Angela Martin, LMSW

Tell us about your role and how long you've worked at MI-DDI.

I am the Senior Associate Director for Community Supports and Services at MI-DDI and have worked at MI-DDI for 20 years.

Is there anything or anyone who led you to work in this field? Tell us about it.

I have several family members who experience disabilities including my sibling. Growing up with this experience, I saw how my sibling and family members were treated unfairly and differently. Disability is a natural part of the human experience. Diversity, inclusive of disability, should be valued and celebrated.

Tell us about your education and professional affiliations.

I received my undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Dayton and my graduate degree in Social Work from Wayne State University.

What project(s), program(s), and/or research are you currently focused on?

Currently, my work focuses on Home and Community Based Services, Michigan's National Core Indicators survey, and Independent Facilitation of the Person Centered Planning process. I have deep interest in quality person-centered, community-based services and making it easier for people with disabilities to self-direct their services and supports.

What experiences have you learned an important lesson from?

Several years ago, I met a sibling of a person with disability who shared her family's story. Her story reminded me that some families who experience disability have not always been supported. All families need to be celebrated.

What is your favorite part about working at MI-DDI?

The people - my MI-DDI colleagues and the people we get to know through our work.

What do you enjoy to do in your spare time?

I love to travel, am a big sports fan, and love to read autobiographies.

Tell us about your most rewarding experience in the past year.

Supporting Michigan's self-advocacy movement, Self-Advocates of Michigan, to organize and build its statewide movement. As the self-advocacy movement says, it is "Nothing About Us Without Us." People with disabilities must be recognized as leaders of social justice and change.