april09 advocacy effective advocacy
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 APRIL09 ADVOCACY Effective Advocacy
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b ev avby Cynthia A. Smith, MS, CAS, JD
effectiVe adVocacy for systems cHanGe to improVe tHe liVes of people witH ad/Hd
takes a commitment o time, basic understanding o the issues and legislative process, and passion. Eective
advocates have passion or the issues and passion or helping the people who will be impacted by the change.
Although this month’s column provides guidance on how to advocate eectively at the national level, its
suggestions also apply to the state or local level, including city councils or local school boards.
Patience is o oremost importance, as
bringing about change at any level o govern-
ment can take signicant time. Bills not signed
into law by the end o a legislative session mustbe reintroduced, debated, and voted on again
in the next session. For example, negotiations
to amend the Americans with Disabilities Act
began in 2003, ater the Supreme Court issueda series o decisions that overrode congres-
sional intent in passing the ADA. The law that
eventually passed, the ADAA, went into eect
on January 1, 2009—nearly six years later.
A basic understanding o the legislative pro-cess and o state and ederal jurisdiction is also
important, as is a sense o what is possible in a
given political climate. The rst step in the eder-al legislative process is or a member o Congress
to introduce a bill in either the House o Repre-
sentatives or the Senate. Ater a bill is introduced,
it is reerred to the committee that has jurisdic-tion over the issue. Legislators at both the ederal
and state levels o government are assigned to
committees or each legislative session. The com-
mittee conducts the majority o the work on the
bill, which must be voted on and passed out o the committee beore it can go to the foor o the
House or Senate or a vote. The current mem-
bers o Congress, their committee assignments,and the jurisdiction o each committee can be
ound at house.gov (click on Committees ), and at
senate.gov (click on Committees ). Similar inor-
mation or state legislators is available on stategovernment websites. More inormation on
ch a. sh, ms, cas, Jd ,
is CHADD’s public policy specialist.
a d V o c a c y i n a c t i o n
8/8/2019 APRIL09 ADVOCACY Effective Advocacy
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37April 2009
the legislative process, including pictorial
charts on how a bill becomes a law, may be
ound at thomas.gov or on the House or
Senate websites.Eective advocates understand the impor-
tance o developing long-term, respectul, and
reciprocal relationships, not only with legisla-
tors but also with their sta. Sta membersplay a critical role in the legislative process, as
legislators look to them or inormation and
guidance on a wide range o issues. Treat all
sta members in a courteous and proessionalmanner. They are your link to your legislator.
When meeting with legislators, it is impor-
tant to demonstrate knowledge o the issues
within the context o your lived experience. Liv-ing with AD/HD and related disorders makes
you an expert on the topic, and you should
eel condent that sharing your experience is
a vital contribution to ostering social change.
It is not necessary to know how governmentbudgets are created or how public programs
are designed or implemented. Many advocates
or people with disabilities began their careersbecause o personal or amily experiences. The
ability to oer alternative approaches and cre-
ative strategies to solve policy problems can
make or the most eective advocacy.Find out which organizations share your
concerns and priorities and which individuals
or organizations might oppose them. When-
ever possible, work in collaboration with oth-
ers and have an open dialogue with people onboth sides o an issue. The passage in 2008 o
the ADAA and the Paul Wellstone and Pete
Domenici Mental Health Parity and AddictionEquity Act was the result o long negotiations
and many compromises among the vested
stakeholders. When constructing your mes-
sage, be clear about what you want your legis-lators to accomplish, how you think they could
accomplish it, and how the proposed change in
public policy will impact their constituents.
Finally, it is important to be committed
to social change. Change occurs only when
the individual working to create change ac-
cepts that it will take time, commitment,
and dedication to aect public policy at thelocal, state, or national level.
CHADD will be joining the American Acad-
emy o Child and Adolescent Psychiatry or its
annual Hill Day on May 8, 2009. Consider go-ing with us to Capitol Hill to make your voice
heard by your representatives in Congress. Par-
ticipants will be teamed with individuals and
amily members rom other national organi-
zations and AACAP proessional members.
More inormation on how to be an eec-
tive advocate can be ound in the CHADD
Advocacy Manual , available in the public pol-icy section o chadd.org, the CHADD web-
site. Visit CHADD’s public policy webpages
to learn more about Hill Day or other public
policy initiatives. For an example o success-ul advocacy in action, read the story posted
in the public policy section about CHADD
Pennsylvania, “Grow Your Grassroots and
Better Infuence Public Policy.”●
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