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News 12 Staff

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Community Access Unlimited is based in Elizabeth Union County. Bernadette Griswold is the executive director. Eddie Matthews and Diana Sims are advocates. It's good to have everybody here. Let's talk about your advocacy and what you all do as advocates. So we are advocate for people with disabilities and at risk youth so Eddie is actually our first member so part of the thing that we wanna do is make sure that everybody has a voice in the community. Everybody deserves a voice in the community, so we have an advocacy program that allows for us to encourage people to be independent and have a voice in the community. Diana, are you? I love it. He's over there. Go ahead, tell us about your role. Uh the first one. Congratulations. He's the 1st 145 years ago. That's you. Yes, that's Eddie. Wow, I love that picture. Go ahead, Eddie, tell us what's this mean to you? That's a long time. But you look great, honey. Well, they helped me. Uh, get a job when I first came out to Elizabeth. Eddie came out of an institution. You did, yeah. Was that transition hard for you? Oh, nobody was happy to get out of there. I bet you were and I bet they were glad to have you. It's CAU. It's OK. Is everything OK, honey? You're getting emotional? Or are you hitting the prompter down there? So it was, it was OK and everything. Scared me a little bit when I first came out. And all, but everything turned out OK. And all, and you're glad to be there. What do you try to give back to the organization for what they've done for you? I guess uh. You know, Your passion. Yeah, like do things with them, you know that. You know, like This for instance, is this your first TV interview? OK doing good so far. And stuff, you know, you know, and like getting Getting things. Done, you know, that they ask.

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913spotlightnj3_2025-09-13-12-35-09

Look at these three gentlemen having a great time there at a game. Community inclusion is very important with Community Access Unlimited based in Union County in Elizabeth specifically. Bernadette Griswold is the executive director. Eddie Matthews and Diana Sims are advocates. They're here in. Studio with Spotlight New Jersey. I love the little ballerinas. They're just adorable. How did this organization get started? So it got started about 45 years ago. Um, a man had a vision to take people out of institutions with a $90,000 grant. So and it kind of grew very big. We now serve over 2000 people in the state of New Jersey and we have 1000 employees who support people and to be part of the community. The whole core of community access is to treat people like people the way you want to be treated. What do you as the executive director bring to the table to help expedite this? Well we do trainings and we do we advocate and we do conversations like this to educate people. I mean one of the biggest things that I tell people is education is so important. You know, I grew up and not knowing and not being integrated with people with disabilities and one of the things is when I had my children that was the most important thing and now they're advocates for people with disabilities, you know, your, um, 14 and 17, and they know this at an early age, correct? So one of the things that they actually said is when they got a yearbook and people with disabilities were on a separate page one of my sons actually wrote a letter to the principal saying that that was um. Discriminatory and so they actually changed the book so yeah so education is the biggest thing to change people's perception and treat people like people, right? Why is that so important? Everybody wants to be respected equal education. And what do you do to help? I am actually an advocate. I, um. I actually go to college. Congratulations. What school? Union College. I'm an English major. Good for you. And currently writing a book? Oh, you are? Yes. Oh my gosh, how's that going? It's going good so far. I'm on chapter 5 right now. Congratulations. Thank you. And I go to a day program. It's it's called ACE and it's based in Rozelle, and I take math and history.

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Advocates Dianna Simms, Eddie Matthews and executive director Bernadette Griswold, joined News 12’s Della Crews to talk more about their theater program.

Spotlight New Jersey: Community Access Unlimited

Advocates Dianna Simms, Eddie Matthews and executive director Bernadette Griswold, joined News 12’s Della Crews to talk more about their theater program.

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