Latinos with disabilities in the United States are often faced with the dual challenges of being part of a minority and dealing with a language barrier. There is a new program in Denton, Texas for Latinos with disabilities who face multiple barriers that offers training on civil rights and other issues: the Denton County Advocate Training Project.

Despite an array of available services, information often is difficult to transmit to Latinos. Latinos live all over Texas but our close-knit culture often makes it difficult for service providers to reach us with information. Latinos with disabilities, for example, should be aware of their civil rights so they can participate in social and employment activities. Often we do not know our rights. This is especially true for first-generation families who do not contact social services because they are afraid and unfamiliar with them and do not speak English well.

Self-Advocacy - The Basics

The Denton County Advocate Training Project is partially funded through the Texas Council on Developmental Disabilities in Austin. The project's goal is to prepare people with developmental disabilities and their families to monitor legislative changes and to provide input to legislators on laws that will affect their lives. To do this project staff provide training about self-advocacy, advocacy around the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other current legislation. Participants learn advocacy skills and then develop personal agendas and action plans with the staff's support in implementing these goals. Claudette Fette is the Director of the Denton County Advocacy Training Project.

Claudette said, "While there are small pockets of effective advocacy efforts within specific disability-related groups, as a community we are fragmented. Our voice would be stronger if we supported each other and if more people had information about how to advocate for themselves and for others with disabilities." In order to bring the community together, project staff strive to make the curriculum flexible to meet the needs of any group or individual who would like to participate in it.

For example, a current participant wants to implement the training with a group of parents of children with cognitive impariments. Project staff adapted the curriculum to make that happen. Advocacy trainers adjust the length of the trainings so adults with less physical endurance can participate. Project staff work to develop an accessible project that meets the participants' needs.

Latino Representation

"We have not had any Latino participants yet," said Claudette. She continued, "The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Dallas is one of our original community partners and expressed interest in getting the training to the Latino community but there are several barriers preventing that." One barrier is that the training curriculum and materials have not been translated into Spanish. Another is that they do not have bilingual trainers who could give the seminar in Spanish.

Turning Latinos with Disabilities into Self-Advocates

Claudette continued, "It is very important that we translate the program into Spanish because there are many Latino adults and children with disabilities who need to know their rights and how to protect them who are still learning English."

Despite the fact that no Latinos have participated in the program thus far, the trainers are a diverse bunch including a variety of races/ethnicities and disabilities. Claudette is striving to increase the diversity of everyone involved in the project. This will help ensure people with disabilities have a loud, strong, diverse voice that legislators will hear.

Claudette hopes to identify bilingual trainers by attracting bilingual program participants who can then be trained and retained as trainers. She is confident that if program staff develop trainings that are culturally and linguistically competent that Latinos will participate in the program in increasing numbers.

There are all kinds of ways to work together to assure the rights of people with disabilities from diverse groups are protected. In regards to self-advocacy Claudette concluded, "Your experience has power and nobody can communicate it as well as when it is done in your voice."

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