For more, visit the official #AdvocacyDay2017 website: https://sites.google.com/stonybrook.edu/advocacyday/home?authuser=0

The School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook University invites you to its 2nd annual #ActionDay. This year is entitled "Disability Justice Corner: Learn! Speak! Advocate!"

This event is in conjunction with the School of Social Welfare's annual #AdvocacyDay, which will take place on Monday, April 10th. This year's theme is "disability justice."

The event will feature three components:

- “Speak Your Truth” : An open mic-style speakers' corner where orators, poets, performers, musicians, and activists will share their work and personal stories to promote an empathic dialogue around issues of social justice among disabled populations

- "Voices in Solidarity" : Attendants and participants will be encouraged to post their thoughts, responses, expressions, feelings, reflections, concerns, and questions about disability justice / injustice in a show of visual and communal solidarity

- "The Pen is Mightier" : A table where attendants will be encouraged to write letters to their local legislators (a comprehensive list will be provided) advocating for or against specific legislation currently being mobilized

This event is FREE and open to everyone and anyone in the Health Sciences Center and SBU in general.

Speakers Include:

TAYLOR CARMEN SAVATH - Is a writer, speaker, activist and a believer that art can change our world. She has spoken at conferences for disabled students and their families all over the east coast. These experiences, along with being an active member of a local poetry community and creating workshops on what it means to be body positive, offer her a unique perspective from which to write. In her work she hopes to examine what it means to be more loving and accepting of ourselves, as well as how to do what the author John Green calls “imagine each other more complexly”.

CECILY SCHULER - Is a Miami-raised, Brooklyn-based genderqueer writer and performer. Their work is featured in the Offing, great weather for MEDIA, Duende and elsewhere. They are an assistant editor at Drunken Boat, and run Union Square Slam, a weekly poetry open mic and slam in the heart of New York City every Tuesday. While receiving an MFA in Writing and Social Activism at the Pratt Institute, and attending residencies at Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the Home School: Miami and the Vermont Studio Center, they’ve been working on a full-length experimental poetic memoir.

SARAEVE FERMIN - is a performance poet and epilepsy advocate from northeast New Jersey. A 2015 Best of the Net nominee, she has performed for both local and national events, including the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam, the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles 2015 Care and Cure Benefit to End Epilepsy in Children, and as a reader for Great Weather for MEDIA at the 2016 NYC Poetry Festival on Governors Island. Learn more: http://saraeve41.wix.com/saraevepoet

BOB HAYES - is a native Long Islander who, for more than thirty years, has resided in the hamlet of West Sayville, with his wife, two sons, and faithful dog. After retiring from a successful career in Product Line Management and Marketing, Bob has become an author of many published works, including a memoir and poetry. He is an avid member of the Long Island Writers Guild and the Performance Poets Association. Bob considers himself to be very fortunate after a long battle in recent years to keep his Bi-Polar position at bay. He developed a multi-faceted treatment regimen to achieve this end, crucial to which is the steadfast love and attention from his supportive family and friends. He is motivated to help make the general public more aware of the pitfalls and issues that many of his compatriots face to maintain their mental well-being.

With performances by poets Liv Mammone, Danielle Meyers, Mel H., Bri Onishea, and more!