Self-help groups did not work within the medical model of disability and instead centered individuals as experts in their own experiences, and emphasized the need to address internalized oppression and create systems of community support rather than emphasizing eliminating or relieving someone from disability.

NBWHP's Self-Help Groups and Models of Disability

Self-help groups sometimes formed around specific disabilities but the groups were neither based in disability or segregated by disability or health status. The groups were explicitly inclusive of Black-disabled women without requiring Black disabled women to identify with disability or disclose their disability status.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

The NBWHP's self-help groups often would range from three to ten women and met every week for two to three hours. These groups often met in women's homes, community centers, or churches and while some groups formed around similar lived experiences of health issues many were formed from women's existing social networks. Self-help groups were led by codevelopers who three times a year received training from the NBWHP. In 1989 the NBWHP estimated that 2,000 women were involved in self-help groups. In 2000, the NBWHP stated that over 30,000 women participated in self-help groups since the NBWHP was founded.

What NBWHP's Self-Help Focus Looked Like in Practice

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

Black Disability Politics

The NBWHP spent tremendous amounts of time and resources on developing and supporting self-help groups. In addition, the NBWHP required that employees and leaders participate in self-help groups.

How the NBWHP Organizationally Prioritized Self-Help Groups

Self-help groups were explicitly tied into the politic of the NBWHP. In 1989, an NBWHP report explained the political potential of these groups. This report notes that in order to develop consciousness of how health ties into larger structures of racism, sexism, and classism there needs to be an environment for Black women to share collective experiences and experience validation of their unique struggles. 

How Self-Help Was Connected to NBWHP's Politics

There was also an understanding that these groups were in themselves a form of healthcare and worked to empower individuals which in turn involved their physical health, emotional health, and spiritual health. Also, these groups often included public health education in ways that explicitly centered the experiences of Black women and acknowledged the medical trauma and need for this information in a non-medical setting.

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