You have to know where you have been in order to know where you are going.
In January, we provided Part I of the history of AdvocacyDenver. We were established May 12, 1954, by parents to address the lack of access for children with disabilities to public education and in-home support. Advocacy is the foundation of our agency. Individual advocacy is important, but real change, systemic change is the result of policy advocacy.
Think back to the founding families who in 1954 lobbied first at a local level and then a national level for public policy that would forward the rights of children with disabilities. At a national level Public Law 89-313 Elementary and Secondary Education Act Amendments of 1965 provided authorized grants to state institutions and state operated schools devoted to the education of children with disabilities. That same year, Colorado passed major legislation for the education of children with disabilities, The Handicapped Children’s Education Act of 1965.
In 1954 and the decades going forward AdvocacyDenver staff, parents, members, and community partners lobbied for policy focused on eliminating the barriers to education, employment, and community. AdvocacyDenver stood with community partners demanding policy to eliminate sheltered workshops; Protections of Persons from Restraint and Seclusion amendment to ban prone restraint; House Bill 14-1051 (Developmental Disabilities Strategic Plan) aimed at ending the wait list for services for individuals with intellectual nd developmental disabilities; Supported Decision Making as an alternative to guardianship…
Going forward AdvocacyDenver will actively lobby for national, state and local policy that advances best practices and the human/civil rights of individuals with disabilities and/or against policy that compromises those rights.
‘Champion for the Underserved’ Leaves Legacy of Wait List Reform
An interview with Catherine Strode from May 8, 2014
After six years in office, State Representative Sue Schafer (House District 24) is not seeking reelection. It is her vision that along with her personal retirement will come the retirement of the term, ‘the wait list.’ The passage of House Bill 14-1051, which she sponsored this session, provides for a strategic plan to retire not only the term, but the existence of, the wait list for services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by the year 2020.
In an interview with Catherine Strode, the Health Care Advocacy Program’s Consultant, Representative Schafer discusses the goals of House Bill 14-1051 and how the bill represents her work as a legislator, her contribution to the state, and, her legacy.