Reaching the Hard to Reach: A Review of an Initiative Aimed at Increasing Participation and Supports for People of Color With Disabilities and Their Families in Disability Organizations

Individuals of color with disabilities and/or their family members need access to services and supports thatwill assist themwith daily life and away to advocate for these services. Disability organizations, whose core mission is advocacy, have had difficulty attracting and maintaining persons of color with disabilities or their family members to their membership and, consequently, to the services or supports they offer. Connections and stronger outreach is needed in communities of color by disability and civil rights organi-zations to enhance the quality of life and services and sup-ports received by people of color with disabilities. In this article, an innovative initiative designed to help people of color with disabilities and/or their family members to develop advocacy skills and to obtain membership in dis-ability organizations while building capacity of the disabil-ity and/or civil rights organization involved is discussed, followed by implications and suggestions for future en-gagement and research. DESCRIPTORS: organizational change, diversity, parent support, cultural competency, multicultural The increasing numbers of families of color, including those immigrating from outside the United States, is blar-ingly obvious. There is no longer a need to become aware of this shift but rather redirect attention toward the impact this increase may have on the provision of servicers and supports. Often, differenceVany differenceVcan lead to faulty notions or assumptions about what supports are needed or valued (Arzubiaga, Artiles, King, & Harris