Community Organizing
Community Organizing at Access Living
At Access Living, we take pride in supporting our grassroots leaders with disabilities. Our Chicago disability advocacy community is vibrant and diverse. We believe in the capacity of ordinary folks with disabilities to speak truth to power and win social change. We also believe that advocacy liberates the human spirit. For more than 30 years, Chicago grassroots disability advocates have truly lived the South African saying “Nothing About Us Without Us!”
Together, our group leaders also meet regularly through our Access Living people’s coalition, Power to the People (PtP), for leadership development and community sharing. The Advocacy Department’s Community Development and Organizing Team currently supports six grassroots groups led by consumers:
Advance Youth Leadership Power (AYLP): young people with disabilities ages 16-24 organize and educate on youth-related issues. Staff contact: Candace Coleman, (312) 640-2128 or ccoleman@accessliving.org.
Cambiando Vidas (Changing Lives): Latinos with disabilities organize for community supports and disability education in the Latino community. Staff contact: Michelle Robbins, (312) 640-2194 or mrobbins@accessliving.org (se habla Español).
Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing (DRACH): DRACH fights for housing rights for people with disabilities, especially those in public housing. Staff contact: Adam Ballard, (312) 640-2195 or aballard@accessliving.org.
Disabled Americans Want Work Now (DAWWN): DAWWN fights for employment rights related to vocational rehabilitation and other employment programs. Staff contact: Aziza Nassar, (312) 640-2120 or anassar@accessliving.org.
Empowered Fe Fes: Girls and women with disabilities campaign on disability issues through a gender perspective.
Staff contact: Fulani Thrasher, (312) 640-2190 or FThrasher@accessliving.org.
Task Force on Attendant Services (TFAS, pronounced “tough ass”): People with disabilities and personal attendants mobilize together for the right to home and community based services.
Staff contact: Tom Wilson, (312) 640-2127 or twilson@accessliving.org.
Independent Voices: Independent Voices is an advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of people who residing in Nursing Homes. People who are currently in nursing homes or people who have moved out of nursing homes are eligible for membership.
Staff contact: Tom Wilson, (312) 640-2127 or twilson@accessliving.org.
To get involved with our community organizing,
