The concept of “disadvantaged” used here is not centered primarily on those causes traditionally cited: race, ethnic group, poverty, or sex. Rather, the concept of “disadvantaged” here is focused on “denied access to the tools needed for self-sufficiency: a verb, that describes a process in which mainstream society acts in a way that “disadvantages” a particular group rather than the traditional adjective that describe a quality inherent to the group.

1. Our people see themselves as disadvantaged to the extent they are denied access to and use of the same tools found useful by the majority of society. These include autonomy, incentive, responsibility, self-respect, community support, health, education, information, employment, capital, and responsive support systems.

2. A major feature of “disadvantagement” is the presence of “barriers to self-sufficiency.” These barriers are the ways in which people are denied access to needed tools, and include unavailability of resources, inaccessibility to resources, the society’s regard for a group, government and corporate practices, and certain conditions of the group itself.

3. A disadvantaged group is defined by the particular pattern of denied resources and barriers it faces (rather than the fact of race, or poverty, or sex). A disadvantaged group may face more than one barrier.  Some barriers may be more easily surmounted or moved than others. Each group presents its own pattern of disadvantagement and barriers to self-sufficiency; the implied solutions would vary from group to group as well.

4. Overcoming disadvantagement, then, means overcoming or removing barriers to self-sufficiency. This can take many forms, depending on the pattern presented, but would include enabling or empowering the group’s own efforts to develop the tools or resources needed for its own self-sufficiency.

5. Noteworthy is what was not portrayed as central to the definition of “disadvantaged.” No one said that “more cash” would solve their problems; and no once said that “more government assistance” would fix what was wrong. While these deficiencies may make up part of the picture, they are not perceived as elementary.