| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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on the argument it wants to make. Hence, those organizations invited to testify are more or less “established” as advocacy organizations and have relations with congressional staff. Yet, much advocacy work and lobbying occurs “behind the scenes,” in informal interactions with members of Congress throughout the legislative process.33 Advocacy organizations’ opportunities to influence policy continue throughout this process and in the development of regulations (i.e., law making in the executive branch), which this study does not examine. Some of these limitations were addressed through elite interviews with elected officials, staff members, and interest groups leaders. However, future research could build upon the results of this study, and address those areas of interest group phenomena not examined in the present project.
Organization of the Book
In chapter 2, I discuss the study’s theoretical framework. Understanding what special education organizations are about, what they do, how they go about doing it, and their effectiveness over time necessitates the integration of various theoretical and empirical perspectives. I lay out the conceptual frameworks for interest groups and social movement organizations, problem definition, selection of policy targets and strategies, and organizational effectiveness. In chapter 3, I outline the research methods regarding the selection criteria for the organizations in this study, the coding schemes, the elite interviews, and multivariate analyses of the document data.
Chapter 4 analyzes the characteristics of parent and disability advocacy groups and organizations that represent professional organizations, including where they fall on a social movement–interest group continuum. I show that parent and disability advocacy groups began as loosely organized local networks, with the goal to receive emotional support for each other and services for the children. Expressing their children’s rights also motivated the parents’ political participation. The chapter shows that policy items are deeply personal to the parents, as the welfare of their child is at stake, thus placing the groups conceptually under pain and loss activism.