Believe in Yourself!
What does self-advocacy look like? Speaking up for yourself, making choices that are important for you, and asking for what you need. Self-advocacy skills strengthen your path to employment every step of the way.
Believe in Yourself!
What does self-advocacy look like? Speaking up for yourself, making choices that are important for you, and asking for what you need. Self-advocacy skills strengthen your path to employment every step of the way.
Colorado Profile: Ty Smith recognized that his disability-related struggles growing up and attending school gave him unique perspectives that he could use to improve experiences of others in similar situations today.
Know Yourself
Understand your strengths and grow your self-confidence.
Know Your Needs
Discover if you will benefit from reasonable accommodations and other supports along your path to meaningful employment.
Knowing How to Get What You Need
Learn strategies for effectively communicating about and negotiating for your needs, including reasonable accommodations in the workplace.
Self-Advocacy Resources
Self-advocacy is seen as a movement not an event or a program. Resources exist to advance self-advocacy and offer learning opportunities. An online tool to locate resources by state is available at Self Advocacy Online. Other resources include:
The Arc of Colorado maintains a library of self-advocacy resources.
The Colorado Centers for Independent Living website connects people with disabilities to centers across Colorado providing advocacy, cross-disability peer counseling, and a variety of other services focused on independent living.
The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition offers a 10-week, basic advocacy training.
The ACCESS Project is a student/higher education-focused self advocacy program available on-line.
Speaking for Ourselves Colorado is a grassroots organization of people with disabilities who want to “speak for ourselves on issues that involve and affect us”.
Self Advocacy Resource and Training Center (SARTEC) is a resource for organizing and supporting self-advocacy groups.
Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) is a national self-advocacy organization. Check out their handbook for starting a self advocacy group.