SABE Chief Plans to Expand Advocacy
Efforts
By Susan Cohen
According to Self Advocates Becoming
Empowered (SABE), self-advocacy organizations are in every state in the U.S.
They are composed of individuals with intellectual and developmental
disabilities who want the same choices, opportunities and responsibilities as
other United States citizens.
Each self-advocacy association has its own
board of directors and its own agenda, which focuses on issues important to its
members. These issues include housing, transportation, employment, voting
access and independence in the community, among others.
Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, formed
in 1991, is composed of representatives of all the self-advocacy associations
in the United States, divided into nine regions. SABE representatives meet four
times a year and have a national conference every two years. The next
conference is in 2011 in Washington, D.C.
SABE's organizational mission is to ensure
that people with disabilities are treated as equals and given the same choices,
rights, responsibilities and opportunities to speak up as anyone else, in
addition to the opportunities to make new friends and to learn from their
mistakes.
SABE, in conjunction with other disability
organizations, pushed hard for the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, which was passed
in September. It also co-sponsored two presidential forums, one in New
Hampshire and one in Ohio, according to Chester Finn, president of SABE. The
forums marked the first time the disability community demanded and was granted
involvement in presidential politics.
In September elections, Finn, a resident
of Albany, N.Y., was chosen president for a third term and Tia Nelis of Chicago
was chosen vice president.
"Traditionally, individuals with
intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities have been consistently
surrounded by the misperception that we are not able," said Finn, a veteran
Washington, D.C., advocate. "Therefore, when well-meaning parents and
professionals advocate for us in Washington, the things we really need, such as
living independently in the community with the appropriate supports, being
employed competitively and getting equal access to voting, … have not been
communicated properly."
A demonstration of advocacy by "well
meaning others" is the 70% unemployment rate among individuals with
intellectual and developmental disabilities, Finn said. "In the language of the
current DD (Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights) Act,
competitive employment is not supported. Therefore, the focus of many
disability provider organizations is to keep people in sheltered workshops,
doing work by the piece in warehouse settings. This is not acceptable and needs
to be changed."
Finn said his goals for SABE are to:
- Bring in funding for the first time from the
Administration on Developmental Disabilities to self-advocacy organizations
around the country to start information and training centers. These funds
typically go to developmental disability councils, protection and advocacy
offices, and university centers.
- Change the language in the Developmental Disabilities
Act and the Rehab Act to support competitive employment among individuals with
intellectual and developmental disabilities. The current language supports
people not working and focuses on raises for support professionals.
- Provide a large-scale grass-roots education of parents,
service providers and lawmakers to let them know what people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities want and need.
- Continue to push for equal voting access among
individuals with disabilities.
- Push for the closing of group homes and institutions
that do not provide community integration opportunities.
- Push for affordable housing along with a coalition of
other disability organizations.
Asked if SABE will work with other
disability organizations on a general disability agenda, Finn said his
organization will work on certain issues where there is common ground, such as
voting access, but will continue to advocate for the specific needs of people
with intellectual and developmental disabilities. "We do not want our needs to
continue to get lost between the cracks in Washington," he said.
"In order for the DD Act to be rewritten,
self-advocates need to rewrite it. We can no longer depend on our parents, care
providers or uninformed lawmakers to represent our needs. They do not live our
lives. That is why the work SABE does is so important. SABE organizes at the
grass roots and gets the voices of individuals with intellectual and
developmental disabilities heard and treated with respect."
For more information, go to
www.SABE.org.
Susan Cohen is an independent
consultant focusing on accessibility issues. She can be contacted at
sdaretodream@aol.com. |
