Advocacy

“Get into politics as if your life depended on it.
It does.”

– Justin Dart, Jr., Disability Advocate

Introduction
Self-Advocacy
Group Advocacy
Resources

Introduction

Previous sessions in this workshop have focused on solving problems in order to reach quality of life goals. You have learned skills such as:

managing frustration and discouragement
communicating effectively
finding, evaluating, and using information
eating well
improving your level of physical activity

This session brings these skills together to form a foundation for advocacy.

What is Advocacy?

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Self-Advocacy

Your previous experiences in advocating for your needs may have been routine or nerve-wracking, depending on whom you were trying to convince.

For example, you may regularly tell your sibling what you need, but you may not want to speak up to your parents about it
Talking to a store clerk for help seems much easier than approaching a school principal or a doctor

A step-by-step approach can help you learn new advocacy skills or sharpen your existing skills. You may be surprised to find you already know many of the steps:

Identify the need and set a goal
Identify the solvable problems and write to do lists
Seek useful information
Communicate clearly
Be patient and do not get discouraged
Take care of yourself to perform at your best

Self-Advocacy Steps

Self-Advocacy & Goals

Self-Advocacy Activity

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Group Advocacy

Self-advocacy can solve many problems, but some problems are too big for one person to solve.

These systems problems may require people to work together using group advocacy
A group of people has more credibility than a lone individual and can communicate more effectively to a wider audience
Many people benefit when a systems problem is solved
Systems advocacy is more efficient than advocating for change to address the same problem faced by individuals repeatedly

Group Process

Agreeing on a Problem

Agreeing on a Solution

Roles & Responsibilities

Review

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