Advocacy around research is important, especially because Down syndrome is the least funded genetic condition by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Category Archives: Advocacy
APRIL A TO Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE: Jobs
Employment is a difficult subject in the Ds community. It is a reason for advocacy but it is also a source for heated, emotional debate within the community.
APRIL A TO Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE: Information
Of all the tools a good advocate needs, information is the most important.
Continue reading APRIL A TO Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE: Information
APRIL A TO Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE: Health
Aging with Down syndrome creates new health challenges. Families are helping each other by sharing what they learn.
APRIL A TO Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE: Groups
“The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.” – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
APRIL A TO Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE: Education
A great deal of advocacy work has centered on K-12 education. Today advocates are looking at new ways to define education for adults with intellectual disabilities.
April A to Z Blogging Challenge: Civil Rights
The disability community at large has been fighting for civil rights for decades.
April A to Z blogging Challenge: What Is Advocacy?

Merriam-Webster defines advocacy as:
the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal.
Advocacy is something that we, as parents of individuals with Down syndrome, are introduced to as soon as our children are born. What I’ve learned over thirty-some years is that no parent describes advocacy exactly the same way.
Continue reading April A to Z blogging Challenge: What Is Advocacy?Missouri Families and Lawmakers Fight to Save Sheltered Workshops
A new Missouri state resolution reaffirms the state’s support of sheltered workshops after disabled people and their families band together to “protect the right to choose sheltered employment as a valuable work choice.”
Continue reading Missouri Families and Lawmakers Fight to Save Sheltered Workshops
What would you talk to your Congressional leaders about if you had the chance?
There are two events coming up, at the end of March/beginning of April, that are aimed at advocacy in the disability and Ds community and meeting with Congressional leaders on The Hill. The first is the 2017 DISABILITY POLICY SEMINAR (DPS), a 4-day event (March19-22) hosted by: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (aaidd), The Arc, Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, and United Cerebral Palsy. The second, is the annual Buddy Walk on Washington (BWW) (April 4-5) hosted by the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS). Continue reading What would you talk to your Congressional leaders about if you had the chance?