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SARTAC Fellow: The Accessibility of Wellness Project
Meet Erin Compton, 2024 IL SARTAC Fellow
Erin Compton is a passionate disability advocate from Illinois. As one of the youngest Governor appointed member of the State Rehabilitation Council for Illinois, she represents students with vigor and dedication. Additionally, Erin is also a Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) Fellow at the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Her interests extend beyond advocacy; she has a love for history and genealogy. In her free time, Erin is actively involved in Special Olympics Illinois and is a professional dancer for Unfolding Disability Futures. She has received training from a U.S. Olympics Rhythmic Gymnastics Coach and is a proud Miss Amazing Advocate and Past Queen (2015 and 2020). Additionally, Erin is an employee of the Chicago Cubs.
Host: Mariel Hamer-Sinclair and Dennis Deany, Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities
Erin's Voice
Listen to Erin as she shares her inspiring journey of resilience, self-determination, and unwavering advocacy. Her story highlights the critical importance of ensuring true wellness accessibility to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities.
Erin's experiences and dedication provide valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs faced by individuals with disabilities, emphasizing the need for inclusive practices and policies that support their well-being and empower them to lead fulfilling lives.
A note from Erin: I wanted to be a SARTAC Fellow because I want to give people information they need to make a change in our society. I was inspired to do this project when I was taught in high school that wellness was defined as “the absence of disease,” I was shocked to realize that, due to my disability, achieving wellness in the eight essential areas I've identified for a quality life—physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental—might never be possible. Systems change is essential to ensuring all people with disabilities have a right to equal opportunity and wellness.
The Accessibility of Wellness SARTAC Project Overview
Erin’s Fellowship Project is The Accessibility of Wellness. Erin will use the definition of “wellness” to show how many disability systems make Wellness Inaccessible for people with disabilities.
There are 8 components to the Wellness Definition, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental. However, the standard definitions of these components sometimes exclude people with disabilities or don’t recognize our life experiences.
- Physical Wellness: Understanding Your Body and How it Works. Sometimes doctors don’t even understand how disabled bodies work. Medical research often doesn’t include people with disabilities.
- Emotional Wellness: Develop Assertiveness and Confrontation Skills. In many states, students with disabilities can still be restrained and secluded for not being completely compliant.
- Intellectual Wellness: Feel Competent in Intellectual and Academic Activities by Improving Your Skills in Academics, Studying, Time Management, Stress Management, Note-Taking, Listening, and Public Speaking. Schools can use IQ testing to segregate students away from their peers without disabilities and from meaningful education. Admission tests like the SAT are used to keep students with intellectual disabilities out of colleges.
- Social Wellness: Develop the Ability to Make Good and Lasting Friendships. Segregated schools create segregated communities.
- Spiritual Wellness: Explore your values. For people with disabilities, this often involves explore your expectations and those of others. Will those values be honored even if you have them?
- Environmental Wellness: Become Aware of How Your External Environment Affects You. This is really important for people with sensory issues. The question is do people with disabilities have enough self-determination to control their environment? Can they choose their housing and their classroom environments?
- Vocational Wellness: Increase Your Awareness of the Wide Variety of Major/Career Opportunities Available to You. Schools can limit foundations of employment and education. Can students who have been given a first or second grade education achieve the jobs that the students have their strengths in?
- Financial Wellness: Understanding How to Manage a Budget, Credit Cards, Checking and Savings Accounts, Investments, Retirement Funds, etc. Medicaid Asset limits make achieving financial wellness based on this definition very difficult. Income fluctuation, misinformation. Social Security Asset Limits have only increased $500 since 1972. The Financial Goal does not mention only saving as if we were living in 1972. That would be Financial Ruin.
To learn more about The Accessibility of Wellness SARTAC Project, please email Erin Compton at erin.compton2004@icloud.com and Diane Compton at digrcomp@aol.com.
A Host and an Ally
The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities (ICDD) is thrilled to join forces with Erin Compton as the host agency. Our mission at the DD Council is unwavering—to spearhead transformative change within our state's systems, ensuring individuals with Developmental Disabilities (DD) gain equitable opportunities and freedom.
Our commitment is resolute: empowering self-advocates to vocalize their needs and champion the rights of people with DD in Illinois. Erin Compton embodies this commitment with a fierce, emerging leadership that ignites change. She possesses a bold presence, challenging systems that impose barriers with innovation and determination.
Erin's impact is palpable. From addressing Governor's Office staff at a high-level policy round table to leading a rally in our state’s capitol advocating for fair wages and the elimination of subminimum wage, she exemplifies dynamic leadership. A quiet storm, Erin sets expectations for her generation, demanding more from systems that serve them.
ICDD is dedicated to supporting Erin's journey. She symbolizes the future, already leaving a mark in Illinois. We are excited to contribute to her growth as a leader, ensuring she attains her goals and makes the impactful difference she is poised to achieve. Together, we forge ahead with anticipation and commitment.