Self Advocacy

 

Self-advocacy, quite simply, means advocating for one's self, standing up for one's rights. For thousands of people with disabilities around the world, self-advocacy is a term of personal identity, focusing on one's political power and right to self-determination. It is also a civil rights movement that represents individuals of all races, colors, and religions who have been systematically neglected, abused, incarcerated, and misunderstood for most of history.

Self-advocacy – as a personal and political philosophy – is a movement primarily by individuals labeled with a developmental disability who are making their own decisions, speaking for themselves and for others with disabilities, and taking control over their lives. Self-advocacy is both parts of the larger disability rights movement and a separate movement that concentrates on major issues of concern for persons with developmental disabilities.