Mentorship with DPC: Learning Through Conversation

Sydney Chavous (Syd) is a progressive employment intern at the ICI. The following opinion piece was written by Syd Chavous.

As part of my internship at the ICI, I have had the opportunity to participate in a mentorship with Dennis Heaphy and Maggie Sheets from the Disability Policy Consortium (DPC). Our conversations have become one of the most meaningful parts of my professional development and have given me the chance to learn from experienced disability advocates while sharing my own perspective as a young professional with a disability.

Here are some of my most important takeaways from my experience meeting with DPC:

• We meet at least once a month, sometimes biweekly, to discuss disability advocacy, leadership, and current issues affecting the disability community.
• Each conversation is a two-way exchange: I am learning from Dennis’s and Maggie's experiences, while also sharing with them how younger generations are experiencing disability and navigating today's world.
• The mentorship has strengthened my confidence in my abilities, as well as my belief in the importance of sharing lived experiences.
• These conversations have directly supported my internship by helping me think more critically about disability policy and why sharing personal experiences is necessary for change.

One of the most important things I have learned through this experience has been that mentorship is not just about receiving advice; it is about building connections across generations, learning from one another, and ensuring that the voices of people with disabilities continue to be heard. Dennis Heaphy, one of my mentors and a health justice advocate and researcher at DPC, sums up this experience well, stating, "I get as much out of these engagements as, or more out of them, than I put into them myself." My conversations make me feel seen, heard, and valued when I am able to receive advice and also speak on my own lived experience to help DPC better understand current disability needs.

Maggie Sheets, another mentor and research coordinator at DPC, echoes this, saying, “I think it's powerful to learn about who people are and what they're experiencing, but to have it in their own words is really cool because it emphasizes the impact it has.”

Photo Caption: Syd meeting virtually with Dennis Heaphy and Maggie Sheets during a recent peer mentorship session.