Topic of the issue:Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

SPRING 2012

Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy Issue 6

2 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

EDITORIAL

This newsletter was supported by a grant from the Open Society Fundations.

EditorSenada Halilcevic

JournalistsHrvoje FornerFadil SpurenNeven NovakNera BajzecIvana Rimac

AssistantsIvana PoslonIvana KramaricSanja HotkoDamjan Janjusevic

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

3Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

4 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

5Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

6 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

7Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

8 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

9Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

10 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

11Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

12 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

13Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

14 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

15Voice of Self-Advocates

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

16 Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy

Dear readers,

this is the 6 issue of our newsletter!

In this issue we want to explain what self-advocacy means.

We hope we were successful.

Once again, self-advocates, with the help of assistants,

worked hard on all articles and the fun section.

Have fun reading our newsletter, until the next issue when

we will tell you about our conference.

TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: SELF-ADVOCACY

What is self-advocacy?Self-advocacy means to speak for yourself and to

make decisions about your life. It means to know your

rights and fight for them. Self-advocacy also means to

be responsible for your life. Self-advocacy is a human right.

Why is self-advocacy important?Self-advocacy is important because it shows that persons with intellectual disabilities are people �rstand they can speak for themselves. Through self-advocacywe show that we can live in the community just like everyone else.Self-advocacy helps us make decisions about our life.We sometimes need support to make decisions.Support should not make decisions for us but should help us make the decision ourselves. The Republic of Croatia has to ensure we have support. Then every person with intellectual disabilities would have a chance to in�uence his or her life.

Who can be a self-advocate?A self-advocate is a person with intellectualdisabilities who speaks for himself or herself and forother persons with intellectual disabilities.Persons with mild and severe intellectual disabilitiescan also be self-advocates. Persons who cannot speak can also be self-advocates. They speak for themselves with movements of their body or with the help of a person who knows them well. Every person can be a self-advocate.

Where can we speak for ourselves?We can be self-advocates or speak for ourselves every day.We can speak for ourselves:at home,at school,at work,at the store,at the doctor's,at the post o�ce,at the association.As a group of self-advocates we can advocate opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities with politicians, decision makers and generally in the society in which we live.

Written by Fadil Spuren and Ivana Poslon

In Article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that:Persons with disabilities have the right to freely express their opinions, ideas and feelings. Persons with disabilities have the right to express themselves in the way which suits them best. Governments should remove barriers which keep people from expressing their opinions, ideas and feelings.

They thought it was best if other people spoke for persons with intellectual disabilities. We did not agree with that.We continued to have meetings where self-advocates could speak freely and make decisions about themselves and the future of our association. Through the years our association grew and more people recognized it. In 9 years we had many meetingstogether where we familiarized ourselves with human rights and other topics we chose. We organized some round tables and two conferences of Croatian self-advocates. We joined international organizations.We talked about our experiences and rights in di�erent places.For example:- in Parliament,- at the United Nations,- at the European Commission.

We helped start some self-advocacy groups in Croatia.Today we cooperate with the Association for Self-Advocacy Osijek and 11 self-advocacy groups in Bjelovar, Cakovec, Grubisno Polje, Koprivnica, Ploce, Rijeka, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Split, Sibenik and Vinkovci. Together we make the Network of Croatian Self-Advocates. Through joint projects and conferences we want to improve our position in society.We are proud because self-advocates who live in the Center for Rehabilitation Zagreb are included in our meetings.However, in Croatia there are many persons with intellectual disabilities who do not know their rights. Our goal is that every person with intellectual disabilities knows their rights and makes decisions about his or her life.

Written by Senada Halilcevic

History of self-advocacyThe self-advocacy movement started in 1968 in Sweden at ameeting of the association of parents of persons with intellectual disabilities. This association had a slogan „We speak for them“which meant that parents spoke for their children. Persons with intellectual disabilities who were at that meetingdecided that they wanted to speak for themselves.Then they made a list of things which they wanted to change concerning their support and the services they receive.In the next 5 years similar meetings were held in Great Britain and Canada. In 1974 in Oregon in the United States during the preparations for a conference one self-advocate said:„I am tired of being called retarded - we are people �rst!“That is how the organization got the name People First.Today People First is one of the strongest internationalassociations of persons with intellectual disabilities.World self-advocacy movement empowered many persons with intellectual disabilities to speak for themselvesand improve their position in society.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Source People First

SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

In the Republic of Croatia there are 2 associations for self-advocacyand a few self-advocacy groups. Association for Self-Advocacy is the �rst association in Croatia which was started by personswith intellectual disabilities themselves in 2003.

We started the association to make it easier to �ght for our rights.At the beginning it was very hard for us. Most people thought we cannot speak for ourselves.

GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE

Inclusion Europe is the biggest organization of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families in Europe.Inclusion Europe advocates the rights and complete inclusionof persons with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe startedthe European Platform of Self-Advocates. We call it EPSA.EPSA was started in 2000, with the aim of self-advocates talkingabout their rights, abilities and needs of persons with intellectual disabilities.

EPSA assembles 14 organizations of self-advocates from all over Europe. Association for Self-Advocacy has been an active member of EPSA for 7 years. A steering group made of 5 self-advocates runs EPSA. Self-advocate Senada Halilcevic has been part of the steering group for several years.All members of EPSA choose the members of the steering group every two years.

EPSA has its work plan.The job of EPSA is to:

represent self-advocacy organizations in Europe,teach self-advocates how to speak for themselves,publish accessible information on important European issues,make recommendations for decision makers, which concern persons with intellectual disabilities,participate in conferences about persons with intellectual disabilities.

Last year EPSA organized the �rst conference of European self-advocates in Portugal. Association for Self-Advocacy is proud because it will organize the next conference of European self-advocates in 2013 in Zagreb.

For more information on EPSA and how to become a member of EPSA visit this web address:www.inclusion-europe.org/hr/icon-cart-samozastupanje

Written by Senada HalilcevicSource Inclusion Europe

EXPERIENCES OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM ZAGREB

Ivo PalaWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Coming to meetings and talking aboutlegal capacity.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like coming here and talkingabout human rights.What do you like in self-advocacy?I like everything, I like it when we sit and talkabout life in the community, and I come to the computer workshop.What did you learn in self-advocacy?I learned how to use a computer.Where do you speak for yourself?At work.

Tamara KolakWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Human rights and voting.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?About human rights.

Snjezana KanjirWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy means that you speak for yourself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?To learn what is said at the meetings and to be a good self-advocate.What do you like in self-advocacy?Having meetings and writing for the newsletter, and going on conferences.What do you like to talk about in self-advocacy?I like to talk about legal capacity, about rights and about making brochures.

Danijel KuzmicWhere do you speak for yourself?At the Center. I also talk about myself at the association and at home with my parents.

Domagoj ModrusanWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?Self-advocacy usually means that someone�ghts for his rights and speaks for himself.Why do you come to self-advocacy?So I can learn to �ght for my rights and speak for myself. I also hang out with some people at self-advocacy.What do you like in self-advocacy?That we talk about persons with intellectual disabilities. I would like others to look at them like everyone else and give them some support. That they are not put in special institutions and special schools and that they are not deprived of legal capacity. So that no one at all is discriminated against.

Neno MedicWhere do you speak for yourself?At home.

Biserka SambolWhy do you come to self-advocacy?To hang out with people and learn something.We talk about our rights.Where do you speak for yourself?In private life. When I make some decisionsand when I need some advice.

Slavica BibinWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?I advocate for myself and I speak for myself.

Monika MihelecWhat does self-advocacy mean to you?It means that I speak for myself.That I get dressed on my own and get around.Why do you come to self-advocacy?Because I like talking about The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.What do you like in self-advocacy?I have a lot of friends. I like to look at the newsletter Voice of Self-Advocates.

NEWS

Field trip to KoprivnicaOn 18 February we visited the Association for Helping People with Mental Retardation from Koprivnica.The Association organized a St. Valentine's Day celebration with masks.Senada, Sanja, Damjan, Domagoj, Ivo and I went to the celebration.There we met self-advocates from Koprivnica, Ludbreg, Cakovec, Krizevci and Durdevac. The atmosphere was great!There were many self-advocates with maskswho were acting, singing and dancing.Domagoj and I also sang. We got a loud applause.We all got nice gifts. At the end we went for a walkaround Koprivnica and talked to our hosts aboutfuture cooperation. We came home late.

Written by Fadil Spuren

Training at Center for rehabilitation SilverIn February employees of the Association for Self-Advocacy held a training at the Center forRehabilitation Silver. The topic of the training was self-determination and self-advocacy.The training was for employees and usersof the Center for Rehabilitation Silver.

The Center helps persons with disabilities andchildren with disabilities to be included in the community where they live. At the Center persons have the opportunity to learn di�erent skills whichthey need in everyday life. Assistance dogs help them learn these skills.Dogs help persons learn how to be more independentat getting around, get them things or help them get undressed.Dogs also help persons feel better and have more con�dence.

When the training was over we had the opportunity to look around the Center and see how assistance dogs live. We also said that we would soon come to visit with our members.

Written by Ivana Poslon Study visit of Romanian self-advocatesIn March a group of self-advocates from Romania visited us. Their organization is called Ceva de spus.In Croatian it means Something to say.They are called that because they want to show that it is very importantto hear the voices of persons with intellectual disabilities. They came to the study visit to familiarize themselves with the work of our association and get new knowledge. Raluca and her mother, Gizela, Zabar, Laura, Cosmin, Dariu and their assistantZoltan came to visit us. Romanian self-advocates alsoparticipated in meetings of our self-advocates.During their stay in Zagreb, we presented the work of our association brochures, newsletter and our web site for the Romanian self-advocates.They were especially interested in making easy to read materials.They would like to make easy to read materials in Romania.Together we saw short life stories of our self-advocates.Romanian self-advocates were sad when they heard the life stories of self-advocates about the right to get married and start a family, and about the right to a happy and independent life.

Unfortunately, the legal position of persons with disabilities in Romania is just as bad as in Croatia. This study visit allowed our association to hear the experiences of Romanian self-advocates and to connect with them.We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on some joint projects.At the end, Romanian self-advocates invited us to visit them in the Timisoara, the town where they live.

Written by Sanja Hotko

Trip to KrapinaOn Wednesday, 21 March, we visited the Krapina Neanderthal Museum. 10 self-advocates from Zagreb and our guests from Romania went on the trip.At the museum we saw a �lm on the prehistoric man �rst.The �lm was very interesting. After that we split up into2 groups and went on a tour of the museum.We learned that Professor Kramberger discovered the bones of the prehistoric man. It is one of the largest collections of bones of the prehistoric man in Europe. After the museum we alltalked and took photographs. Everybody liked the trip.After the trip we had a farewell dinner with our guests.

Written by Fadil Spuren

NEWS

The 2nd conference of Croatian self-advocatesAt the end of May in Zagreb, there will be the 2nd Conference of Croatian self-advocates.The �rst conference of Croatian self-advocates, called „You and I - We Are the Same“ was held in April last year.Around 150 people will participate in the conference this year. Speakers will be self-advocates from 13 Croatian towns. At the conference we will talk about di�erent rights and experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities. We will invite politicians and other decision makers to the conference. Self-advocates will have the chance to talk to them and ask them things they want to know.The aim of the conference is that the Croatian public and politicianshear the voices of self-advocates. We hope that the conference will help improve the position of persons with intellectual disabilities in Croatia at least a little.

Written by Ivana Poslon

Conference „Europe in action“In May, Inclusion Europe will have its annual conference „Europe inAction“. The conference will be in the town Brussels, in Belgium. The topic of the conference is employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. We will talk about what is necessary tomake it easier to employ persons with intellectual disabilities.During the conference there will be a meeting of European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA. At the meeting a new president of EPSA will beelected. This conference will be the opportunity to get new knowledgeand exchange experiences with other participants from Europe.

Written by Ivana Kramaric

FUN SECTION

CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA

ZagrebZagreb Time Machine from 14 April to 29 September 2012In April di�erent events will start in Zagreb, called the Zagreb Time Machine. During this period there will be concerts, plays and other events in the streets of Zagreb.

Slavonski BrodFrom 15 April to 20 April 2012 in Slavonski Brodthere will be “Ivana Brlic Mazuranic Days”.Ivana Brlic Mazuranic wrote books for children. She wrote some of the nicest fairy tales for children. She spent a part of her life in Slavonski Brod. That is why citizens of Brod celebrate her birthday every year. During that week, there will be literary, theatre, art and photography workshops in town.

PulaPula Superiorum from 7 June to 9 June 2012. From 7 June to 9 June Pula will relive events from its glorious past. Beautiful women from ancient times will walk around town, and sounds of ancient melodies will be heard from every corner. Visitors will have a chance to try foods from ancient times.

Selected by Ivana Poslon

SPORTS

Tomo wins gold medal in Italy!Our self-advocate Tomo Ivaskovic won the gold medal and cup at the Ju-Jitsu competition in Italy.Ju-Jitsu is an ancient Japanese martial art.Tomo has been training at the Shinsei Club in Zagreb.His coach is Rene Petrovic. Tomo participated in manycompetitions in Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. So far he has won 6 medals. 4 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Once again we congratulate Tomo and wish him much more success and medals in future competitions!

The start of European Football ChampionshipThe start of European Football Championship is close.The Championship will be from 8 June to 1 July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. As we wrote before, Croatia will compete against Ireland, Italy and Spain.I hope that Croatia will win in all games.

Written by Nera Bajzec

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

I recommend a book by the American author Amanda Quick.The book is called „The Perfect Poison”. It is the story of Lucinda Bromley who is a botanist. She is famous because she can detect any kind of plant poison. After a noble man is poisoned and killed, Lucinda calls her detective friend to �nd the killer. What happens next... I recommend you read the book! The book is tense, and it also has a love story. It has 392 pages.

Written by Ivana Rimac

a) scarf b) swimsuit c) gloves

a) Ivo Josipovic b) Zoran Milanovic c) Tarik Filipovic

a) wolf b) cow c) cat

1. Which clothes do we wear in the summer:

2. The President of the Republic of Croatia is:

3. Which is a wild animals:

Created by Neven Novak and Hrvoje Forner

QUIZ

Find these 5 words in the wordsearch.

SPRING PRIMROSE SWALLOW

PICNIC SUN LOVE

EARTH DAY

WORDSEARCHL B S M S U

O J H J P

V A A U I

E Q L D F C

B G L R O N

E S O R M I

W

L

N Z

U G

N

M I

K R

R P

X

K V W I T C

E A R T H D

F S

A YCreated by Ivana Kramaric

(careful! there is no space between the words in the wordsearch)

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E- mail: kontakt@samozastupanje.hr

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CONTACT US

We continue to answer your questions. Remember, you can send the questions by regular mail or e-mail.

I want to ask my girlfriend to go out with me, but I do not have much money. What should I do? You do not need much money to go out with your girlfriend. When the weather is nice, you can ask your girlfriend to go for a walk. On the internet (and in our newsletter) you can �nd some events in your town. There are often fairs or similar events in town squares where you donot need to pay for a ticket. You can make some sandwiches and have a small picnic in some park. If you have some money, you can go to a co�ee place or an ice-cream shop and talk. If you want to have a good time, good company is more important than money.

ADVICE CORNER