Advocacy

Individual advocacy 
Individual advocacy focuses on the individual with a disability and services available within the community to assist them in living independently and to eventually become their own advocate.

Systemic advocacy 
Systemic advocacy involves working together to eliminate barriers and allow people with disabilities to fully participate in their community.
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Team Access 
Team Access is a sub-committee of the Board of Directors of the Disability Network of the Thumb BWCIL. We have had an Advocacy Committee for more than twenty years. Team Access members have had training with Representatives of the Justice Department’s Specialists on ADA accessibility guidelines for buildings and facilities from the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. Team Access members use prepared checklists and special tools to measure slope and distance. TA members have the “life experience” of structural and procedural barriers, and can help describe the circumstances and offer suggestions to alleviate them. In the future, Team Access expects to expand its oversight into the procedural barriers that result from poorly thought out plans, or lack of knowledge. Team Access has come a far distance, but there is still a long way to go.