Building Leaders: How “My Voice. My Participation. My Board.” Opens Doors for Self-Advocates

In Georgia, a training program is helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities become leaders in their communities. My Voice. My Participation. My Board. is a program that started in 2014, and has trained 85 Georgians to serve on boards and advisory councils across the state.

The program was created to solve a problem. State agencies and nonprofit organizations were making decisions about people with disabilities, but people with disabilities weren't part of those conversations. When the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) tried to form an advisory council, they realized they needed self-advocates at the table. That's when a rep from DBHDD reached out to the Center for Leadership in Disability to create a solution.

The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is driven by its Five Year Strategic Plan goals to improve services and supports for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD). The Council, charged with creating systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members, will work through various advocacy and capacity building activities to build a more interdependent, self-sufficient, and integrated and included disability community across Georgia.

This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001GASCDD-03, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.