FROM MY RECENT VOICE PRESENTATION ON SELF-ADVOCACY

Self-advocacy, as defined on the Wrightslaw website, is “learning how to speak up for yourself, making your own decisions about your own life, learning how to get information so that you can understand things that are of interest to you, finding out who will support you in your journey, knowing your rights and responsibilities, problem solving, listening and learning, reaching out to others when you need help and friendship, and learning about self-determination”

Because we are talking about self-advocacy, the resources on Wrightslaw are primarily aimed those 18 and older, however, included are guides to self-advocacy for teens, on preparing to transition from a high school setting, and on building self-advocacy skills from an early age

I’ve selected some resources to highlight:

The Arizona Center for Disability Law puts out self-advocacy guides, which discuss how to advocate for oneself under current law, for example, under the ADA, health care, fair housing, employment, special ed. law, etc.

Many states have what are called, youth information, training and resource centers funded by grants from the Dept. Health & Human Services:
The goal being to “support an increasing ability of individuals with developmental disabilities to exercise greater choice, self-determination and to engage in leadership activities in their communities.”
California’s is called the Center for Emerging Leadership: Empowering Youth, Building Community, and Enhancing Lives or (CEL), based in San Diego.

Self-advocacy orgs include: People First, Speaking for Ourselves, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, and ACT (Advocating Change Together), which is most interesting to me because of its focus on political change through self-advocacy.

ACT is a “grassroots disability rights organization run by and for people with developmental and other disabilities. ACT's mission is to help people across disabilities to see themselves as part of a larger disability rights movement and make connections to other civil and human rights struggles.” (ACT website)

A free handbook called ”We Have Human Rights”, put out by the Harvard Project on Disability and featured on ACT’s website, outlines international law as it relates to persons with disabilities, specifically discussing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which the U.S. only recently signed to in 2009.

In conclusion, various self-advocacy organizations, guides, and other resources exist to help people navigate the law to meet their immediate needs and to make long-term change.