President Barack Obama has appointed an employee in the School of Education to the Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Micah Fialka-Feldman, a teaching assistant and peer trainer in the School of Education, will begin working on the committee this fall. The Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities is an advisory group that promotes policies and initiatives that support independence and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Fialka-Feldman said he first heard about the committee while he was in Washington, D.C. last summer. He said he had to send in a resume and go through interviews before learning a couple weeks ago that he had been selected to be a part of the committee.

“When I heard I was very happy and glad I got picked,” he said. “I’m proud to be appointed and was happy to be appointed by the president.”

Fialka-Feldman will work with others on the committee until his term expires in May 2016. During his time on the committee, he said he hopes to work on policies that will be able to help people with disabilities achieve their goals.

“I’m hoping I can pass laws and help people with disabilities and let them know that people with disabilities can have dreams and can help people,” he said.

Wendy Harbour is the director of the Taishoff Center, where Fialka-Feldman works as a peer trainer interacting with students with intellectual disabilities at Syracuse University. Fialka-Feldman’s interest in policy has grown since working on disability studies and inclusion while at SU, Harbour said, adding that she is “glad he will be able to share what he has learned with others working on a federal level.”

Bud Buckhout, the associate director of the Taishoff Center, said he met Fialka-Feldman about three years ago, and was thrilled to hear about Fialka-Feldman’s appointment to the committee.

“Micah has such a passion for individuals with disabilities to be recognized as equals in society,” Buckhout said. “This would be an avenue for him to help see this passion to the next level in a broader spectrum.”

Buckhout added that Fialka-Feldman will be working with citizens as well as executive members of the government.

Fialka-Feldman said he thinks his work in the School of Education will help prepare him for the work on the committee. Once his term on the committee begins, he will still live in Syracuse and work at SU. From there, Fialka-Feldman will participate in conference calls as part of the committee, he said. He said he thinks the committee is important and gives people with disabilities a way to voice their needs and opinions.

Said Fialka-Feldman: “People with disabilities should share their voice and be able to be working at a job and go to school and fight for what they need.”

 

 

Published on May 29, 2014 at 9:02 pm

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27