Self Advocacy and Leadership

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Self Advocacyand Leadership
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What is Self-Advocacy

• Deciding what you want
• Communicating those desires
• Using your ability to make a change

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When Would I Use It?

• Examples
• Trying to get accommodations for the SAT
• Talking to your college professor about using a
  computer in class
• Asking a landlord to make an apartment accessible
• Asking your boss for assistance with using
  computerized scheduling kiosk

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The Rules of Self Advocacy

• Confidence is Key
• Be Prepared
• Always Show Respect
• Be Open Minded
• Tell Others About Your Ideas
• Keep Track Of Information
• Follow Up

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Getting What You Need is not always What You Want

• Not taking advantage of people
• Understand what are your reasonable
  accommodations
• An accommodation should create a level playing
  field, not give you an advantage
• Understand what your legal rights are in each
  setting
• Rights while you are in K-12 are different than
  post-school settings

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What are Examples of When You Have Advocated
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What is Leadership

• Changing the Youth Role in Decision Making

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Essential Questions

• Take 2 3 minutes to think about (or write down)
  
• How do you define leadership?
• How is self-advocacy and leadership connected?
• Share Your thoughts

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What are the characteristics of a leader?

• Confidence
• Vision
• Ability to see potential and help it grow
• Leadership is an attitude and a behavior, not a
  position
• Leadership can be shared
• Leadership can be collaborative
• Leadership can be learned

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What are the outcomes of leadership?

• More leaders
• A larger group who share or understand the issues
  and vision
• Make positive changes

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What do you need to be a leader? What can we
do to support you?