Foundations for Advocacy
The year was 2013 when Haley Waggoner helped a Nebraska State Senator pass a bill that struck the word "retarded" from state documents, replacing it with the term "intellectual disabilities." This impact is important as the updated language establishes dignity for those with disabilities and empowers citizens to continue advocating for themselves, all under the protection of the law. It was Waggoner's first taste of what direct advocacy could accomplish, and it set the tone for what came next.
A Trip to Washington Sparks an Idea
Years later in 2020, Haley attended Hill Day in Washington, DC, where Special Olympics athletes and staff members meet with members of Congress to advocate for policy priorities. Watching that process unfold left an impression on her: this kind of direct engagement with lawmakers does not have to stay in DC.
"Disability voices are important to advocate for our rights," Waggoner said, describing the motivation that drove her to bring the same model of grassroots legislative engagement home to Nebraska.
"I was both excited and nervous working with State Senators," she said. "I knew it would be a challenge but was excited about what we can do."
Cookies in the Rotunda
Haley remembers walking into the Nebraska State Capitol Building in Lincoln with a plate of cookies and a stack of invitations. The Capitol Rotunda was bustling as Haley and Special Olympics Nebraska staff navigated their way through the historic building to invite lawmakers to a luncheon in 2023. She was nervous but knew there was significance to her efforts.
This small act of outreach would prove an important step in representing individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) as well as all Nebraskans. The state’s motto “Equality Before the Law”, signified a prescient theme for her work: everyone is entitled to the same rights and protections of the law. So when her advocacy evolved into a critical partnership with Nebraska's legislature, the state motto expanded beyond words as Haley helped secure over a million dollars in funding that would benefit Nebraskans across the state.
Knocking on Doors at the Capitol
In 2023, Special Olympics Nebraska needed to expand their activations and offerings to serve more individuals with ID and their families within the state. To do this, the program needed more funding.
Waggoner, joined by Carolyn Chamberlin, President and CEO of Special Olympics Nebraska, and Stephanie Soressen, Director of Health at the time, prepared and made their way to Lincoln, Nebraska. Their mission was simple on paper: deliver invitations for a luncheon meant to introduce lawmakers to the work of Special Olympics Nebraska. In practice, it meant walking the halls of the Capitol, knocking on office doors, cookie plate in hand, and winning over representatives.
"We were very nervous, especially knocking on doors and trying to explain what Special Olympics does," Waggoner recalled.
Chamberlin trusted Waggoner from the very beginning to start that process and carry the relationships forward, and the Special Olympics Nebraska Board of Directors supported them both.
The nerves paid off. The luncheon found a substantial turnout and succeeded in doing exactly what the team had hoped: it identified a legislative champion willing to sponsor a bill securing state funding for Special Olympics Nebraska.
Finding Champions
Retired Senator Colby Coash became an early and important partner for Special Olympics Nebraska. He helped connect Special Olympics Nebraska to the right people in government and coached Waggoner and staff on the mechanics of advocacy work: how to approach state funding, when and how to hire a lobbyist, and how to build a sustained advocacy presence at the Capitol rather than a one-time ask.
A major champion turned out to be Senator Michaela Cavanaugh. She trusted the organization from the moment of that first luncheon, and from there became genuinely invested in Special Olympics Nebraska's mission. Cavanaugh went on to introduce a bill on their behalf, a partnership Waggoner describes with evident appreciation.
"Senator Michaela Cavanaugh was an amazing supporter, our first Senator to put a bill up for us," Waggoner said.
A Rollercoaster of Progress
The years that followed were not a straight line to success. Chamberlin, reflecting on the early stretch of the effort, described it bluntly: "It was a giant roller coaster for the first two years."
Waggoner echoed that sentiment. Good news would arrive, only to be followed by setbacks that made the outcome feel uncertain all over again. "We would get good news then it turned out to be not-so-great news," she sighed. "It was like this for a while."
Part of what helped turn the tide was learning how to speak the Capitol's language. Waggoner discovered that state Senators respond to graphics and data, so she built a map of the United States, coloring in every state that received funding from its state government for Special Olympics Programs.
Laid out side by side, the map made an uncomfortable fact immediately clear: Nebraska was not one of the colored-in states. She paired that visual with a series of easy-read documents designed to help athletes themselves prepare to meet with government officials, bringing athletes into the process rather than just advocating on their behalf.
The strategy worked. In 2023, Cavanaugh's bill delivered a one-time payment of $500,000 in state funding. More recently, Senator Dunixi Guereca picked up the effort, helping the organization secure $600,000 spread across two years.
"These two [Senator Cavanaugh and Senator Guereca] got us state funding," Waggoner said, "but honestly, so many Senators have helped in some way or supported us by showing up at state games and events."
From Strangers to Familiar Faces
By the third year of sustained engagement, something had shifted. Waggoner no longer had to explain what Special Olympics Nebraska did when she walked into a Senator's office. Senators knew her and other Special Olympics athletes by name.
That familiarity has turned into tradition. The organization's State Hill Day has become, in Waggoner's words, one of the Senators' favorite days on the calendar: advocates and athletes dress in red and fill the Capitol Rotunda, a moving comparison to their first visit when it was just their small team pushing through the crowded statehouse.
Now, Senators ask every year whether Special Olympics Nebraska is hosting another Hill Day. Among Waggoner's favorite memories is a Unified Cornhole the organization hosted on the Capitol lawn, an event with a strong enough turnout that she hopes to make it an annual fixture.
Impact Beyond the Statehouse
The funding secured through years of relationship-building at the Capitol has translated into tangible growth outside it. Special Olympics Nebraska was able to hire staff dedicated to the state's rural areas, a hire that expanded Unified Schools programming and health initiatives in a part of the state that hadn't previously received that kind of dedicated support. As a result, the number of athletes and Unified partners in that region doubled, for the first time in the organization's history there.
For Waggoner, the stakes of this work extend well beyond any single bill or budget line. "Making an impact on the legislative space is very important," she said. "Every day, individuals with disabilities are losing their right to live, hold a job, be part of a community, and access health care. It's important more than ever that we advocate for people with disabilities and their right to be part of this society, that we feel seen and belong."
What Comes Next
Waggoner and her colleagues aren't slowing down. Plans are underway to grow the number of athletes directly involved in State Hill Day and to give athletes a bigger role in the process itself, including inviting Senators to events themselves rather than leaving that task to staff.
But the road ahead carries its own challenges. Nebraska's state budget is set every two years, and Special Olympics Nebraska is once again asking for state funding, this time meeting sixteen new state Senators, and forging some relationships nearly from scratch.
Still, if the previous years are any indication, that's a challenge Waggoner and Special Olympics Nebraska know how to meet.
Advocacy in Action
Today, Waggoner sees a different landscape than the one she and her colleagues navigated in those initial years. The uncertainty that once defined the relationship between advocates and lawmakers has given way to something steadier.
"I feel like at this moment we are in a good place, that our State Senators want the best for us," she said.
This sustained partnership between Special Olympics and Nebraska's legislature all started with one brave attempt. And as Waggoner has proven, sometimes that’s all it takes to create change.
