People with intellectual disabilities are the social group most at risk of discrimination. Limited access to goods and services hinders their exercise and defence of their human rights and fundamental freedoms in their personal, community, commercial, and political life. We know from diagnosis of a group of 300 people that approximately 82% of respondents have encountered open discrimination, only 12% voted in local government and national elections, and less than 60% have contacts in the community beyond family.
The solution to vulnerability of people with intellectual disabilities is to improve their current self-advocacy skills and promote the idea of self-advocacy.
We will conduct integration workshops and self-improvement workshops (eleven meetings on topics including the Polish Constitution, self-awareness, the role of self-advocates in the local community), media communication workshops (personal presentation, public appearances, stress management, press materials, radio programs), and one-on-one coaching to achieve personal goals. We will promulgate, working with the participants, the idea of self-advocacy at six meetings in Podkarpackie voivodship organizations and at a national conference for people with intellectual disabilities, people and organizations that support them, and local government authorities. We also envisage participating in two self-advocate conferences (five people in each).
Twenty adults with intellectual disabilities will participate, from the counties of Jarosław, Przeworsk, Lubaczów , and Przemyśl. They will become more independent and expand their range of community skills, enabling them to act independently for people with intellectual disabilities. Approximately 200 conference and regional meeting attendees will learn about self-advocacy.