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- EIN 41-1360336
- (651) 641-0297
- 1821 University Ave W Ste S306 Saint Paul MN 55104-4533 USA
- www.selfadvocacy.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Civil Rights, Developmentally Disabled Centers, Disabilities, Disabled Persons Rights, Human Services, Leadership Development
Mission: Act's mission is to advance "self-advocacy" which, as its name suggests, engages people with developmental disabilities to be in charge of their own decisions and to speak for themselves. Act describes self-advocacy as a three-legged stool. The first leg is the personal empowerment that someone grows into, where they can speak for themselves and go for what they want. The second leg is understanding disability not as a physical problem within the person but as a discrimination problem within society. The third leg is the social change movement, where people with disabilities join together (organize) to get the power to change society.
Programs: Act facilitates meetings big and small to help people find their own power and assert their right to self-determination. From a biennial state conference for 500 minnesota self-advocates, to train-the-trainer sessions in each region of the state, to music for social change interactive arts work, to intensive human rights retreats, act is building leadership and human rights change every day. Since 1996, act has amplified its effectiveness by developing a wide variety of leadership training materials, used by thousands of self-advocacy groups across the nation. Act administers and facilitates a statewide network of self-advocacy groups promoting personal empowerment, disability awareness and systems change. Act convened and lead a coalition of disability rights and advocacy organizations, who are working to honor people who lived and died in minnesota's institutions. Act also launched a leadership program called the olmstead academy, with 21 participants across the state, that positions self-advocates as leaders in responding to the new federal mandate for greater community integration.