East Suburban Citizen Advocacy (ESCA) has been a small Non-Profit Organization since 1988 and has been dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with developmental disabilities. ESCA grew out of the cares and concerns of parents who have young adult children with developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or other challenges that have been present since birth or childhood. They wanted to make sure that their adult children would be familiar with their community and be safe when they were no longer able to care for them. Currently, our advocates serve people in every age group diagnosed with a developmental disability in Westmoreland County and Eastern part of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.
We focus on serving the unique needs of each individual, so each individual requires advocacy in a different way. After spending time with a person and getting to know his or her needs, barriers, etc., we are able to build a team of resources around the individual and work on goals that they have. Sometimes goals or barriers are related to school, housing, employment, mental health or development service systems, legal, financial, and more. We will work on any area of life that we feel we can help with as it is important to ensure that the vulnerable individual is heard, understood, and that we work to ensure we take barriers down for them or help to meet a goal.
Some examples of advocacy situations we have experience in is the Individual Education Plan (IEP) process, IDD/Autism Waiver system process, Early Intervention, Abusive situations, Legal Guardian, Rep-payees, and Transitional age resources. Our advocacy efforts remain FREE to those who need them.
To learn more about developmental disabilities please click here
**Volunteering as a citizen advocate focuses on building relationships to enhance the lives of those in need. How you can make a difference and help people with disabilities feel welcome in your community.
- I will treat others how I would like to be treated
- I will speak directly to the person and give the individual time to process and respond if needed.
- I will offer to shake hands when introduced to a person with a disability.
- I will place myself at eye level when talking to someone who used a wheelchair, crutches, or a walker when possible.
- I will include the person with a developmental in conversations when with a group.
- I will treat adults with developmental disabilities as adults and the age that they are.
- I will get the attention of someone who is hearing impaired by lightly tapping their elbow or shoulder.
- I will look directly at people while speaking clearly, slowly, and expressively incase the person can read my lips.
- I will carefully guide a person with visual impairments with verbal cues to help them navigate steps, curbs, escalators, or doors.
If you are interested in becoming citizen advocate, please fill out the form attached here Click here for link or email us at escadvocacy@gmail.com
Source: Pathways Awareness Foundation www.pathwaysawareness.org.
