Grade 8 thru age 22 

Trainings
State wide youth led conference with national speakers

• Focus on social and emotional health learning areas, by introducing programming that will serve as ongoing foundations of knowledge and skill building.
• Provide a conference design that includes participatory pre-work to inform event-day programming and tailor activities to individualized abilities.
• Engage 500 youth with special healthcare needs and diverse learners by providing a fun, rich learning experience and creating leadership frameworks participants can pull from before, during, and after the conference.

Dare to Dream (D2D) is a learning pathway for youth with special healthcare needs and diverse learners in grade 8 to age 21. The D2D Initiative focuses on creating and providing resources and activities to assist youth in developing and leading healthy lives as they move through transitional periods.

The Rhode Island Department of Health, in collaboration with State partners including the Office of Rehabilitation Services and Rhode Island Department of Education, have held an annual D2D youth leadership conference for more than ten years.

Over age 18. The Leadership series is a great program for those transitioning from school based to community based adult programming.

The Leadership Series is a free course that we created with support from the RI Department of BHDDH as part of our mission to empower people who have a developmental disability to advocate for themselves and others.

• Self-Advocacy Skills and Leadership Development
• Events 

Contact Information

Advocates in Action Rhode Island is an independent non-profit Statewide Self-Advocacy organization. Our mission is to empower people who have a developmental disability to advocate for themselves and others, to support and strengthen the Self‐Advocacy movement and to raise awareness about disability issues in the community. We strive to help people become educated about their options, aware of available resources, able to make informed decisions, in control of their own lives, and involved within the community.

PLAN RI helps families create a safe and secure future for their loved ones with a disability.

1. We assist families to develop a personal future plan for their relative.

2. We establish and maintain a caring personal network in the life of the member with a disability. PLAN RI provides assistance in creating and expanding the network of friends and supporters to your loved one, contributing to their quality of life now and in the future when you are not there.

For additional information, go to link

Personal Lifetime Advocacy Networks of Rhode Island (PLAN RI) is a twenty-year-old organization created and led by families.  It helps ensure their sons and daughters with disabilities will have a safe and secure future when their parents are no longer able to do so. 

We emphasize that the best guarantee of a safe and secure future for a person with a disability is a network of caring, committed family members, friends, acquaintances, and supporters actively involved in his or her life.

This personal support network is responsive to changing needs, trends, and laws and is able to advocate for needed changes. 

PLAN RI provides information and guidance to help caregiving family members engage in financial and legal planning.  Supporting both generations with these desires and needs has been recognized as a winning strategy for lifelong inclusion.

Massachusetts residents

• 1:1 support for Massachusetts families with special education questions link
• Training and workshops link
• Family Leadership Development link

The Federation empowers families so that they have the information and resources they need for their children. We work with families with children from birth to adulthood, providing individual assistance, training, and leadership development and support. We focus on education, early intervention, health care, transitions, children in foster care and group homes, and building strong family engagement to support all children, especially those children with disabilities, those at risk, and those with economic, cultural or linguistic barriers.

A national grassroots disability rights organization for the autistic community, advocating for systems change and ensuring that the voices of autistic people are heard in policy debates and the halls of power. 

Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&As) work at the state level to protect individuals with disabilities by empowering them and advocating on their behalf. There are 57 P&As in the United States and its territories, and each is independent of service-providing agencies in their states. Find local P&A Agency information at the bottom of this page.

As a proud division of the National Federation of the Blind, they are a national membership and advocacy organization of families and friends of blind children. They help families and blind children themselves maximize the child’s skills, independence, and opportunities, and we hold high expectations for all of our children. The NOPBC is well informed about the societal, legislative, and technological issues that affect blind people.

A downloadable video resource for people with Cerebral Palsy and their families. Free service. Allows viewers to create an individualized playlist of CP video materials. Covers topics such as Intervention & Therapy, Communication, Family Dynamics, Building Independence, School & Work, and includes CP advocates such as Comedian Zach Anner, Comedian Maysoon Zayid, Actor Micah Fowler, and Sports Announcer Jason Benetti. Provided by the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.