2019 Volume 59 Issue 4 Pages 1-15
In this study, an interview survey was conducted among people with intellectual disabilities belonging to a self-advocacy group. The study investigated their awareness of their rights by referring to their experiences. People with intellectual disabilities understood that their unbridgeable and unreasonable experiences were a consequence of disability. The awareness of their rights had led them to participate in a self-advocacy group. In addition, they understood that their participation in such a group and associated activities would help them recover their self-confidence and become more aware of their rights. Their participation in the group’s activities redefined their situation in life and allowed them to become more conscious of their rights in social relationships. Moreover, relationships with other people who were aware of their inherent rights thus communicated this awareness of their rights to others. Self-advocacy group membership for those with intellectual disabilities fostered an awareness of rights through an accumulation of activities, companionship, and cooperation with other groups, which conveyed the awareness of their rights to others.
