Understanding Disability Advocacy 

Before we move forward, we must first understand what disability advocacy is. In simple terms, it means acting, speaking, or writing to promote, protect and defend the human rights of people with disabilities. 

The Need For Disability Advocacy 

For as long as we can recall, people with disabilities have been hidden away or become subjected to abuse, prejudice, and ignorance. This is where disability advocacy comes in. 

For the past century, disability advocacy has drastically shifted thinking to recognize the rights of all people with disabilities to survive in a community with choices equal to others. However, millions of people with disabilities still face many barriers, and there is a need to bring significant changes to ensure these people enjoy the same rights and freedom as other people. Some essential areas where disability advocacy can help with promoting equal opportunity for people with disability include: 

Safety 

In a DARU Disability Advocacy Resource Unit report, more than 70% of women with disability have become victims of violent sexual encounters. More than 90% of sexual assaults have occurred on people with intellectual limitations. 

Education 

Less than half of people with disabilities of working age have completed high school compared to others who do not experience these disabilities. 

Employment 

Over 50% of people with disability within a working age are in the labor force compared to other people without disabilities. Additionally, people with disabilities have about twice the unemployment rate compared to others. 

Income 

Lack of employment opportunities naturally causes significant issues in income. In Australia, people with disability have a relative income that is around 70% of those without a disability – which is the lowest of all in 27 countries in the OECD. Consequently, people with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty. 

It is time we turn the tables around the situation and support individuals like J. Daniel Boomer to find innovative solutions to such dilemmas. 

As a renowned futurist, mathematician, computer scientist, and educator J. Daniel Boomer is one of the very people who has gained immense success in his career as a person with a disability. 

Boomer grew up with cerebral palsy and was asphyxiated from the lack of oxygen caused by the umbilical cord around his neck. This affected his motor-speech area of the brain located on the front temporal lobe on the left side of the brain. But despite all the odds, Boomer was an intelligent individual who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Southern Oregon University and made a name for himself in the professional sector. 

Boomer also served as the Project Coordinator of a contract at Sacramento State University and the California Department of Education, Special Education Division to analyse and evaluate program and student level information in determining student outcomes of special education students. 

Furthermore, after receiving his Ph.D., Boomer joined the National Staff of United Cerebral Palsy, Inc. and became the Disability Advocacy Director for the State of New Jersey. He was recruited to work as a Program Analyst for the United States Office of Special Education Programs in Washington, DC, where he designed administrative databases and programs – serving as a role model for many young people with disabilities to want to reach the same success as him despite being shackled by their disabilities.