Resources: EmPOWERment through Leadership Training
"My Voice, My Choice" was developed to provide people with developmental disabilities the information they need about participant-driven supports. http://www.hsri.org/
Self-advocates in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington have used this curriculum. They have demonstrated that self-advocates are ready to help shape policy and practice across the country. Specifically, the curriculum does five things:
- It provides self-advocates with information on what changes are taking place in the developmental disabilities field and why they are happening.
- It helps participants decide what they want from a service system. It explains community integration and self-determination for people with developmental disabilities. It prepares individuals to advocate for changes that are consistent with these principles.
- It encourages self-advocates to investigate what is happening in their state. The manual shows self-advocates how to look at things in their own local communities and states to see what kinds of services exist and how money is being spent.
- It allows participants to compare local action with their own standards for community integration and self-determination. Self-advocates are provided with opportunities to compare the changes that are happening in their local communities and states, with the changes they would like to see happen.
- It explores ways for participants to get involved by educating others or by helping to shape changes in their state. The curriculum informs self-advocates on the many ways that they can become active participants in the planning and decision-making activities in their state - in local and statewide systems change, and in planning their own services and supports.
The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN - http://nyln.org/) is dedicated to advancing the next generation of disability leaders. The NYLN:
- Promotes leadership development, education, employment, independent living, and health and wellness among young leaders representing the diversity of race, ethnicity and disability in the United States.
- Fosters the inclusion of young leaders with disabilities into all aspects of society at national, state and local levels.
- Communicates about issues important to youth with disabilities and the policies and practices that affect their lives.
Partners in Policymaking® was created in Minnesota by the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities in 1987. Partners is an innovative, competency based leadership training program for adults with disabilities and parents of young children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of the program is twofold: To teach best practices in disability, and the competencies of influencing public officials.
Since 1987, Partners programs have been implemented nationally and internationally. More than 27,000 Partners graduates are part of a growing national and international network of community leaders serving on policy making committees, commissions, and boards at all levels of government. Partners programs are increasingly available as self directed e-learning courses. These e-learning courses are available to everyone!
"Partners in Education," a six-hour self directed e-learning course to help parents with children with developmental disabilities better understand and maximize the benefits of special education services and inclusion for their children, is now available. Updates to this course regarding the results of the IDEA reauthorization, now titled the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004, will be made when an accurate and comprehensive summary is available. www.partnersonlinecourses.com/partners-in-education
"Making Your Case" is a three-hour self directed course on how to communicate with public officials by effectively telling your personal story, writing a letter, providing testimony, and communicating in positive ways. www.partnersonlinecourses.com/partners-in-making-your-case
"Partners in Employment" is a six-hour self directed course on how to find a job, write a resume, participate in an interview, and plan for your career. www.partnersonlinecourses.com/partners-in-employment
"Partners in Time" is an eight-hour self-study course that explores how people have lived, learned, and worked throughout history; common themes; and how history repeats itself in its perceptions and treatment of people with disabilities. www.partnersonlinecourses.com/partners-in-time
"Partners in Living" is a self-study course created to help people with developmental disabilities, their family and friends explore four important elements that, together, can help them create a meaningful life: Self-Determination, Family Support, Community Living and Assistive Technology http://www.partnersonlinecourses.com/partners-in-living