Organization Spotlight: Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong
Five years ago I knew nothing about self-advocacy. I’d worked in various settings with people with intellectual disabilities, but I had never heard the term. Then one day during the pandemic, executive director Brian Kremer reached out and asked me to help out with a couple of MASS projects. Suddenly, I was in a world where the self-advocates came first and I learned about the framework of “nothing about us without us”.
Staff members without intellectual disabilities work alongside self-advocates (many of whom are paid) to run trainings, organize meetings, produce an annual conference, participate in group projects, and tackle difficult and often-ignored problems like sexual abuse. MASS also has the Rainbow Group, founded by Pauline Bosma. This group is for people with intellectual disabilities who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Pauline also offers trainings on sexuality and sexual education.
The MASS board is comprised entirely of self-advocates. MASS trainers are also all self-advocates. And there’s no project that doesn’t include self-advocates. Whether it’s creating workshops for the conference, developing accessible legal documents, or leading regional meetings, MASS is driven by self-advocates and everyone’s commitment to empowering self-advocates. “Nothing about us without us” means that if you’re going to make decisions regarding people with disabilities, you had better involve people with disabilities in that decision-making. MASS does that with aplomb and I’m so grateful I’ve gotten to be a part of that.
