A History of Self-Advocacy
in New York State
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The First Groups in New York State: Self-Advocates of Central New York supported by the Center for Human Policy in Syracuse. Michael Kennedy was one of the leaders of this group. They conducted conferences and advocated for change in the Syracuse area. Some of their membership is involved with making changes at the Syracuse DC. Bronx Self-Advocacy Group: Founded by Joanne Siegel and affiliated with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Science in the Bronx. The group has been meeting since 1977 with the same advisor. The group meets monthly. March 1986: Interserv (consulting firm) sponsored a tri-state conference in New Jersey at Scanticon in Princeton. Although it was called a tri-state conference, representatives from the following states were present: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. At this conference many New Yorkers had their first exposure to the power of collectively advocating for change. Commissioner Art Webb financially supported about 10 self-advocates from New York to attend this overnight conference. There were an equal number of self-advocates and agency staff members. Self-advocates and staff members shared overnight accommodations in an attempt to get to know each other and to learn from each other. The following 18 New Yorkers attended a similar conference in Stanford, Connecticut. June 1986: Bernard J. Carabello founded the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State, Inc. and began his work to organize a statewide self-advocacy association. Mr. Carabello secured office space from the Resource Center for Developmental Disabilities in New York City and began negotiating with New York State OMRDD to receive a family support grant of $25,000. Staff from the Resource Center provided technical assistance. December 5 and 6, 1986: The first steering committee was held at the Quality Inn in Albany, New York. OMRDD gave the Association money for sponsoring these meetings. At the conclusion of this two day meeting, there were 10 people appointed to continue to meet and serve as the SA Steering Committee. All of these individuals were consumers of services and represented the regions from throughout the state. February 20 and 21, 1987: The Steering Committee met at the Albany Hilton hotel. It was determined at this meeting that at least 75% of the Steering Committee membership should include persons with a disability. Sub - committees were established including : Local Organizing, Incorporation/By-laws, Fundraising, Conference committee, Personnel Practices and a Political sub-committee. April 24 and 25, 1987: The SA Steering Committee meet again in Albany at the Hilton hotel and the committees worked on various assignments. July 31 and August 1, 1987: The Steering Committee met again in Albany and the by-laws of the SA Association were reviewed, discussed and rewritten. An Evaluation Review Committee was set-up to review and monitor the goals and progress of the Association. January 29 and 30, 1988: A Certificate of Incorporation was granted to the SA Association. The Association was registered as a Public Education group rather than a Lobbying group so that more funds could be accessed. The following guest speakers presented to the committee over the weekend: Marilyn Wessels, Director, New York State Select Committee on the Disabled; Michael Reif, Chairperson, DDPC; and Richard Jung, Director of the Bureau of Management and Evaluation of OMRDD. The goals for 1988 included: increase the number of local advocacy groups in the state and increase employment of persons with disabilities in provider agencies. June 18, 1988: A one day leadership and training conference was held in New York City with a $2,500. grant from the New York State DDPC. October 7 and 8, 1988: Steering Committee meeting held at the Albany Hilton hotel. The following goals were established for 1989: 1. To get more local self-advocacy groups started, 2. Train advisors for local groups, 3. Increase individual membership in the SA Association, 4. Inform/educate legislators, and 5. fund raise. The first Board of Directors was elected and was approved unanimously. 11 members were elected. December, 1988: The SA Association is formally incorporated as a 501 C 3 . 1989: In 1989 the SA Association received a grant of $25,000. from the New York Community Trust to initiate self-advocacy groups in the New York City area. June 24, 1989: A conference for over 300 self-advocates was held at Hunter College in New York City. The conference was planned by self-advocates and there were a variety of workshops offered. A videotape entitled: ŇOur Voices CountÓ was produced from this conference. September 1989: In September 1989 the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council announced their funding priorities with consumer empowerment through self-advocacy as a priority. As an outcome of this grant, ten new self-advocacy groups were established in various parts of the state. 1990: In 1990 the SA Association received a grant from the New York Foundation to initiate more self-advocacy activities throughout New York City. June 30, 1990: Dance for Self-Advocacy held at Hunter College with over 350 self-advocates in attendance. September 6 and 7, 1991: First statewide self-advocacy conference held at the Albany Marriott Hotel with 500 individuals participating. 45 local self-advocacy groups were represented at this conference. A new Board of Directors was elected by the membership with directors terms lasting three years. The new board met on Saturday, September 7 and selected officers. March 21, 1992: Board of Directors meet in Albany for an afternoon meeting. Regional conferences are being planned for the Western region, Hudson Valley, Central region and Long Island. July 2, 1992: SA Board of Directors met in New York City. The resignation of Executive Director, Bernard J. Carabello was accepted. The board reorganized the central staff structure and choose not to have an Executive Director position. They created a position called Director of Public Education and Group Support to assure that a person with a disability was the lead communicator statewide. May 1992: An all day meeting was held in New York City with the self-advocacy leadership to establish short term and long term priorities for the Association. A consultant was funded by the New York Foundation to assist with this process. September 11 and 12, 1992: The SA Board and staff met with Commissioner Elin Howe to talk about the activities of the Association. OMRDD promised to fund a pilot grass roots organizing plan in the Hudson Valley and to fund similar plans for April 1993 throughout the state. The Regional Organizer and field assistant position will both work approximately 10 hours a week to promote local organizing in their region. An Advisory Board of five individuals was selected by the board to assist the board at meetings. The second statewide conference was held in Albany with 650 individuals in attendance. 65 groups are now meeting regularly throughout the state, with each group working on their own advocacy issues. 1993 In 1993, SA initiated a Grass Roots Organizing Program (GROP), to help develop and support local groups across the State. Part-time regional organizer and field assistant postions were created to staff each of the six New York regions: New York City, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Capital District/Northern, Syracuse/Central and Western. Many of the GROP staff are self-advocates. 1996 SA celebrated it's tenth anniversary at its sixth annual conference held in September of 1996. Over 500 self-advocates attended this three day event. Currently: The SA organization is governed by an eighteen member Board of Directors, consisting of three members from each region. According to SA's by-laws, sixteen of the eighteen members must be people with disabilities. There are also six advisory board members, one from each region, who support board members and regional activities. SA has two full-time staff and two part-time staff who assist the board in administering the statewide efforts. At this time, there are over 120 local self-advocacy groups throughout New York State, with a total membership of over 2,000 self-advocates. Prepared January 6, 1993 |