960 Between Self Determination to Self-Advocacy – Dilemmas arise in the meeting between professionals and people with cognitive disabilities Keren Dror, Inbar Wertheimer-Shina and Nitsan Almog Abstract The present chapter deals with self-determination and disability identity of people with intellectual disability, as well as the connection between them and processes of self-advocacy and group advocacy. Advocacy of people with disabilities usually begins at the personal stage of self-determination. Most of the support to the disabled person is in the transition from the process of identity formation (who am I?) to the active endeavors of advocacy: the disability is part of me, and I can speak on my behalf and for the benefit of the group to which I belong. However, the processes of identity formation and advocacy of people with intellectual disability bear special challenges at two layers, both for the individual himself and for the professionals working with him. The first is connected to the fact that the disability with which the individual is coping is intellectual and affects his ability to understand and to express his opinion. It also affects the ability of the professional team to understand his way of thinking, to rely on Chapter on page 29
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