Self-Determination & Voting

At its roots, self-determination is about having a voice and a choice. Most people with disabilities have had to fight to enjoy this basic human right. For far too long, people without disabilities have made it hard for people with disabilities to make their voices heard and to make basic choices about their lives. 

In broad strokes, self-determination means that all people have the right to direct their futures. It means that they have a right to control how they live their lives, where they live, and with whom they live. And it means they have a right to exercise authority over the resources that support them.

Voting is a lot like self-determination. Voting is a way that you can direct not just your own future, but also the future of many other people. Voting is also a way to control how decisions are made that will affect how you live your life, where you can live, and with whom you can live. And voting is a way to make your voice heard about how you want resources to be spent so that you can get the support you want.

That is why one of the most important ways to practice self-determination is to vote. Every American has one vote, and every vote counts the same. Voting is equality. It makes us equal with everyone else. And voting makes us more self-determined.

There are five principles for living a truly self-determined life: freedom, authority, support, responsibility, and confirmation. Below, I explain how each one of these self-determination principles goes hand in hand with voting.

1. First comes freedom. Freedom means that you are free to plan your own life and make your own decisions, the same way that people without disabilities do. When voting, you get to vote for the person running for election who believes what you believe. For instance, I will only vote for someone who thinks that people with disabilities should be able to live in the community.

2. The second principle is authority. Authority means that you decide how money is spent for your services and supports. When voting, you choose if someone running for election will make good decisions about how money is spent and if those decisions will be good for people with disabilities. I will only vote for someone who will fund programs people with disabilities need.

3. Third is support. Support means that you pick the people and supports that will help you live, work, and play in your community. When voting, you pick people whose decisions will make it easier for you to access the supports you want. We pick the people who make the decisions about what supports and services will exist and will get funding. I will only vote for someone who makes it easier for people with disabilities to get the supports they need.

4. Fourth comes responsibility. Responsibility means it is your job to make good decisions about how to use money, to be aware of how your decisions affect others, and to accept your role as a valuable member of the community. With rights come responsibilities, which means that even though voting is a right, it is also the job of people with disabilities to exercise that right so that our voices and choices are heard. I make sure not just to vote but to educate myself about my choices before I go to vote.

5. The last principle is confirmation. Confirmation means you are the most important person when making plans for your life. In other words, you are the decision-maker about your services. Self-determination means “nothing about you without you.” The same is true about voting: only you can decide who to vote for. And if you do not vote, your voice and choice will not be heard. I vote because I do not want my voice to be silenced.

So, VOTE!! Go out and make your voices and choices heard. It is important! You are important, and your voice and choice matter. Voting is all about embracing your self-determination. It is also the first step toward creating a better life for yourself and creating a better America for all people with disabilities.

Cheri Mitchell has worked at Georgia's protection and advocacy organization, the Georgia Advocacy Office, for nearly 17 years. She was a member of the Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center's (SARTAC) Advisory Committee for 6 years as well as TASH's Self-Advocacy Committee. She is a former President of People First of Georgia, a cross-disability organization, a former Chair of the National Disability Rights Network's (NDRN) Self-Advocacy Committee. She has also previously served on the NDRN Program Advisory Committee.