Special Needs Advocate Blogging Award

Introducing the GOLDEN ADVOCATE. The Golden Advocate Award is given to bloggers who have gone above and beyond to educate and advocate for people who have special needs. It was created in honor of a little girl named Sophia who has Down syndrome, but it is not limited to the Ds community as all special needs count.

The recipient may be a self advocate or a loved one, caregiver, therapist, teacher, community member, etc. to a person with special needs.The recipient of this award has demonstrated courage, strength, and wisdom, and has used their blog to show the world how amazing people with special needs truly are. Recipients of this award do not shy away from speaking out against ignorance, cruelty, or injustices related to people with special needs. They can sometimes be found making phone calls to elected officials, signing petitions, attending rallies, and blogging about issues that are important to our community.

On most days they educate by sharing their everyday experiences with us, allowing us to see how people with special needs are more alike than different. They wear their advocacy hat well and the world is a more beautiful, diverse, and inclusive place because they are in it.

To accept this award: Simply accept it with the knowledge that your work is appreciated. Feel free to post it on your blog, or not. It's up to you with no strings attached. To nominate a blogger for this award or to pass it on if you have received it: Use the image, guidelines, and description listed here. Briefly summarize why the blogger deserves this award, post a link to their blog, and notify them that they have won. Link back to this post so that we can track how far it travels. Please limit your nominations to just 1 or 2 deserving bloggers.

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This award was given to me by Laurie of Days With Dylan. Laurie and Dylan both hold an extremely dear and special place in my heart. Laurie and I became acquainted with each other originally on an online pregnancy forum when she was pregnant with her first baby and I my fifth; her daughter, Cassidy, and my daughter, Lilah, were born two days apart. We became pregnant again around the same time and were members of the same birth-month pregnancy board. We subsequently gave birth to little boys, just days apart, both of whom came with some big surprises - namely, Down syndrome. Laurie and I have shared this journey from the very beginning, and I am truly grateful to know her and am especially flattered and honored to be given this award by her.

I would like to pass this award to Dan of Down With Oz. Ozzie was also born within days of my Finn. Dan stands out in the Down syndrome blogging community not only as one of the few dads who blogs, but as someone who has taken a very pro-active and meaningful stand as an advocate for all of our children. Dan also founded The Oz Squad, an internet watchdog group of bloggers who take on missions to spread education and annihilate hatred and misinformation. Check out, also, Dan's site, Downtown DS, which is a great site chock full of news and information relating to Down syndrome.