People With Complex Needs in Leadership Roles: Results of a National Survey

Including people with disabilities in respected roles within disability-focused organizations is gaining recognition as best practice. In 2012 and 2013, we conducted a nationwide survey of disability-focused organizations about the inclusion of self-advocates on governing and decision-making bodies as part of the National Beyond Tokenism Research Study. This article presents the findings of the national survey on the inclusion of people with disabilities in leadership roles, including information on supports identified by organizations as facilitating inclusion, and the outcomes of including people with complex needs in leadership roles, and implications for future research and practice.