Nicolas Meyering
Disabled advocate and AmeriCorps alumnus
“After you climb a mountain you need to help others make it to the top. It took me twenty years to live in a body that I like and sometimes admire. Now my task is to help other disabled people reach life’s milestones easier and faster than I did.
Mentoring is a collaborative, ongoing and shared process. It is work we can all do. To the next generation of disabled people I say this: ‘I want my ceiling to become your floor.'”
We are proud to induct Nicolas Meyering into the Susan Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.
Nicolas “Nico” Meyering was born and raised in upstate New York. He is a disabled man who lives with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), a rare and lifelong nervous system disorder with symptoms including cardiac pauses, respiratory arrest during sleep He is the grandson of Dutch immigrants and his parents were the first in their families to go to college.
He earned his MPA from Binghamton University, where he consulted on the school’s ten-year strategic plan, and has served on the advisory board of the CCHS Family Network, the federally-recognized nonprofit begun by his mother, since 2015. In this capacity he works to support new CCHS families, empower young people with CCHS, and recently rolled out an assistance program that provides people with CCHS-related medical equipment.
Nico was the first person with CCHS to serve in AmeriCorps, where he was stationed in California and Texas. Since 2017 he has traveled the nation giving talks about the intersections of disability with volunteerism, pop culture, and representation. He has further been active in the rare disease community, leading or collaborating on projects that help disabled adults graduate from higher education and enter the workforce. He has worked with both Global Genes and NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders.)
Nico believes strongly in creating professional, educational, and volunteer opportunities for disabled people.