Center director Fraser Nelson said discrimination against people with disabilities has become the last acceptable marginalization of a whole segment of society — a marginalization often compounded in rural areas.

"What we have found in the tour is the acuity of that experience is even more so there than in urban areas — that there is this sense of 'otherness' and lack of self-advocacy. It all comes together to present challenges."

The latest census numbers show that some of Utah's most rural areas have the highest percentage of people with disabilities, even more so than the urbanized Wasatch Front.

Carbon County, for example, has 21 percent of its population suffering from a disability, compared to Utah County with 10 percent.

The highest is San Juan County, with 23 percent. Contrast that to Salt Lake County with 14 percent and Davis with 11 percent.

At each of the "Listen and Learn" meetings, several themes emerged, including:

• Very limited, inadequate, poor quality or poorly coordinated services are a concern.

• Individuals want training in self-advocacy, especially special education and access to resources.

• Rural Utahns with disabilities face enormous barriers to employment.

• Discrimination continues to be felt, notably in education, housing, employment and certain services.

• While people appreciated the meetings, they were skeptical the center will follow through.

"The message we're getting is 'Don't underestimate us but don't forget us,'" Nelson said. "We can't sit on our laurels and assume they are going to call us."

The outreach then is intended to tap locals interested in advocacy, train them on rights associated with special education, housing, job training and other arenas and set them loose with guidance. A nearly $12,000 grant from the Jerome S. and Grace H. Murray Foundation will help pay for the follow-up training.

"It's very important for the rural community to hold us accountable in this effort," Nelson said.

While the center has established outreach efforts in institutions such as the prison or the Utah State Hospital, Nelson said the tour represents the first time the center has reached out to this extent in the most remote locations in the state.

"Instead of telling people, 'you come here,' we are saying we will go to them and get our comeuppance locally. "

To that end, the center brought on Khando Chazotsang to head up the coordination of the tour, which she said will ultimately result in the formation of four regional councils.

Chazotsang spends her days reaching out to people in rural areas and arranging the town meetings far enough in advance in hopes of getting ample participation.

"Each of these counties have to be visited. If we don't, there is no credibility to what we do."