The following was an interview between Dave Manson, our Director of Outreach and Engagement, and Audrey deChadenedes, Chair of the Advocats.
I began by asking Ms. DeChadenedes to share with us a bit about her own background:
I’ve been part of the Advocats since the first year; my daughter’s caseworker recruited me. I am a parent, though my child passed away 5 years ago; she was 32 at the time, and had Rett Syndrome. She was dependent on many services.
I am a past chair of Golden Gate Regional Center’s Board of Directors – I termed off one year ago – where I also chaired the Legislative Committee and was the ARCA representative.
My interest in advocacy began almost 30 years ago, when I began writing letters to my legislators. I would hear about a proposal that threatened my daughter’s services, and I would stay awake worrying. I realized that taking action calmed my fears, and actually could make a difference, so I kept going. I encourage all the parents in my groups to speak up, and I often enlist them in Advocat’s actions.
Tell us about The Advocats – who are they? How, when and why were they formed?
The Advocats was created in 2014 after Stanford provided a training in Design Thinking to Golden Gate Regional Center (GGRC) staff. Norman Manglona, then a caseworker, applied the methods he learned along with his interest in community organizing to develop the group.
The Advocats’ mission is to help promote local, state, and national efforts that will help preserve and improve the quality of life for all people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Members of The Advocats are drawn from many parts of their community: GGRC staff and board, service providers (both management and Direct Support staff), self-advocates, family members, and representatives of other organizations with similar agendas. The diverse makeup of the membership allows for a variety of perspectives which is extremely useful when interacting and building relationships with our local legislators. The group works to ensure that the legislators and their staff members know who they are and the importance of their issues by providing key data points as well as powerful personal stories.
The group monitors developments and identifies places to add their voices on issues at the city, state, and national levels, and meets with state legislators during budget season to promote the priorities in alignment with groups such as ARCA and the Lanterman Coalition.
The group often utilizes their family networks to document and gather their lived experiences, putting together packages of family letters to bring and send to the governor, senators and assembly members, and making videos at day programs with stories from self-advocates that were also posted on social media.
Tell us about some of the issues or priorities that the Advocats have spoken out on or taken action for?
With housing as one of their biggest priorities, when the San Francisco Housing Element was being updated last year, The Advocats rallied people to sign on to the city’s website and provide their input. In 2022, the California legislature voted for everything their groups asked for. Although the Governor didn’t approve all of it, it was obvious the work with local representatives had payed off. As a way to acknowledge the responsiveness to their issues, The Advocats created a social media campaign for each of their representatives, with letters and a series of videos from the people and family members they served.
Current priorities for The Advocats include provider rates and the Regional Center Core Staffing Formula.
This month is Disability Employment Awareness Month. What advice would you offer to self-advocates, families, loved ones, providers – really anyone for whom Disability Employment is a priority or concern that would help them have their voices heard?
If you have concerns about the system, your Regional Center may already have an advocacy group in place doing this work. Your local Family Resource Center is also a good place to find out more information about current issues and recommendations for advocacy and support groups in your area. If you’re interested in starting a group, you’re most welcome to attend an Advocats meeting to see how they work.
The Advocats meet on the second Tuesday of every month, 2:00 -3:00 PM on Zoom, and welcome anyone in the GGRC catchment area to participate. Non-local guests are also invited to observe. Please contact me, the group chair Audrey deChadenedes at [email protected] for meeting schedules, links or any questions.
Audrey, thank you so much for sharing your time, wisdom and passion with us and our readers!
Of course! It was very nice of you to ask.
