Self-advocacy

Self-advocacy refers to the civil rights movement for people with developmental disabilities, also called cognitive or intellectual disabilities, and other disabilities. It is also an important term in the disability rights movement, referring to people with disabilities taking control of their own lives, including being in charge of their own care in the medical system. The self-advocacy movement is (in basic terms) about people with disabilities speaking up for themselves. It means that although a person with a disability may call upon the support of others, the individual is entitled to be in control of their own resources and how they are directed. It is about having the right to make life decisions without undue influence or control by others.

People with intellectual disabilities are often some of the most powerless members of society. They may live in large institutions or in smaller residences known as group homes which are staff-directed environments where residents have little or no control over their living conditions or with whom they share their living space. People with intellectual disabilities are extremely vulnerable to abuse due to their social and physical isolation. They are eight to ten times more likely to suffer sexual abuse than the non-disabled population.

The self-advocacy movement seeks to reduce the isolation of people with disabilities and give them the tools and experience to take greater control over their own lives. The self-advocacy movement for people with intellectual disabilities lags far behind many other civil rights efforts, such as those related to race or physical disabilities. This is due to many factors including low literacy and other communication challenges that are a barrier for people with intellectual disabilities.

The self-advocacy movement for people with disabilities has its roots in the broader civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s but is in many respects still in its infancy. In North America the self-advocacy movement is led by a national organization called Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) and supported by a relatively small number of organizations, such as ACT in the United States and LiveWorkPlay in Canada and internationally through the People First organization.

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