with us on social media:

• Learning how to vote remotely
• The value of routine in reducing anxiety
• The importance of wearing a mask
• Using yoga to de-stress!
• Learning to relax
• Finding ways to ease social isolation

The Crossings’ SAs decided to watch The Black Panther. Everyone took turns discussing their favorite part of the movie. Dee joined the Zoom call to show everyone her Black Panther shoes. The guys enjoyed giving their personal opinion on the movie, it made everyone feel like we were movie critics. The group could agree that the movie review was creative and engaging. Next, we agreed to bake cookies.

Please check the ILO website calendar for upcoming virtual and rescheduled events. Our calendar (https://ilonow.org/calendar) is updated on a weekly basis.

We have made the decision to postpone most of our special events to a later date in 2020 – this includes Social Sundays, Parent Presentations, Hike, Bike & BBQ (rescheduled for October 10), and our Beers and Cheers Fundraiser.

SPECIAL NOTE: Regarding Social Sunday Bowling Bowlero – we hope to be able to start Bowling up again soon but at this point it may be the Fall. We are looking at other options like virtual BINGO, trivia, etc. We’ll let you know within the next week.­

During this ‘new normal’ ILO is here to help YOUR family and SELF-ADVOCATE in every way possible.

• Overwhelmed and don’t know where to go for assistance?
• Lost your support (day programs, etc.), and need alternatives?
• Running out of ideas for dealing with social isolation?

ILO is here to help! Please reach out to me directly. Maedi Tanham Carney, ILO Executive Director at maedi@ilonow.org.