The disabled people's movement has been successful in shaping public policies. Today, disabled people lead and control their representative organisations, with the notable exception of autistic people and people with a learning disability who are still often represented by parents and professionals. This thesis used empirical data from two countries, the UK and Hungary to explore the position of self-advocates in the disability movement and identify factors that help or hinder self-advocacy. Several hindering factors were identified, including economic barriers, rules employed by disability organisations and lack of support to self-advocates. Supporting factors include the internet, the community of autistic people and human rights policies. The study found evidence that disability organisations include self-advocates only in tokenistic ways in their processes The thesis also offers a descriptive Pathways Model and a new, practice theory-based definition to self-advocacy.