STIRLING Peebles
Favorite Part of Job? I work for Green Mountain Self-Advocates and my favorite part of the job is becoming a better self-advocate in my community. I also work at Center for Disability and 
Community Inclusion’s Think College Vermont project at UVM as their Dissemination Assistant. My favorite part of the job at Think College is helping to get students with disabilities a chance to have a college experience.
Favorite Vermont Escape: My favorite Vermont escape is the Waterfront in Burlington. I can spend hours taking photographs with my new camera and IPhone 6.
Person you would like to share a Vermont beverage with: I would like to share a Vermont beverage with the United States Senator Bernie Sanders.
What is the best career advice you have received? I have gotten job advice from my mentor who happens to be one of my male co-workers. His advice to me is to be open minded, flexible and accepting feedback from co-workers.
Where do you see yourself professionally in ten years? I see myself being an Employment specialist or a job coach for young adults with disabilities. I also want to have my own production company.
Career Highlights:
Think College Dissemination Assistant
Center on Disability and Community Inclusion (CDCI)
January 2014 – Present (2 years 10 months) University of Vermont
My responsibilities include the following duties: updating social media sites, write articles, creating and editing various videos and Think College Recruitment.
Advocacy Educator
Green Mountain Self-Advocates
February 2014 – Present (2 years 9 months)Montpelier, Vermont
Planned and produce two life histories per school year, interview, edit and caption videos.
Consultant
Institute for Community Inclusion
February 2016 – Present (9 months)
Consulting with the Think Work Project. Helping them post employment related topics on their Facebook page.
Community Involvement: I Became a member of Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) and wrote the cover article for their newsletter in 2014. In August I started a closed group on Facebook called The Employment Corner. The main focus of this group is to help young adults with disabilities transition to supported employment instead of sheltered workshops. We need to work together as a team to make this a reality if possible. In 2015, I became a board member of the Vermont APSE chapter. In 2016, I Presented a workshop on “Learning to use soft skills in the workplace” at the Association of People Supporting Employment First national conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In the year of 2015, I Produced the video “The Ballad of Bernie” with Ed Paquin and other musicians. This is the link to the video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_xZzp41h_o Last December I did a guest appearance on ORCA Media’s Vote for Vermont program with Pat McDonald. I talked about employment for people with disabilities.
This year in March I was Appointed by Governor Shumlin to be on the Governor's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities.Two months later, in May I was asked to speak on a panel about soft skills in the workplace at the annual Disability Awareness Day at the Vermont Statehouse.