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A silly video about Self-Advocacy and why it is important!

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It is important to know and understand your rights as a person with a disability. Get to know them better here.

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Transition Toolkit Now Available

Disability Rights Florida has created a new resource for students with disabilities in their teens. The toolkit, Preparing for Your Successful Transition to Adulthood, gives students with disabilities, their supporters, families, care team, and school staff the resources they need to prepare for adulthood and unlock their potential for a great future.

COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Assistance

Do you need assistance getting your COVID-19 or Flu vaccination? Call 800-722-8142 to learn about accessible vaccine clinics, transportation, in-home vaccinations, and resources.

Disability Rights Florida was founded in 1977 as the statewide designated protection and advocacy system for individuals with disabilities in the State of Florida. Disability Rights Florida is a not-for-profit corporation that has authority and responsibility under nine federal grants. Our services are free and confidential.

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Disability Rights Florida offers free and confidential services to Floridians with disabilities.

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4 steps on you can be a stronger self-advocate.

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An introduction to self-advocacy and some tips to get started.

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Printable PDF Version

Self-advocacy is a key step in becoming an adult. It means looking out for yourself, telling people what you need, and knowing how to take responsibility. No one is born knowing these skills. Everyone has to learn them. Ready to begin learning? Here is some great information from teens, for teens, that can start you on your way.

What is self-advocacy?

Self-advocacy means taking the responsibility for telling people whatyou want and need in a straightforward way. It is knowing how to:

speak up for yourself

describe your strengths, disability, needs, and wishes take responsibility for yourself

find out about your rights

obtain help or know who to ask if you have a question

Where Can I Practice Self-Advocacy?

A great place to practice self-advocacy is in your Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. With the support of your team members, you can learn ways to:

explain your disability to others

set goals for yourself

build teamwork skills

share with teachers what works and does not work for you

ask for accommodation

accept help from others

lead all or part of the IEP meeting

But I Don't Like Going to These Meetings!

Understandable. But did you know there are still many ways you can be involved and learn self-advocacy skills? Which of these ideas might work for you?

Come for just a few minutes, instead of attending the whole meeting.

Write down your ideas, questions, and concerns before the meeting.

Practice or role-play ahead of time what you want to say in the meeting.

Introduce yourself .

Tell team members about your interests, strengths, and desires for the future.

Explain to the team what it is like to have your disability.

Help your special education teacher write the agenda.

Help the team develop IEP goal areas.

Ask for explanations if you do not understand something.

At the end of the meeting, review what the team decided.

If you choose not to attend the meeting, share your input with your parent(s) or special education teacher before the meeting and review the meeting's events afterward.

Be Prepared!

Most people are more comfortable at meetings if they have had some time to think about what they want to say. Before your IEP meeting, you could think about these questions:

What do I want to learn or work on this year?

What are my special concerns for the school year?

How do I learn the best?

What do I need to be successful?

What would make learning easier for me?

What positive information about myself can I share at the meeting?

What does the law say about my attending IEP meetings?

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) says that you must automatically be invited to all of your IEP meetings once you are 16. (You don't have to go, but it's a good idea. After all, no one knows you better than you.) In Minnesota transition must begin during the ninth grade, so you should be invited then and whenever the team is talking about transition services. You may want to discuss attending your IEP meeting with your parents. Transition is about planning for your future. You will look at your skills in three areas:

employment

postsecondary education and training

independent living, if appropriate (includes recreation and leisure as well as community participation)

All this planning and self-advocacy will serve you well. When you turn 18, you will be considered an adult-and will make lots of decisions on your own unless you have a legal guardian. You will be signing your own IEP. This is why it is a great idea to practice self-advocacy as much as possible before turning 18.

Learning good self-advocacy skills is cool. It will help you while you are in school-and when you become an adult. Knowing and exercising your rights are important steps in becoming a strong self-advocate.

Check out what these teens have to say about self advocating!
Christopher's Self-Advocacy Video Jacob's Self-Advocacy Video

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Self Advocacy: Tips for Teens - Utah Parent Center

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Printable PDF Version Self-advocacy is a key step in becoming an adult. It means looking out for yourself, telling people what you need, and knowing how to take responsibility. No...

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A video for parents and families to support students' self-determination, including self-advocacy.

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Parents Teaching Self-Advocacy Skills: Helping Your Child Toward Self-Determination

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A transition plan booklet to use with students, including several self-advocacy checklists and discussions.

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A guide to support your child to get involved in the IEP process.

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Self-advocacy is an important skill for kids with learning and thinking differences to develop. Being able to speak up for what they need helps them navigate challenges and get support.

You can help your child build this skill by providing opportunities to speak up and ask for help. The process begins with helping your child understand and talk about the challenges. Here are some tips for getting started.

1. Be open about learning and thinking differences.

Talk to your child about learning and thinking differences in ways your child can relate to. If kids have a diagnosis, they may not need to know the clinical term. But it's important for your child to know that there's nothing wrong with talking about it.

2. Discuss how their issues affect them.

Talk with kids about how their issues affect them, and be sure to make it a discussion. You want to give your child a chance to tell you what's difficult. For example, you can say, "Your dyslexia causes you trouble with reading." But your child might say, "I don't like reading out loud because it's hard for me." Let your child practice ways of explaining those challenges to other kids. ("It takes me longer to read, but I'm working hard at it.")

3. Help your child discover their strengths.

Everyone has things that come more naturally to them than others. Your child probably can identify where they need help. But it's also important for your child to be able to identify strengths. It gives your child a way to talk about what they're good at. ("It takes me longer to read, but you should see me on the baseball field!")

4. Practice what to say to teachers.

Your child may be nervous about asking too many questions or requesting accommodations. Remind kids that teachers are there to help. If your child is shy about self-advocating, work together on a 3×3 card to share with the teacher. You can also practice self-advocacy sentence starters to help your child learn to speak up. And don't forget to talk about when and how to ask a teacher for help.

5. Let your child be a decision maker.

Part of self-advocacy is making decisions about what you need and what works best for you. Give your child the chance to make some of those decisions. For instance, let your child choose where to study at home. (Take a look at the best places to do homework before giving your child some choices.) Or ask your child to decide what to have for dinner one night a week. Knowing their voice matters is important.

6. Remind your child that you're a team.

In grade school, kids are just starting to become self-advocates. Assure your child that you're still going to advocate on their behalf. And let your child know that not only are you a team, but that you're learning how to be an effective advocate, too. Self-advocacy skills are something you can work on together.

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6 tips for helping your grade-schooler learn to self-advocate

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Standing up for yourself is an important skill to learn. Find out how you can teach self-advocacy skills to your grade school child.

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A toolkit for educating students on self-determination, including self-advocacy.

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As teachers, administrators, and educational professionals, you can play a crucial role in a young person’s journey toward self-determination.

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A student-directed transition planning process.

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Instructional guide to My Health Care, a curriculum to help improve health literacy and self-advocacy skills.

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The goal of My Health Care is to empower persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) to better meet their own health and wellness needs through improved communication with providers, the use of adaptive tools, and development of self-advocacy skills. The project is funded by the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, Inc. (FDDC) and was developed in partnership with the University of South Florida.

My Health Care is organized around the mnemonic "GLADD," a teaching model developed at University of Florida's Institute for Child Health Policy. GLADD serves as a reminder about important skills to use when communicating with health care providers and others: Give (information)-Listen- Ask (questions)-Decide-Do (follow through on the action plan).

My Health Care activities within the GLADD model include:

Being prepared with questions and issues to discuss at office visits

Providing a health summary to the physician

Being assertive when communicating and paying attention to body language

Using rating scales and visual aids to communicate health issues

Learning negotiating skills; providing feedback to the physician

Utilizing caregivers to assist with communication

Recording communication with physician to enhance information recall andcomprehension

Utilizing technology to improve health care communication and self-management

In addition to using GLADD to guide skill-building, learners are introduced toother fun and easy-to-remember mnemonics such as SLANT (Sit up-Lean in-Askquestions-Nod-Track the speaker; to use when talking to a provider) and Handy High 5 (Who-What-When-Where-Why; to use in describing a medical event orcondition).

The following resources are available for the implementation of My Health Care:

Instructor and Learner Guides

PowerPoint Presentations
These presentations were created with Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and will playback in PowerPoint 2007 or newer. If you do not have the required software, you may install the FREE PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft. You may need Adminstrator privlidges to install the software.
Bingo Cards

Caregiver Handout (for Parents/Family)

Promotional Flyer (general information about the program)

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The goal of My Health Care is to empower persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) to better meet their own health and wellness needs through improved communication with providers, the use of adaptive tools, and development of self-advocacy skills. The project is funded by the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, Inc.

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Debunk myths and learn more about the importance of self-advocacy

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Tips for Teachers to incorporate self-advocacy!

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A blog post that highlights the importance of parental involvement when it comes to self-advocacy.

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As educators, we ask students to speak up for themselves. This is especially important in secondary grades; however, we do begin to teach this in elementary. Little do the students know that we are teaching them to self-advocate for themselves. So, what is self-advocacy? Self-advocacy is when students are able to tell adults or others their needs (Lee, n.d.). When students self-advocate for themselves, they have a better life satisfaction (Kleinert et al., 2010; Lachapelle et al., 2005; Wehmeyer et al., 2010; Wehmeyer & Shogren, 2016; as cited in Stansberry Brusnahan et al., 2023). Self-advocacy is important because as students become adults, they will need to tell people what they need, what is wrong, etc. While teachers can teach self-advocacy in school, it is also very important to have parental involvement while teaching this skill. Research shows that when parents are involved in their child's education then the student has better academic success (Sheldon, 2009; as cited in Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017). During the school day, teachers will be showing students how to self-advocate for themselves. However, this can be reinforced by the parents at home. The parents could have their students speak up for what they need or ask questions if they do not understand something. By reinforcing this matter, the parents and school are working together to ensure that the student can self-advocate for themselves when they get older. Below are a few resources that can help parents understand the importance of self-advocacy and how they can help.
Parenting to Support Self-Advocacy in your Child - Foothills Academy Best Practices in Self-Advocacy Skill Building - Center for Parent Information and Resources (parentcenterhub.org) Self-Advocacy: Strategies for All Ages - Smart Kids (smartkidswithld.org)
Brown Rubinstien, M. (n.d.). Self-advocacy: Strategies for all ages. SmartKids Learning

Center for Parent Information & Resources (2019, March). Best practices in self-advocacy

skill building. https://www.parentcenterhub.org/priority-selfadvocacy/

Durisic, M., & Bunijevac, M. (2017). Parental involvement as a important factor for successful

Kleinert, J. O., Harrison, E. M., Fisher, T. L., & Kleinert H. L. (2010). "I can" and "I did"- Self

advocacy for young students with developmental disabilities. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 43(2), 16-26.

Lachapelle, Y., Wehmeyer, M. L., Haelewyck, M. C., Courbois, Y., Keith, K. D., Schalock, R.,

Lee, A. M. I. (n.d.). What is self-advocacy?

Understood . https://www.understood.org/en/articles/the-importance-of-self-advocacy

Schreiner, K., & Falardeau, C. (2020, July 8). Parenting to support self-advocacy in

your child. Foothills Academy. https://www.foothillsacademy.org/community/articles/support-self-advocacy

Sheldon, S. B. (2009). In school, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for

Stansberry Brusnahan, L. L., Harkins Monaco, E. A., Fuller, M., & Dixon, K. (2023). Diversity,

Wehmeyer M. L., Shogren, K. A., Zager, D., Smith, T. E. C., & Simpson, R. (2010). Research

Wehmeyer, M. L., & Shogren, K. A. (2016). Self-determination and choice. In Singh N. (Ed.),

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What is Self-Advocacy and Why is Parental Involvement Important?

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As educators, we ask students to speak up for themselves. This is especially important in secondary grades; however, we do begin to teach t…