Helping People Speak for Themselves [PDF]

John O’Brien

Helping People with Disabilities Speak Effectively for Themselves

John O’Brien – May 1990

 This conference gathered people with long involvement in developing self advocacy groups for people with developmental disabilities in seven states Some participants are people with developmen­tal disabilities; the rest are not. Some participants are leaders in local and state self advocacy groups, others are paid staff responsible for supporting self­advocacy, others are volunteer helpers for self advocacy groups. All of the people who attended took an active part in the meeting.•

Participants shared their experiences in response to three questions:
? What works to help people speak for themselves to change their own lives? [page 1-51
? What works to help people speak out to change conditions for all people with disabilities? [page 6-111
? What will strengthen self advocacy? [page 12-141