SAINT PAUL - The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities has released a new eBook spotlighting the important work of disability advocates around the world. The book, titled "Changing Lives. Changing Policies." commemorates 27 years of the council's Partners in Policymaking Program and coincides with the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

"This historic milestone of the ADA didn't happen overnight and it wasn't the work of one person or even a small group of people," said Colleen Wieck, Executive Director of the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities. "For more than 50 years, thousands of people with disabilities, activists and advocates for disability rights, legislators, and the legal community worked tirelessly on many fronts for full inclusion in American society for people with disabilities."

"Changing Lives. Changing Policies." tells the personal stories of activists and advocates for disability rights in Minnesota. More specifically, it spotlights how the Partners in Policymaking program has equipped people with disabilities and the parents of children with disabilities to participate in the public discourse and self-advocate for their rights; personal testimonials also describe the impact of the ADA twenty-five years later.

The council introduced Partners in Policymaking in 1987, recognizing that many members of the disability community lacked the skills needed to contribute to the policymaking process and affect change in a meaningful, effective way. Since then, the program has been implemented nationally and internationally, training over 27,000 people. The council's new eBook recounts this broad yet personal impact.

"Partners helped me become a self-advocate. I have advocated for others but it allowed me to advocate for myself," explains one advocate in the book. "I have been able to reach out to Minnesota lawmakers after I had the training. It has given me the knowledge to do that."

"Partners in Policymaking has given me the information, tools, and courage to take a firm stand to advocate for my daughter and the lifestyle she deserves to have and live," recounts a parent advocate. "Before taking the training, I felt at a loss most of the time about what was right for me to expect of others so I could help my daughter to have the opportunities that every typical child has."