“You must stop feeling guilty and insignificant.
 
You must stop apologizing for asking a bureaucrat to do a job you are paying him to do.
 
You must stop begging for what you are entitled to by law.
 
You must not accept these old excuses: “There isn’t enough money”; “We need more time.”
 
You must stop whispering when everyone else is shouting.
   
Don’t be afraid to complain.
   
You must use mass action”

— Charlotte Des Jardins’ organizing principles for parents of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, from her book How to Organize an Effective Parent/Advocacy Group and Move Bureaucracies, published 1980.

Found on the really incredible Minnesota DD Council website which has lots of historical archives. (via raisel-the-riveter)