My name is William Ward-Boas. I am Autistic and have an intellectual disability. I am a proud gay and First Nations man. What is my story? When I was diagnosed Autistic as a young child, my parents were told I wouldn’t be able to be educated, express emotions, work, or love my own family. My parents disagreed, decided love, care and nourish me the same as my sisters. And now? I have been working in disability advocacy for six years! I worked on inclusive employment and self-advocacy projects at VALID for a few years (see VALID Employment Project and VALID8 Project) and now I am working in my first full-time job in government promoting human rights for people with disability. And, I’m on the Board at VALID! Why am I telling you about myself? I have an incredible opportunity and I need YOUR help! I have been invited to the UN Headquarters in New York to speak at the 17th Annual Conference of State Parties Conference (COSP17) with access supported by the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO). There are no financial grants available, so I am fundraising so that I can go. What is the cost? I need to raise more than $12,000 to cover accommodation, flights, my passport, food, transport and insurance. If you can contribute to my fund, THANK YOU! I am so passionate about raising the voices of people with disability and Autistic people. Service systems have not been kind to me and a lot of others. I have learned a lot about what people with disability can do with their creativity and storytelling. The richness you can gain from learning about people with disability is priceless. I want to be part of the incredible history of the self-advocacy movement that people with intellectual disability started decades ago. The next wave of self-advocates are here. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Help me get to New York! Nothing about us, without us! And, if you follow me on LinkedIn, you’ll be able to see my UN adventures along the way 😊 Any leftover funds will be donated to UN Youth Australia