At its quarterly meeting last Friday, CDS’s Community Advisory Council (CAC) honored Bill and Barb Monaghan with its second annual David Lynch Award. Established in 2016 in memory of self-advocate David Lynch, who served on the CAC and its executive committee, the award recognizes a member’s stellar commitment to, and engagement in, the disability community and CDS.

Bill Monaghan joined the council in December 2015; his wife Barb joined a year later. The couple brought with them a history of self-advocacy, having spoken at state, regional and national conferences; served on committees and councils for state agencies and nonprofit organizations; and advocated regularly before the Delaware Legislature for policies and programs benefitting people with disabilities.

In the CAC, the couple shared information on their work in the community. At the December 2016 CAC retreat, for example, they detailed a session on disability awareness that they conducted with the Delaware State Police. At the same meeting, advising CDS on the development of its five-year strategic plan, they promoted engagement with young people with disabilities.

Bill Monaghan reiterated his call to action to young self-advocates serving on the CAC in his remarks upon receiving the David Lynch Award. “Go to Dover,” he recommended, speaking via teleconferencing from his and his wife’s new home in Florida. He said that forming relationships with lawmakers was an excellent way to get one’s voice heard.

CAC member Terri Hancharick thanked the Monaghans for “paving the way for self-advocates like my daughter.” The couple, she said, were among “the first and best self-advocates in Delaware.”