SABE — Free Self-Advocacy Peer Community for IDD
Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) is the nationwide organization for self-advocates — people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) coming together to advocate, educate, and lead on the issues that matter to them. Founded in 1990 and organized around the motto Nothing About Us Without Us, SABE represents a national board of regional representatives plus members from every state in the U.S. — and supports a network of local self-advocacy chapters where peer leaders with IDD set the agenda, run the meetings, and build the community.
What to Expect
SABE coordinates a national peer self-advocacy movement: regional conferences, leadership development programs, national policy convenings, and ongoing peer mentor relationships across the country. Local self-advocacy chapters — affiliated with SABE through state and regional networks — meet regularly to discuss community issues, build leadership, plan local advocacy, and create space for people with IDD to be heard on their own terms. SABE also produces resources, position statements, and trainings designed by and for self-advocates, and represents the movement in national policy spaces.
Who This Group Is For
SABE is for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities of all kinds — including people labeled with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, and other developmental conditions. Members participate as adults; some chapters welcome teens. Allies and supporters can engage in ways that respect the central principle that self-advocates lead the work. SABE intentionally welcomes self-advocates from diverse racial, ethnic, gender, sexuality, and economic backgrounds — and is explicit that disability community must center the leadership of disabled people themselves.
Why Peer Support Works
People with IDD have historically had decisions made about their lives by parents, providers, and professionals — often with little weight given to their own preferences. Self-advocacy reverses that pattern, creating space where people with IDD speak for themselves, learn from each other, and develop leadership over time. SABE’s peer-led structure is core to the model: a national community of self-advocates who recognize each other as the experts on their own lives.
How to Join
SABE membership and resources are free. Visit sabeusa.com to find your state or regional self-advocacy network, register for the national conference, browse resources written by self-advocates, and connect with the broader movement. Local chapter meetings are listed on the SABE site or through state Developmental Disabilities Councils.