Living in America as an African America having a Disability

Living in America as an African American Man and having developmental disabilities is the perfect combination to having a life filled with ups and downs.

But most of all, the good memories will stick with you forever.

My name is Jullian Rice and I am from Teaneck, NJ and live with my parents Gervonn and Willie. Both of my older brothers, Gerard and Jordan lived in Jersey City.

My family treats me like one of them and have respect for my challenges that I've been dealing with all my life.

I have accomplished so many things in life so far that I feel that I can conquer any obstacle. Like getting honor roll and principal’s list in both middle and high school and being a part of graduation from high school in my senior year.

Then I continued my education and workforce journey at a 18 to 21 program called the Strive Program.

Now I’m doing an internship program at Holy Name Medical Center in my hometown of Teaneck called Project SEARCH.

As my journey of my advocacy continues, I have wanted to learn more about advocating not just for myself but for others.

Being a part of New Jersey Partners in Policymaking has helped me and given me tools to strengthen my voice for the voiceless.

I have gain additional skills like supportive decision making to help me be a better self advocate, to be confident in my decision making and not just being told what to do.

I have learned ways to help others who are also trying to have a foot towards freedom and democracy no matter what their race or ability.

This program helped me better understand the ways of life I’ve been through and what is possible in the future with all the tools I learned from this program to prepare me for adulthood.

Thank you to Jamie and Colleen for all your good work and overcoming the challenges of a virtual class and Covid.

I hope all my classmates will keep in contact with each other and continue their advocacy.