The goal of Self-Advocacy 101 is to share tools and techniques that will assist students to understand their strengths and weaknesses; identify and understand how blindness impacts them and what adjustments they must make in order to be on an equal footing with sighted peers; and to develop their individual methods for communicating these necessary adjustments in academic, social, home and vocational environments. We know that creativity is at the core of self-advocacy. More times than not advocating for ourselves begins by identifying a challenge we are facing. In an ideal world this is promptly followed by those in charge offering a solution to said challenge. However, as many of our students know all too well, this is not always the case, especially when it comes to the reasonable accommodations necessary for blind students to have access materials and stay on track with their peers.

Items that will be addressed during this 2-part workshop include but are not limited to:

• What is self-advocacy?
• What types of challenges require me to advocate for myself?
• How do I know what my strengths and weaknesses are?
• How can I use my strengths to help address these challenges?
• How do I know what I need to address and overcome these challenges?
• How do I convey what I need for access in an effective manner?
• Students will observe a variety of self-advocacy scenarios.
• Students will identify Dos and Don’ts of self-advocacy.
• Students will participate in self-advocacy role-play situations.
• Students will find and implement creative solutions to everyday challenges.
• Students will learn about benefits of self-advocacy, e.g. heightened sense of self-awareness and higher self-confidence.
• Students will learn about the important role of advocating for legislation to ensure equal access and opportunity.