Nov 16 2023
Recap: Wake Up Narcolepsy & Living Proof Advocacy LGBTQIA+ Training Event
h in News
Early in October, Wake Up Narcolepsy (WUN) announced an advocacy opportunity for people living with Narcolepsy that were also members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The opportunity came from a partnership with Living Proof Advocacy (LPA), a communications coaching organization that specializes in helping individuals share stories from their lived experience to advocate for causes or organizations.
The event, which took place over the course of two virtual sessions on Friday, October 27th, and Friday, November 3rd, was an amazing experience!
Attendees received free copies of the book “Living Proof: Telling Your Story to Make a Difference,” in advance of the first meeting and were tasked with doing some reading in order to complete their first exercise. They thought about why they are advocates for others living with Narcolepsy and what their personal reasoning was.
During that first meeting, insightful conversations took place based on their responses and the guidance of LPA coaches. Representatives from WUN were also present to assist and learn.
The goal of the two sessions was to develop and revise a three minute advocacy talk with the help of those around you and your own experiences. Some worked toward this goal between the two sessions, some asked follow up questions at the final session to create their talk after the fact, and some jotted down ideas and got feedback for the future when they felt ready to share their story.
Everything was at the comfort of the participants, but some of them expressed their interest in sharing these stories through WUN! Keep an eye out for some of those voices in the future!
Wake Up Narcolepsy would like to extend its thanks to the folks at Living Proof Advocacy for such an amazing opportunity and encourage others to check out what the organization has to offer on their website here! #IAmLivingProof
WUN would also like to thank everyone who participated in the training for being so open and honest about their story and for supporting each other throughout the sharing process.
If you’re a person living with Narcolepsy who is also a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, you may be interested in attending our weekly support group for the community. They meet every Friday at 4pm EST and would love to see you there.
More information and the full schedule of our nine weekly support groups on HeyPeers can be found here.
