2026 Awards and Honors 

About the Linda Gonzales Award:

Linda Gonzales was the first Executive Director of APRIL for 20 years, and truly was a visionary when it came to including youth with disabilities as leaders in the rural Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement and more specifically, the APRIL youth movement. It is a great honor to give this award to recognize and celebrate Linda’s many contributions to the youth movement and Independent Living. 

Congratulations to our 2026 Linda Gonzales Award Winner for Outstanding Rural Youth: Andy Barlow

Andy has grown as a person and is very confident in her ability to advocate for the needs of the disability community. Andy has taught advocacy classes at Utah Youth Leadership conference, the 2025 APRIL Conference, and for all of the IL centers in Utah. Andy helped the Utah IL network advocate for additional funding from the state legislature in 2026. Currently Andy serves on the Utah Independent Living Center Board of Directors and is a past member of the USILC Youth Committee.  Andy is selfless and helps anyone who needs a hand. Andy always seems happiest when she is advocating or helping someone learn how to advocate. She inspires us daily to be better members of the independent living community and has proven time and time again why she is a resonating voice in the Utah Independent living community.

Tylee Harmon, Executive Director of the UT SILC has had the pleasure of working with Andy from the time she was 17. She is a graduate of The NINJA youth leadership conference and was a staff mentor at the conference for 3 years. She serves on the SILC and until recently served as the chair of the Youth leadership committee. Andy is passionate about Independent Living and often volunteers her time to teach self-advocacy classes at CIL's around the state. This January she was invited to be one of the self-advocates to speak at the Utah Disability advocacy day rally at the Capitol. She's been involved with APRIL for many years and is an absolute delight to work with. I can't think of another person who deserves a nomination for this award more than Commander Andy.

Kathy Self, Program Director, Utah SILC says: Andy attended 6 years of NINJA (youth leadership conference). Andy was a exemplary participant and leader. At NINJA Andy helped teach classes and was a guest speaker after she aged out. Andy is a board member at Utah Statewide Independent Living Council, she also sits on the Board at Utah Independent Living Center helping to focus and direct the important work that the Center does. Andy has been a guest speaker here at the Center as well as event at the State Capital. Andy is a perfect example of an advocate for people with disabilities.

About the APRIL Advocacy Award:

Formerly known as the Earl Walden Award, the APRIL Advocacy Award honors and recognizes an outstanding disability advocate in their field at our Annual APRIL Conference. Initially created to honor Earl Walden, a great friend and supporter of our organization in it's early years, he took APRIL under his wing when we needed an advocate on our side. We know he would be so proud to realize that his legacy continues to live on through the APRIL Advocacy Award. 

Congratulations to our 2026 APRIL Advocacy Award Winner: Mellie Adu

Mellie Adu (she/they) is an extraordinary disability advocate known for her unwavering stance on disability rights and disability justice. Having worked at Centers for Independent Living in three states, serving on the Arizona Statewide Independent Living Council (AZSILC), on staff as the State Administrator for several years, Mellie currently flexes her talent in generating strategic programs and initiatives as the Chief Executive of Strategy and Innovation at AZSILC.

Leveraging lived expertise as a person who has multiple disabilities, Mellie brings radical authenticity to the critical work of disability advocacy. Mellie is highly regarded for pioneering replicable and scalable projects, programming, and practices which create opportunities, generate solutions, and sustain enduring outcomes.

She reliably served as an APRIL SILC to SILC mentor for several states, as APRIL Board SILC Rep and Board Secretary for many years, and continues to provide SILC Peer Support. These are a few highlights among Mellie's numerous and vital contributions in Arizona and beyond, so that people who have disabilities can thrive in their communities.

Inaugural APRIL President's Award Winner:

This year is the first year we are enacting the APRIL President's Award, an opportunity to honor lifelong career advocates in the disability community.

Congratulations our 2026 APRIL President's Award Winner: Tiffany Clifford

Tiffany Clifford has dedicated 43 years to advancing independent living and creating greater opportunities for people with disabilities . Her path to this work began shortly after high school, influenced in part by her aunt, who had Down Syndrome. Her aunt had been institutionalized as a child but later moved into the community, where she was able to work and live with the supports and opportunities that allowed her to build a life of her own. Seeing that transformation sparked Tiffany's interest in working with people with disabilities and shaped her understanding of what is possible when people are given the opportunity to live in their communities.

Tiffany pursued her education at the University of North Florida, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Education with an emphasis on intellectual, behavioral, and learning disabilities. After college, she taught middle school, but quickly recognized that her strengths were less in the day-to-day classroom and more in planning, program development, and figuring out how to create effective ways for people to learn and succeed.

That realization led to an opportunity as Program Director for a nonprofit community living program serving young adults with sensory disabilities. It was there that Tiffany was introduced to the philosophy of independent living and developed a deeper understanding of the importance of access, choice, self-determination, and full participation in community life. She found a professional philosophy that aligned with what she had first observed through her aunt's experience.

After moving to Georgia, Tiffany initially considered returning to the school system. Instead, she came across a job listing for the Executive Director of Walton Options for Independent Living. She did not originally intend to apply for the position. She simply reached out to express her interest in potential opportunities with the organization. The Board of Directors, however, saw something in her that she had not anticipated and encouraged her to accept the Executive Director position.

Twenty-seven years later, Tiffany continues to lead Walton Options.

Throughout her tenure, Tiffany has remained committed to the core principles that first drew her to independent living: that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to make their own choices, direct their own lives, participate fully in their communities, and have access to the resources and opportunities necessary to do so. Her work has also helped her recognize and more fully embrace her own identity as a person with a disability. Living with physical disabilities related to lifelong weight and autoimmune conditions has deepened her understanding of how often these experiences are dismissed or misunderstood—particularly when they are viewed as problems that should be easily fixable or as the result of a person's lack of discipline. This personal understanding reinforces her belief that disability must be recognized and respected in all its complexity, and that no person's identity or need for support should be minimized because others misunderstand the cause or nature of their disability.

Under her leadership, Walton Options has continued to expand its reach and develop programs, partnerships, and advocacy efforts that address the practical barriers people with disabilities encounter in everyday life.

Tiffany's leadership has extended beyond the organization itself. She has been deeply involved in independent living advocacy and statewide efforts to strengthen services and opportunities for people with disabilities in Georgia and South Carolina. Her approach to leadership is grounded in accountability, preparation, responsible stewardship, and a belief that advocacy must ultimately result in meaningful change in people's lives.

What began as an unexpected career path has become a commitment to independent living. Tiffany's story is ultimately one of recognizing possibility—first through her aunt's life, then through her own experience as a person with a disability, and through the people she has had the privilege to serve and advocate alongside—and spending her career helping create more opportunities for others to experience that same possibility.

Honors:

We want to honor some of our APRIL Board Members who will be ending their tenure on the board. Please join us in recognizing the contributions they have made and the dedication they have put forth to make APRIL a success!

Hank Bostic

Lidia Fonseca

Jill Nyberg

Angie Zimmerman

Kendra Brown

Emily Smith (Youth)

Hannah Adira (Youth)