Advocacy 101

All disabled people have the right to participate in political and public life, including through advocacy and self-representation. This page centers disabled people’s expertise and is informed by decades of disabled-led organizing globally.

Advocacy means speaking, acting, or organizing to influence decisions about disability rights, services, community supports, or cultural attitudes. Advocacy can be individual, community-based, or systemic—and all forms matter.

What Advocacy Is (and Isn’t)

Advocacy is:

Asking for what you need and supporting others in doing the same
Challenging policies or practices that create barriers
Educating people about disability and access
Building collective power to create change
An ongoing practice, not a single event

Advocacy is not:

Being confrontational for its own sake
Speaking over disabled people about their experiences
Something only “leaders” or “experts” can do

Everyone has a role in advocacy. What that looks like depends on your energy, capacity, skills, and interests.

Types of Advocacy

Self-Advocacy

Self-advocacy means representing yourself and your own interests. This includes:

Asking for accommodations at work, school, or in healthcare
Navigating services and systems
Speaking up about barriers you encounter
Making decisions about your own life

Self-advocacy is foundational. Before movements can advocate for collective change, individuals learn to advocate for themselves.

Peer Advocacy

Peer advocacy involves supporting another disabled person through their own advocacy. This includes:

Helping someone navigate systems you’ve already experienced
Sharing knowledge and resources
Accompanying someone to meetings or appointments
Listening and offering perspective from lived experience

Peer advocacy recognizes that disabled people often understand each other’s situations better than non-disabled professionals.

Systems Advocacy

Systems advocacy targets policies, institutions, and structures that create barriers. This includes:

Organizing to change laws or regulations
Pressuring institutions to improve accessibility
Coalition-building across disability communities
Collective action like protests, campaigns, or public testimony

Systems change creates impact beyond individual situations.

Digital Advocacy

Digital advocacy uses online platforms to advance disability rights. This includes:

Creating content that educates about disability
Running online campaigns and petitions
Countering misinformation about disabled people
Building community networks and mutual support

Digital advocacy has expanded who can participate in movements, especially for disabled people who face barriers to in-person organizing.

How to Begin

Identify an issue that affects you or your community
Learn your rights under disability law (see Rights & Advocacy)
Talk with others who are affected by the same issue
Find organizations already working on it—you don’t have to start from scratch
Decide what role fits your capacity, skills, and interests
Start small, then build momentum over time

You don’t need to be an expert to start advocating. You just need to care about an issue and be willing to take action.

Skills That Help

These skills can strengthen your advocacy, and all can be developed over time:

Telling your story effectively: Connecting personal experience to broader issues
Understanding disability law: Knowing your rights strengthens your position (see Rights & Advocacy)
Building coalitions: Working with others who share your goals
Written communication: Emails, letters, testimony, and social media
Making accessible materials: Ensuring your advocacy reaches disabled people
Maintaining boundaries: Advocacy without burning out requires self-care

Resources

Disabled-Led Organizations

ADAPT: National grassroots disability rights organization using direct action
National Council on Independent Living (NCIL): Cross-disability advocacy and policy work
Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN): Autistic-led policy and systems advocacy
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF): Legal advocacy and policy center led by disabled people
Not Dead Yet: Disability rights opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia

Learning Resources

NCIL Advocacy and Lobbying in CILs: Understanding advocacy vs. lobbying
Tools for Power: Resource Kit for Independent Living: International resource on organizing and advocacy
No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement by Joseph Shapiro: Foundational history of the U.S. disability rights movement

This page centers disabled people’s expertise and is informed by disabled-led organizing globally. For questions or to suggest additions, see How to Contribute.

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Have lived experience or expertise that could strengthen this page? We especially welcome perspectives on models not well represented here, including those from the Global South and Indigenous communities.

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