Detroit Disability Advocate Jaime Junior Joins PuLSE Institute As Associate Fellow

Jaime Junior, the chief operating officer for Warrior on Wheels for Metropolitan Detroit, has joined The PuLSE Institute’s Academy of Fellows as an Associate Fellow focusing on disability rights and poverty. Junior will contribute articles and analysis about the challenges of inequality facing the disability community and the need for them to be part of the economic recovery of Detroit. 

“Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of The PuLSE Institute,” Junior said. “Becoming an Associate Fellow will give me the opportunity to improve my research and editorial skills and give me a greater platform to shine light on the very real reciprocal relationship that exists between disability and poverty and to amplify my voice as a disability justice advocate.” 

Junior, a committed and passionate advocate for the needs of Detroit’s disability community is a member of the Michigan Developmental Disability Council, an advisory group under the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. She is a Leadership Education in Neuro-Developmental Disabilities ( LEND) Fellow with MI-DDI at Wayne State University, where she is studying in the Urban Studies program. She is also a peer mentor at the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network as well as a facilitator with Michigan Disability Rights Coalition.  

“The PuLSE Institute is happy to welcome Jamie Junior to the Academy of Fellows. Too often, voices like Jamie’s are neglected when it comes to the discussion of how best to serve and accommodate members of the disabled community, when her voice is the ultimate authority on what is needed. Because of the failure to account for authentic voices in the policy debate, our most vulnerable neighbors in the disabled community are more susceptible to the trappings of poverty,” said Attorney Tina M. Patterson, the president of The PuLSE Institute. 

Patterson added, “Uplifting a voice like Jamie bridges the gap between what is offered and what is needed, and fulfills the elusive quest for true diversity and inclusivity in policy solutions to poverty. We welcome Jaime’s much needed perspective as we continue to elevate the discourse on poverty.”

Bankole Thompson, the editor-chief of The PuLSE Institute and chair of the Academy of Fellows said Junior’s addition is in line with the goal of the Institute to expand the franchise of voices speaking to the issues affecting the underserved.

“Our fellows drawn from a wide variety of incredible backgrounds and experiences bring different perspectives to the issues of inequality. As an Associate Fellow, Junior is able to offer some key insights into the disability community and why we must continue to insist on addressing their needs that are directly connected to poverty,” Thompson said. “As the anti-poverty think tank of Detroit, The PuLSE Institute has an obligation to discover and to enhance voices that are often dismissed in the mainstream even as the issues they champion from the grassroots are central to any genuine effort to fight poverty.”