National Leadership Program, Summer 2019
Sarah Meehan
Sarah Meehan was a Political Communications Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Summer 2019. RespectAbility is a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for and with people with disabilities.
Meehan joined RespectAbility to continue her longstanding advocacy for people with disabilities, including herself. Meehan was diagnosed with anxiety in the sixth grade. With the help of her family, she was determined to get the care she needed, through therapy and mindfulness techniques that would indefinitely support her mental health.
In her senior year of high school, she developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from a sexual violence assault. That year was one of the most challenging yet rewarding years of her life. Along the way, she realized her true passion for wanting to help other people that have encountered sexual violence. She was determined to work in a field that would help her advocate for people that have gone through sexual violence, especially people with disabilities.
As a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, she was not originally planning to become a social work major and psychology minor, but she soon decided this was her calling. She became the co-founder and vice president of a new organization on campus called the Association of Students with Disabilities or Chronic Conditions (A.S.D.C.C), which aims to support and advocate for students with disabilities and/or chronic conditions. Meehan is now the incoming president of the organization and has big plans to keep the organization striving to include people with disabilities or chronic conditions.
Meehan joined Alpha Xi Delta, a sorority on campus that partners with autism-related causes for its philanthropy, and has been involved as the group’s parent relations director.
Meehan plans to acquire her master’s in social work at Virginia Commonwealth University. She wants to work in mental health education and outreach with a focus on sexual violence.
Meehan wrote one piece during the 2019 Summer Fellowship. Read it on The RespectAbility Report:
