NOW AAPD Women with Disabilities and Allies Forum
Workshop
"Building Coalitions for Women with Disabilities"
Saturday, October 18, 2003
10:15 to 11:45 (90 minutes)

OUTLINE

"BUILDING COALITIONS"

Introduction

Workshop Goals

Introduction of Workshop Attendees

Need for Coalition Building -

1. Domestic Violence (and Sexual Violence)
   
2. Employment
   
3. Welfare (TANF and SSI)

Coalition Building

Advantages

Building an Effective Coalition

1. Analyze the objective and determine whether to form a coalition.
   
2. Recruit the right coalition members.
   
3. Convene the coalition.
   
4. Develop preliminary objectives and activities for the coalition.
   
5. Anticipate the necessary resources.
   
6. Define elements of the coalition's structure.
   
7. Re-evaluate and confirm member participation and roles.
   
8. Maintain coalition vitality.

Conclusion

Sample Coalition
Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR)

Other Sample Coalitions
Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC)
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Action Network (DHHCAN)

Questions and Discussions

NOW AAPD Women with Disabilities and Allies Forum
Workshop
"Building Coalitions for Women with Disabilities"
Saturday, October 18, 2003
10:15 to 11:45 (90 minutes)

"BUILDING COALITIONS"

Introduction

The National Association of the Deaf supports this coalition building effort of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) for women with disabilities. We are delighted to be here to participate and glad that you could join us this morning.

We recognize that all of you potentially represent very different groups and may have very different reasons for being here. However, we all, presumably, are ultimately interested in seeing women with disabilities attain full equality in our society. Through coalition building and collaboration, we give and gain strength to attain our own goals, and to give strength to others to attain their goals.

Workshop Goals -

Our goal this morning is not to prescribe a specific way that coalitions should be formed, nor the specific issues that coalitions should address. Rather, the goals of this workshop are more general.

1. To begin a discussion about coalition building.
   
2. To present examples of issues and situations that highlight the need for coalitions regarding women with disabilities.
   
3. To give a very basic overview of general concepts that should be considered in almost every kind of coalition building situation.
   
4. To brainstorm by discussing our experiences with coalitions, what worked, what didn't, where and what kinds of coalitions are needed.
   
5. To provide you with a forum in which you can meet other like-minded individuals, network, and possibly create new coalitions and strengthen old coalitions.

Introduction of Workshop Attendees -

Because this workshop is about you, we are hoping to get you all to self-identify so that we know what issues you are all bringing to this workshop. Show of hands (or, if small number, self-introductions)

• Who here represents a group (or has an interest) that focuses solely on women's rights?
  
• Who here represents a group that focuses solely on disability rights?
  
• Who here represents a group that that focuses on women's rights and disability rights?
  
• Who here has participated in a coalition before?

OK - we will come back to that later because we want to include you in this discussion.

Need for Coalition Building - Why it is important that women and people with disabilities form coalitions?

Let's start with three (3) examples of areas in which women's rights and disability rights groups have long recognized the need for activism. Women's rights groups and disability rights groups have been very active in these areas, but the fact that these issues impact both women and people with disabilities illustrates that these issues have an especially large impact on women with disabilities.

1. Sexual abuse and violence
   
2. Employment
   
3. Poverty

I am going to present some statistics about women with disabilities.

1. Women with disabilities experience a high rate of sexual violence and abuse

It is estimated that between 33% and 83% of women with disabilities have experienced sexual violence or abuse depending on the type of disability and the definition of abuse. (Schaller and Lagergren, 1998)

2. Women with disabilities are highly unemployed

• It is estimated that only 33% of women with disabilities, between 1995 and 1999, were employed.

3. Women with disabilities experience a high rate of poverty.

• Based on estimates from 1992, between 33.8 % and 40% of women with a disability live in poverty.
  
• This is higher than men with a work disability. (24.2%-31.2%). Disability Data

These facts should ultimately illustrate the need for women's rights and disability rights groups to work together because -

• neither group will be truly equal until all their members are equal; and
• the areas in which these groups experience discrimination are similar, so that by working together, in whatever kind of coalition you choose to form, you will be able to pool resources and increase your effectiveness.

The needs of women and people with disabilities in these areas are strikingly similar.

1. Sexual violence and abuse: People with disabilities and women without disabilities both need and want hotlines, safe houses, educational resources, therapy, child care, and legal assistance. By working together, accessible resources can be provided.
2. Employment: Women and people with disabilities want workplaces to become more accessible to them so that they can more easily gain employment. In a way, both women and people with disabilities want reasonable accommodations. Women, if they are the primary care taker of a child, may want employers to provide paid family leave and flex-time. People with disabilities want to make sure that employers provide accommodations, for instance ramps, extended time on projects, and assistive listening devices.
3. Poverty: Women and people with disabilities need employment opportunities opened to them, better governmental subsidies and educational programs to help lift them out of poverty. (Center Women Policy website)

Coalition Building

A coalition is a coming together of people and organizations to achieve a common goal - it is a collaborative effort; a temporary alliance.

A coalition is not a merger - the individual units retain their identities, but are recognized participants of a new and larger whole.

Establishing a coalition is one of many tools that can facilitate information sharing, coordinating activities, educating, or advocating.

Advantages -

• Conserves resources.
  
• Increases outreach and reach within a community.
  
• Increases credibility; reduces suspicion of self-interest.
  
• Provides a forum for sharing information.
  
• Provides a wider range of perspectives, advice, and expertise.
  
• Can foster cooperation between grass roots, formalized organizations, and the community.
  
• Can foster personal satisfaction.
  
• Accomplishes objectives beyond the scope of any single organization.

Building an Effective Coalition* --

1. Analyze the objective and determine whether to form a coalition.

• Clarify the objective and activities that you or your organization can do towards achieving those objectives.
  
• Assess community strengths and weaknesses - efforts others are making towards the same or similar objective; potential support and potential barriers.
  
• Determine the costs and benefits to the lead agency, or whether the costs will be shared among members.
  
• Determine whether the objective has a better chance of being met if others were included in the effort - whether to form a coalition.

2. Recruit the right coalition members.

• Determine the type, size, and diversity of the membership desired to be effective and manageable (i.e., similar or diverse agencies, individuals, citizens, consumer groups, etc.).
  
• Consider potential supporters, competitors, and adversaries.
  
• Consider key organization representatives with strong skills and interests to fill lead roles and provide staff support.
  
• Determine whether your or another organization has the interest, commitment, and resources (time, staffing, financial support) necessary to fill the role of "lead agency," whether you need to recruit a lead agency, or whether the coalition members will share the lead agency role.

3. Convene the coalition.

• Hold a meeting of potential coalition members.

4. Develop preliminary objectives and activities for the coalition.

• Meld the objectives of the member groups; find the common ground and mutually productive activities; avoid or minimize differences.
  
• Develop a mission statement.
  
• Establish well-defined short-term activities towards the long-term objective.
  
• Consider working with another coalition on specific activities.

5. Anticipate the necessary resources.

• The lead agency often provides the most in financial (i.e., for supplies and other expenses) and human capital (staffing, time, etc.) resources.
  
• Coalition members may share human resources by assuming responsibility for certain tasks, and share financial resources through contributions for coalition activities. Coalitions need financial resources of some kind to cover the cost of doing coalition business, from making copies to travel expenses.
• Coalitions need funds, not just to do "good," but to do well.

6. Define elements of the coalition's structure.

• Coalition life expectancy.
  
• Membership - selective recruitment permitted, but no one excluded.
  
• Meeting location, frequency, and length.
  
• Put structure in the meetings.
  
• Decision making methods - who will decide what? Members who take a more active role may appear to be the "voice of authority," but a coalition is formed by coordination and leadership recognition is earned by persuasion; not dogma, orders, or insistence.
  
• Participation between meetings.

7. Re-evaluate and confirm member participation and roles.

• Coalitions survival and success depends on representatives' individual commitment and organizational support.
  
• "Official" participation may require a presentation to and approval by an organization's board of directors.

8. Maintain coalition vitality.

• Never criticize a volunteer.
  
• Note and address coalition difficulties.
  
• Share power and leadership.
  
• Recruit and involve new members.
  
• Promote renewal through training and challenging new issues.
  
• Evaluate for improvement.
  
• Celebrate and share successes.

Conclusion -

Coalitions are collaborative efforts made by groups of individuals and organizations to achieve a common goal. Coalitions are not permanent fixtures. Coalitions ebb and flow. With leadership, commitment, and resources, coalitions can achieve some measure of success, sometimes greater than the individual effort could have attained. We cannot guarantee coalition success, but with every effort we make, we prepare ourselves to make better more successful efforts in the future.

Sample Coalition

Building on these points, while there are many different kinds of coalitions that can be formed, there are 2 main kinds of coalitions. The first is what I will call a "broad" coalition. What I mean by this is that different groups may have very different missions and different goals, but nonetheless join together because they recognize that they share an overarching similar goal.

Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR) - is one of the best examples:

• 180 national organizations belong to LCCR.
  
• Today, LCCR has become the nerve center for the struggle against discrimination in all its forms. LCCR is the nation's oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, committed to the protection and advancement of basic civil rights for all persons in the nation.
  
• Membership is diverse - as long as organizations support "civil rights" they can join.
  
  • Alaska inter tribal council
    
  • Disability rights and Education Fund
    
  • Feminist Majority
    
• Current campaigns
  
  • Reforming criminal justice system
    
  • Passage of anti-discrimination legislation that ensures that gays and lesbians are a protected class.

These groups are obviously focused on different issues. It is also equally obvious that most likely, no one group is both trying to reform the criminal justice system and ensure equal protection for gays and lesbians. However, all groups recognize that these goals are necessary for a society in which civil rights are protected. While groups may focus on civil rights for one specific group, they belong to this coalition to be part of the greater mission of advancing civil rights for all. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, being part of this broad coalition and supporting causes that are not directly related to yours, ultimately ensures that your issue will receive more support. These groups will support your issues if you support theirs.

Other Sample Coalitions

Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) - an "issue coalition"

Formed to address movie theater access needs of 28 million consumers who are deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened, and deaf-blind.

Charter organizations -

• Alexander Graham Bell Association (AGBell)
  
• American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC)
  
• Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA)
  
• Cochlear Implant Association, Inc. (CIAI)
  
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Action Network (DHHCAN) (a coalition)
  
• Deaf Seniors of America (DSA)
  
• League for the Hard of Hearing (LHH)
  
• National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
  
• Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH)
  
• Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. (TDI)

Actions -

• Holds meetings with representatives of member organizations
  
• Working with the representatives of movie captioning companies, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and others
  
• Issues Press Releases; Position Paper (2001); Report (2002)
  
• Participated in two lawsuits brought by private parties against movie theater chains by filing amicus briefs (friend of the court briefs).
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Action Network (DHHCAN)

A coalition of national consumer organizations working together to develop national policies on behalf of more than 28 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the US, including those who are late-deafened and deaf-blind.

Member Organizations -

• American Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB)
  
• ADARA
  
• Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA)
  
• American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC)
  
• Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD)
  
• CSD (formerly known as Communication Service of the Deaf)
  
• Deaf Seniors of America (DSA)
  
• Gallaudet University
  
• Gallaudet University Alumni Association (GUAA)
  
• Jewish Deaf Congress (JDC)
  
• National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
  
• National Black Deaf Advocates (NDBA)
  
• National Catholic Office of the Deaf (NCOD)
  
• Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID)
  
• Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. (TDI)
  
• USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF)
  
• WGBH

Actions -

• Advocacy efforts in support of funding for Deaflympics under the US Olympic Committee
  
• Provided testimony against the passage of the "ADA Notification Act"
  
• Conducted research for "Project Access" to identify and address weaknesses and in our national and local emergency preparedness systems following the events of 9/11 and its aftermath to enhance the safety and security of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Questions and Discussions

• My numbers are here for beginning discussions. We want you to identify issues that are important to you and tell us about them. It is possible that you will find people here who will inspire you or who can help you when you return to your communities.
• What topic is important to you for your community? What groups can support you? Can you include others?
• Importance of name recognition.
• What are your goals?

* Based on "Developing Effective Coalitions: An Eight Step Guide" by L. Cohen, N. Baer, and P. Satterwhite. In: Wurzbach ME, ed. Community Health Education & Promotion: A Guide to Program Design and Evaluation. 2nd ed. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers Inc.; 2002:161-178.

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