Sierra Pullen is a high school student in Wayne County, New York participating in IEL’s Ready to Achieve Mentoring Program (RAMP) through the Regional Center for Independent Living. RAMP is a career-focused mentoring program for youth with disabilities.
My friends and I were walking downtown and we saw a new Chinese restaurant. In RAMP we had just talked about our rights and how we need to use our voice to say what is wrong. This restaurant had no ramp so anyone in a wheelchair could not get in. The next time we were in RAMP we told what was happening. We had to write a letter to the Code Enforcer telling him what was wrong and use the ADA laws to back us up. It was really hard to read and understand the standards, so our mentors helped a lot. Two weeks later there was a ramp at the restaurant. I was surprised that it worked and that they listened to a kid. That was cool.