Impact: Feature issue on self-advocacy (vol. 7, no. 1)

2004

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An organized self-advocacy movement is growing among people with developmental disabilities. This movement -- which many view as a civil rights movement -- signals a fundamental change in the self-perception of people with developmental disabilities and in the relationship between persons with disabilities and service providers, policymakers, and families. This issue of Impact looks at the issues the self-advocacy movement is raising and the contributions it is making to the lives of people with developmental disabilities. According to a recent study, an estimated 11,600 persons with disabilities are involved in the self-advocacy movement in the United States. There are over 500 active self-advocacy groups in 43 states and the District of Columbia. More and more people with developmental disabilities are claiming the right to direct their own lives. In these pages is an inside view of this emerging, grassroots movement. There are articles by self-advocates and advisors to self-advocacy organizations. They talk about their self-advocacy experiences, barriers to self-advocacy, and ways to support it. It is our hope that in reading these stories you will also embrace the belief that all people have the right to exercise control over their own lives.

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