Allies in Self-Advocacy
The Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) funded self-advocacy summit sand leadership gatherings of self-advocates and partners to gather information around self-advocacy activities and policies in each of the 56 U.S. states and territories. The goal was to learn what each state was doing around self-advocacy, help each state develop and present a state plan to strengthen their activities around this area, and develop national policy recommendations for AIDD and its partnering organizations.
Valuing the vital importance of the self-advocacy movement, the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) launched an unprecedented commitment to better understand the current state of the movement, promote state team planning, and develop suggestions for national actions and policy to support the movement. In collaboration with the Developmental Disabilities network, self-advocates, and allies, a series of nine regional summits across the country were held in 2011 and 2012 to promote collaboration, planning, and recommendations at the state and national levels. Every U.S. state and territory participated in the initiative.
