"Growing up, I wasn't lucky," says Darlene Coggins. "I was born with a cognitive disability. Back then they called it 'mentally retarded.'"

   Coggins repeatedly heard - few people talked to her directly - that she had the mind of a 5-year-old and would never be able to make decisions for herself.

   Now, through the Georgia Personal Assistance Service Corps/AmeriCorps, Coggins is making decisions for herself and her 12-year-old son, as well as going around the country talking to large groups of people about the importance of self-advocacy, in addition to looking for opportunities to encourage people with disabilities throughout Georgia to become their own self-advocates.

   The Georgia Personal Assistance Service Corps/AmeriCorps program is one of about 20 projects overseen by the Institute on Human Development and Disability. Its goal is to recruit members – both people with and without disabilities – to serve people with disabilities on a part-time basis for a year, according to Katie Ford, who directs the program.

   Coggins is the first Georgia PAS Corps/AmeriCorps member who is a selfadvocate, a fact that Ford had to consider when accepting her into the program. "I didn't know Darlene," she says. "We had been in a workshop together, but I didn't know what supports she might need. During our first interview, I asked her why she wanted to join AmeriCorps. She said, 'I found my voice and I want to help others find their voices.'"

   Soon after, Coggins and her son moved to Athens to be closer to friends from whom she receives help dealing with the physical limitations caused by multiple sclerosis as well as her cognitive disabilities.

   "My cognitive disability has affected me in a lot of ways," she says. "I don't have no book learning. I went to the 12th grade. I graduated, but I don't know if it's a certificate (of attendance) or a diploma. I don't understand numbers. I can't keep a checkbook. I don't know how to do a timesheet. I can't read very well."

   Despite her disabilities, Coggins is a strong advocate for her son, who struggles with his own reading, and she and Ford work together on the speeches Coggins gives around the country. Coggins tells Ford the key points she wants to make and Ford writes them in large letters that are easily readable.

   A natural-born storyteller, Coggins weaves a narrative that includes childhood abuse, multiple foster homes, becoming a mother, being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and time spent in an institution that can make listeners shudder. But her story is undergirded with strength and a belief in herself.

   It was while she was institutionalized that Coggins set her mind to regaining control of her life. "It was hell," she says. "I couldn't call my son or my sister. I couldn't have visitors. I realized that if I didn't be good, I wasn't leaving that place. I started working on my attitude."

   Coggins was released and began work at a sheltered workshop in a nearby county. "I got that first check and I was so proud," she says. "I went down to the bank and handed it to them, thinking I'd earned $198. They handed me $1.98 for a whole week. I took it back to the service center, put it on the table and said they could keep it."

   At about this same time, Coggins attended her first People First meeting. People First is a self-advocacy program for people with disabilities. "They asked me to stand up and say my name and it clicked for me," Coggins says. "I thought, 'This is it.'"

   Coggins started a local chapter of People First in Greensboro, called Soul Freedom. For nearly a year, she spent her time and energy overseeing the organization and finding a place for it to meet. Among her accomplishments was working with the local government to develop a playground that was accessible for children with disabilities. "These children had nowhere to go," she says. "They'd just roll around in the parking lot."

   When she met with resistance, Coggins used a tactic that's served many an advocacy group well. "As I was walking out, I told them, 'by the way, we are registered to vote. 'They asked me to come back," she recalls with a grin. The playground was built.

   As an AmeriCorps member, Coggins receives a monthly stipend and will be eligible for an educational grant when she completes her term of service. She plans to use the grant for photography classes.

   While her work as an AmeriCorps member is ending, Coggins will continue to work at IHDD through the program, "Everyone Can Serve!" which focuses on including more people with cognitive disabilities in national service programs like AmeriCorps, Vista and Senior Service Corps, and will continue to fight for others to have the same control over their lives as she's obtained.

   As a part of the federal Olmstead Decision, each state is required to develop a plan to help people with disabilities move out of institutions and into community settings.

   "I take this dearly to my heart," Coggins says. "I go into institutions and ask if they want to come out. I've helped get one out and I'm working on another."