Speaking Up For Yourself or Self-Advocacy

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What is self-advocacy?

• Self-advocacy is:
  • Knowing your rights and responsibilities
  • Making your own choices and decisions
  • Speaking up for yourself

Speaking up for yourself makes you stronger.

• Making choices helps you know what you want.
• Making your own choices gives you control over your life.

To learn more about speaking up for yourself:

• Make choices and decisions for yourself every day, like:
• When to get up or when to go to bed at night
• When to get a haircut
• When to eat dinner
• What clothes to wear
• What shampoo to buy
• What to do for fun

To learn more about self-advocacy:

• Work with decision makers.
• Help an agency decide:
  • Which staff to hire
  • How well staff are doing their jobs
• Be on a board of directors
• Join a local People First chapter.
• Lead your own Individual Program Plan (IPP) meeting.

Speaking up for yourself means . . .

• Making the biggest choices and decisions in your life, like:
  • Where you will live
  • Who you will live with
  • Where you will work
  • Who you want to help you when you need it
  • What you want to do in the future
• Living the life you want.

What will change if you speak up for yourself more?

• You will become more independent.
• Being independent means:
  • Doing more things for yourself
  • Having more choices
  • Making more decisions
• You will also get better at:
  • Making good choices and decisions
  • Staying healthy and safe

Self-Advocacy Groups

• In many areas of California, there are groups of people who get together to talk about:
  • Rights
  • Responsibilities
  • Speaking up for themselves
• Self-advocacy groups have different names like:
  • People First
  • Consumer Advisory Committees

How Can I Find Out About Groups?

• Check with your:
  • Regional Center Consumer Advisory Committee
  • Area Board
• Ask if there are self-advocacy meetings near where you live.
• Ask if there is training to learn about self-advocacy.

People First

• In some places, there are People First meetings.
• People First says:We Are People First, Our Disability is Second.
• Here’s what a self-advocacy group in Santa Barbara says:
  • I am IMPORTANT.
  • I KNOW what I want.
  • I will WORK HARD to get what I want.
  • I am RESPONSIBLE for the choices I make.

More Information About Speaking Up for Yourself

• People First of California
• Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)
• The Consumer Corner