Rachel Cronin is the assistant director of the UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion, and in this episode of Green Mountain Disability Stories, she interviews Persephone Ringgenberg, a self-advocate and artist living in Vermont. They talk art, legislative support for disabilities funding, and whether or not to eat the gluten-free desserts.

Watch the episode or listen to it here.

https://youtu.be/y6UEBIk9yTc

A full transcript of the episode appears below.



Persephone Ringgenberg took part in a photoshoot with Louise Contino, for an exhibit at CDCI. This image is titled "Persephone Under Construction."

 

Rachel Cronin: Hi everyone, and welcome. My name is Rachel Cronin. I'm the assistant director for the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion here at UVM, and today I'm going to be talking with Persephone Ringgenberg. Persephone, do you want to introduce yourself for the podcast?

Persephone Ringgenberg: You just introduced me.

Rachel: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Persephone: Hi, I'm Persephone. I don't really know what to kind of say to introduce myself.

Rachel: So we had you on the podcast today, Persephone, because we're talking to people in the community who are self advocates. Do you consider yourself to be a self-advocate?

Persephone: A freelance self-advocate, yeah.

Rachel: Tell me more about that. Freelance? What does that mean?

Persephone: I'm not tied down with any organization.

Rachel: Sure. And... what are your kind of hobbies and interests or like what brought you to the field of self advocacy?

Persephone: That's a good question. I took a leadership course and I learned how to advocate better. I strongly advocate for people with epilepsy and the mental health community.

Rachel: So is that because you have experiences with that directly?

Persephone: Yes.

Rachel: (You're petting your dog, right? Yeah. I just want to make sure, because you can't see the dog in the video. And I just want to make sure people understand what you're doing.)

Persephone: Yes. My dog is right next to me.

Rachel: What's your dog's name?

Persephone: My service dog, Willow.

Rachel: So you said you took a course in self advocacy or how to be a better advocate. Can you tell me more about that course?

Persephone: It was one that was put on through, I think it was partially through Green Mountain Self Advocates. And then I think I'm not sure if Developmental did it-- was part of it as well. I think Family Network was part of it.

Rachel: Vermont Family Network?

Persephone: Yeah, I think they were. So.

Rachel: What do you think are the skillsets, or what kinds of things do you need to have to be a good self advocate?

Persephone: I think know yourself and know what you're advocating for. Um, case in point, I worked with McLean Hospital on their-- the stigma for mental health. Like so finding different avenues in which where exactly you want to advocate, and finding partners to work with, really.

Rachel: Tell me more about your work with McLean Hospital. What's that for? What did you do?

Persephone: They did pictures and descriptions in Boston and then they were doing-- they were looking for other ones. And I think it might still be up here at the Burlington International Airport. But they took a picture and they got a description of like, my mental health and like quotes from me.

But it was an installation show with pictures and like quotes. And then you could scan them, and read somebody's story. And they even had some famous people like Howie Mandel and his OCD [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder].

Rachel: That's interesting. So you're a little bit of a local celebrity at the Burlington Airport.

Persephone: Yeah. So one of our trainers, she was like, "How did I not know you're this cool?" And she sent me a picture, but then from a client, I'm like, yeah, I'm that cool.

Rachel: Can you tell me more about what the picture or the stor...

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