Policies are not fixed; they can be shaped—and reshaped—by the voices and lived experiences of the people they affect.

As Living Proof Advocacy’s 2025 Storytelling for Advocacy Intern, Annie Beth Clark focused on learning more about young advocates and how we, as an organization, can best support their success. Here, she summarizes the learnings from her research project.

In a guest post, advocate Jim Kuhn shares why it is so important for members of the rare disease community to share their lived experiences.

“Legislators often don't understand the context: these women are our military partners. They were recruited, trained, deployed and put in harm's way under our operational direction.”

The organization knew that Barry was valuable to them achieving their advocacy goals, because he had lived experience as a veteran—as well as a passion for the desert that spans more than five decades.

“I’ve found that one of the best ways to encourage people in making healthy choices is to understand the story they are telling themselves about their lives.”

“By shifting my focus from anger to persuasion, I began to see more people engaging with the issue. Conversations became more productive. Skeptics weren’t just pushed away or ignored; they were invited to understand.”

It’s a reality of human psychology: Bad is stronger than good.