Self-Advocacy groups started in 1985 with a grant from UCP of Santa Barbara. The first two self-advocacy groups were the Advocates for a Better Tomorrow and Advocates of North County. These early self-advocacy identified the lack of transportation for individuals with developmental disabilities in the evenings and weekends, which led to the creation of the CIP Transportation Service in 1987’ The People First of SLO worked with Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee to pass a California bill to allow voter with disabilities to use a stamp to sign the voter registration when they vote at an election poll. People First of SLO formed two groups of self-advocacy groups.
One group was made up of members attending PathPoint in San Luis Obispo during the day. The second group met monthly in the evenings. Both groups look at improving the lives of people with developmental disabilities in San Luis Obispo County. When Covid-19 hit in March of 2020, both People First groups were suspended. In July of 2022, UCP of San Luis Obispo coordinated the meetings of the evening People First on Zoom. They are working on resuming the PathPoint People First group.
Today we are an organization of more than 60 people with developmental disabilities known as People First of San Luis Obispo.