Learn to advocate for yourself
To advocate means to speak up in support of someone or something. When you do this, you are speaking up for yourself. Self-advocacy involves understanding and taking control of your own situation.
Self-advocacy is one of the most important skills you need to be successful in post-secondary settings. These institutions assume that you are an adult who is responsible for your own decisions, behaviour, success and failure. In a post¬secondary setting, it is up to you to:
• find out what kinds of accommodations and supports you will need in all aspects of your program (including classrooms, labs and field placements)
• know how to ask and who to ask for these services and supports.
Becoming effective at self-advocacy starts with:
• knowing and understanding your disability
• knowing your strengths and challenges, both personal and academic
• being able to explain how you overcome the challenges of your disability in an academic setting (for example, what accommodations and strategies you use)
• understanding disclosure
• understanding your rights and responsibilities as a student with a disability.
If you have worked through part one to
this point, you have already completed