Self-Advocacy In The Disabled Community

Even today in a society deemed so accepting and open to differences, degradation and discounting of people with disabilities, both mental and physical, is still extremely prevalent. Developmental disabilities are severe long-term problems that “may be physical, [...] affect mental ability, [and] are usually lifelong and can affect everyday living” (Developmental Disabilities: MedlinePlus 2015). After the closing of many state-run institutions which housed a peak of 194,650 people in 1967, (NCD.gov n.d) many were forced to find alternative housing and programs to help them assimilate to socitey. To accommodate people with developmental disabilities, for example learning disorders or Down Syndrome, they were given monotonous tasks to keep them busy and manageable. Their humanity was disregarded and being given such menial tasks greatly affected the self-worth of those with developmental disabilities. In more recent years, the idea of self-advocacy and was introduced as a way to

Self-advocacy is described as “the ability to speak up for what we want and need” (Ryan, Griffiths, 2015). After implementing this idea, there were many positive reactions within the disabled community which led to more programs enabling the members to give back. The degradation of those with developmental disabilities is still prevailing in our society however, the introduction of self-advocacy as an educational tool for those with disabilities is helping to reduce the indignity.

Treatment of Those with Developmental Disabilities in the Past Before much research was completed to understand what was most beneficial for helping those with developmental disabilities, they were given tedious and pointless tasks to simply keep