Advocacy in action in Connecticut. Families and self-advocates are critical to gaining support of state lawmakers. Keep up the good fight Nutmeggers! Hoping Josh Kovner the Hartford Courant continues to focus on this key issue.

HARTFORD — The signs of influence were there: About 30 legislators showed up at a rallying point Wednesday as dozens of parents of children with intellectual disabilities prepared to fan out through the Capitol complex and press lawmakers to resist $47 million in proposed cuts to services.

The consensus in the crowded meeting room Wednesday was that parents, schooled by advocates to become their own champions, have in recent years fully conveyed what they see as an unjust system that favors expensive, outmoded state institutions serving a fraction of the population.