Have you ever wanted to speak up about something but felt that your opinion didn’t matter? Are you unsure about how to ask a teacher or mentor for help? Do you lack confidence when sharing your values about a topic in a group discussion? If you answered YES to any of these questions, fear not! Read on to learn more about self-advocacy, why it is important, and how you can build your capacity and confidence to advocate for yourself.
Self-advocacy means speaking up for yourself by communicating your needs, rights and values. It is important because it can help you to:
- Do well at school and work.
- Have positive friendships and respectful relationships.
- Manage tricky situations with peers.
- Develop independence.
- Have better health outcomes.
- Set goals and achieve them.
Self-advocacy is an important life skill because it will help you in decision making, problem solving, setting personal boundaries and help you to identify your rights.
Working on Self-Advocacy
You are at an exciting time in your life when you are discovering what you stand for, what is important to you, and what you value. To help yourself gain more confidence in self-advocating, you can take these steps:
- Think about your strengths and challenges. You’ll need to become more self aware as it will help you learn what you may need help with and how to ask for it. Remember, asking for help is ok.
- Learn your rights, especially as they relate to your education.
- Get involved with the decision making process in regards to what’s important to you. Whether you want to join athletics, become a part of a school club, or strive for the honor roll- whatever directly involves you and your participation- you should embrace taking responsibility in those decisions.
- Practice how to talk to your parents, teachers, school staff, etc. about what’s important to you. It can be overwhelming talking to adults, but practicing how to articulate your needs and what’s important to you is essential in building confidence in self-advocating.
- Start thinking about your future and what action steps you need to take in order to achieve any future goals. Self-advocacy is not only about speaking up about what’s important to you, but also planning for the future and how to tackle it.
Being able to self-advocate not only will help you find success in and beyond high school, but will also help you continue to value what’s important to you as you grow into adulthood.
Checkout this great resource on Proactive Self-Advocacy to learn more!