Self Advocacy - Publications and Reports
People with Intellectual Disabilities Can Decide More by Themselves (2006), from the European Platform of Self Advocates and Inclusion Europe, offers eight suggestions of how family members and professionals can promote self-advocacy and support people with intellectual disabilities in being self advocates. The brochure is also available in French, Italian, Dutch, Greek, Czech, Spanish, and Portuguese. Please contact self-advocacy@inclusion-europe.org or visit http://www.inclusion-europe.org/ for more information.
Hear Our Voices; People with an Intellectual Disability and their Families Speak out on Poverty and Exclusion (2006), from Inclusion International, is the story of poverty and exclusion told by individuals and families in more than 80 countries. Inclusion International has also produced a 10-minute video, showing photos from around the world and sharing statistics on disability and poverty.
Exploring Experiences of Advocacy by People with Learning Disabilities - Testimonies of Resistance (2006), edited by D. Mitchell, R. Traustadottir, R. Chapman, L. Townson, N. Ingham and S. Ledger. Available from Jessica Kingsley Publisher, http://www.jkp.com/, ISBN 1-84310-359-1.
Inclusion Europe publishes Europe for Us, the newsletter of the European Self-Advocates Movement. Issues are available from 2001 to the present and address a variety of topics from discrimination to the media to holidays and travel.
The brochure Rules of Good Support (2005) was developed by the the European Platform of Self-Advocates, a self-advocacy group affiliated with Inclusion Europe. The brochure is designed to be used by self-advocates and their supporters and outlines rules which can help to guide working relationships between the two groups.
Making Consultation Work: A guide for agencies that consult with people with learning disabilities, parents and carers (2005) is a report published by ENABLE, an advocacy group in Scotland. The report is a result of a series of consultations that took place between agencies and self-advocates for the process of developing community services for people with disabilities. The resulting document outlines lessons learned from the initial experiences with consultation and lists "10 top tips for good practice."
On the occasion of the 2003 Empowerment Conference - part of the European Year of People with Disabilities - the European Platform of Self-Advocates presented the European Union with a declaration that outlines important questions for the EU regarding the full social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. The document also incorporates statements of possible EU actions recommended by the EPSA. The full text of the declaration is available by clicking here.
Management of Self-Help Organizations of People with Disabilities (1997) is a publication put together by the United Nations Economics and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. The document provides information about disability self-help organizations in Asia and the Pacific, discusses management issues and different activities undertaken by such organizations in the region.
Introduction to Self Advocacy (1990), by Protection and Advocacy, is a step-by-step guide for self advocates.
Self Advocacy for People with Mental Disabilities is a brief handout on self advocacy from the Open Society Mental Health Initiative.
Auto-reprezentare, by Pentru Voi, is a Romanian-language introduction to self advocacy.
What Is Advocacy, by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities, explains in Easy-to-Read that self-advocacy means to speak up for yourself, to be listened to and be heard, to make your own choices, and to be independent.
What An Advocate Does, by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities, explains in Easy-to-Read that an advocate supports a person with intellectual disabilities in the following ways: to say what s/he wants and to be heard, to make choices and have equal opportunities, to find information, and to participate in meetings.
The United States-based National Disability Rights Network wrote a flyer called "People With Mental Disabilities Have the Right to Vote!" The flyer, in Easy to Read, was created to help people with voting. More information on voting rights is available on the NDRN website.
It's My Choice is a resource guide developed by the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. The aim of the guide is to assist advocates in supporting freedom of choice for people with intellectual disabilities. The guide is written in simple language and includes photocopy-compatible workbook pages. It is designed to assist people with intellectual disabilities in making decisions about their own lives, and it stresses the important role of self-advocacy.
The SERC Library in Middletown, Connecticut, USA, has compiled a bibliography of print resources on self-determination and self-advocacy. The resources listed in the bibliography are only available in hard copy and cannot be accessed in full through the internet. To view the bibliography, please visit:
http://www.ctserc.org/library/bibfiles/self-determine02-03.pdf.
The Center for Human Policy (CHP) at Syracuse University, Rochester, New York, USA, has made available on their website numerous articles and fact sheets on self-advocacy:
More Thoughts On Self Advocacy: The Movement, The Group, And The Individual
A Chance to be Made Whole: People First members being friends to tear down institution walls
The Value of Trust: The Perspective of a Person with a Disability
General CHP link to materials on Self-Advocacy