 Advocacy
The following links provide information and resources for individuals with disabilities, their families, professionals and others who want to advocate with and on behalf of individuals with disabilities.
 Organizations
Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.
The Parent Information and Training Center for the District
of Columbia. Programs and supports to train parents in leadership
and advocacy for people with disabilities.
http://www.aje-dc.org/
The Alliance For Full Participation
A partnership of organizations serving individuals with developmental disabilities to create more opportunities for people to lead full and quality lives within their community. http://www.allianceforfullparticipation.org/public/
The Arc of DC
Educate and inform key policy makers about issues important to
individuals with developmental disabilities.http://www.arcdc.net/advoc.html
The Bazelon Center
for Mental Health Law
Advocates to protect and advance the rights of adults and children who have mental illness and developmental disabilities. The website contains information and updates on current advocacy work, including the Blackman/ Jones lawsuit and special education in the District of Columbia http://www.bazelon.org/
DC Appleseed
DC Appleseed is an organization that “solves problems affecting the daily lives of those who live and work in the District of Columbia area -- from health care to voting representation to education reform to environmental concerns to jobs and housing.” www.dcappleseed.org. In late December 2006, DC Appleseed issued a book presenting a summary of the nearly 1,500 ideas submitted during Solving DC Problems Campaign 2006. You can e-mail info@dcappleseed.org to request a copy of the Solving DC Problems book or visit www.SolvingDCProblems.com to view the book online.
DC Center For Independent Living
Consumer, community-based organization to promote independent
living. http://www.dccil.org/
DC
Family EMPOWERment Center
The Family
EMPOWERment Center provides the necessary organization and support
to achieve three important objectives: Develop Family Leadership
and Governance, Individual Support and Guidance, and Policy Development.
The Center's activities are designed and operated to help families
become effective advocates. For more information on this project
see: http://www.dcqualitytrust.org/pages/index.shtml or
contact the Director DC Family EMPOWERment Center  (202) 561-1991
Ext. 16
Family Voices,
Inc.
Family Voices is a grass roots network
of families, friends and advocates who work toward ensuring
health care services for children and youth with special
health care
needs are family-centered, community-based, and comprehensive,
coordinated and are culturally and linguistically competent. It
supports partnerships between families and professionals to
achieve their goals. Each state has a local Family Voices organization
National:
http://www.familyvoices.org/
Local: Family
Voices of DC http://www.familyvoices.org/states.php?state=DC
National Disability Rights Network
A national protection and advocacy organization for individual
with disabilities. The website has information about different
issue areas and contains resources and news about disability
issues. http://www.napas.org/
Male Caregivers Advocacy Group (MCAS)
An advocacy group for men who take care of children with
special needs. Provides training and support for advocacy
for their children in the District of Columbia. Contact
Cecil Doggette at 202-835-2771 for more information.
http://www.hscsn-net.org/Outreach
Services/MCAS-English.html
Parents Advocacy Leaders Group (PALs)
PALs is a network for parents of children with special
needs provides training and support to advocate for their children
in the District of Columbia. Meetings are held once a month
at the
HSC Pediatric
Center. Contact Cecil Doggette at 202-835-2771 for more information.
http://www.hscsn-net.org/OutreachServices/PALSGroup.html
Project
ACTION
Self advocacy group of adults with developmental
disabilities who advocate for the interests of residents
with developmental disabilities of the District of Columbia
and it's surrounding areas. Contact
Rebecca Salon, Advisor (202-529-7600) or Phyllis Holton,
Advisor (2020-448-1458) for more information.
Quality
Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, Inc.
Advocacy organizations
for people with developmental disabilities in the District
of Columbia. Provides
advocacy services, monitors the quality of services and ensures
access to legal services. http://www.dcqualitytrust.org/pages/index.shtml
University
Legal Services
Non-profit organization
that is the District of Columbia's mandated protection
and advocacy program for the rights of people with disabilities. http://www.uls-dc.org/PAP.htm
Advocacy Resources
Know Your Rights
University Legal Services Protection and Advocacy Program for
the District of Columbia has a new set of resources in English
and Spanish about the rights of people with disabilities around
community integration, physical access, accommodations, service
animals, voting and more. Click
here to visit their webpage
and join their on line group for parents and students with
disabilities. http://www.uls-dc.org/What's_New.htm
Leaders in Self Advocate Stories
Bancroft Library at the University of California has a new
collection of oral histories of leaders in the self-advocacy
movement. http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/subjectarea/ics_movements/self_advocacy.html.
There is also a collection on disability rights and independent
living movement at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/index.html
Family Advocating Through Letter Writing
The Parent to Parent organization in New York state developed
this booklet with hints, suggestions or models for families
to use when writing letters. It is designed to help families
in accessing health care for children and advocacy. Many
times families are asked to “Put your request in writing”;
for the parents of children with disabilities this booklet
helps on their journey to learning to advocate, learning
to research and learning how to communicate with multiple
systems.
http://hcbs.org/moreInfo.php/nb/doc/1814/Advocating_Through_Letter_Writing
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