Self-Advocacy: Coming Together, Being Heard, Making Change

1. Www.did2.org

2. Self-Advocacy Coming together with people like me.

3. Welcome to my life…… • Hi my name is John, I live in a group home, and I’m 26 and I use a wheelchair. • I have a learning disability. • I can’t read well. • I am proud of myself.

4. …….Together we will learn lots of new things like; • Being in a group together. • Being heard. • People who make decisions. • Changing things

5. This project is about…… • Being together, • Being heard, • Politics, and; • Change.

6. Come meet my friends, • They are very nice. • All of us will learn about advocacy and politics. • We will all learn how to make changes in our lives –because it is our lives!

7. Hi… • My name is Susanne, I’m 32. • I live at home with my parents. • I have a learning disability. • I have a job. • I am not dating right now.

8. Hi.. • My name is Carlos, I have just left school, I am 18. • I live in an institution. • I have a learning disability. • I find it really difficult to explain myself. • I like to play football, and computer games.

9. Hi….. • I’m Lisa, I have my own flat and Im 30. • I have a learning disability, and I have a support worker. • I get help with my money, but I can shop on my own. • My dream is to fall in love.

10. Hi…. • I’m Christy, I’m 45 and I like to travel. • I live on my own now, both my parents have passed away. • I have a learning disability. • I like to go out, but I find it hard to make friends.

11. Hi… • My name is Karen, I live in an institution. • I’ve lived here since I was a young girl, I am now 28. • I have a learning disability. • I would love to have my own home.

12. Hi…. • I’m Peter, I’m 35 and I like to help other people. • I am what people call a supporter. • I’m married and I have two kids.

13. Time to Do… Getting to know each other

14. Who are you? Everyone introduces themselves, telling the group where they come from and some thing about their interests or hobbies. Bring along something belonging to you or a photo of yourself something you really like next week.

15. Secret friends Choose a person in the group. You must do something nice for that person for the day, without the other person knowing. Next week you must guess who your secret friend was.

16. Guess who? Choose a person in the group. You must describe that person to everyone in the group. The reset of the group must guess the person you are describing.

17. How I met my friends….. • I met my friends when I joined a self- advocacygroup. • Now you will learn about our self advocacy group and how we made it work.

18. Why do people get together ? • Getting together means to meet up with other people • Common interest gathers people together.

19. Why do you think people get together?

20. History behind getting together • For many years people have gathered together. • Common interest gathers people together.

21. What is common in your Group?

22. When do you gather with other people?

23. Why gather with other people? • Same age. • Living in the same area. • Likes the same things. • Having no other friends. • Having something in common.

24. Sport • People gather together to support different teams.

25. Music

26. Time to Do, things in common……..

27. Lipstick/clowns nose/paper ears/teeth…… • Can I have volunteers? • Volunteers need to do the selected task • What do these volunteers have in common?

28. Things in common…. • How did this make you feel? • What did you do? • What difference did it make to the group?

29. What do you have in common with these people?

30. Things in common… • You are all human being with equal rights. • You all Live in Europe. • A lot of people care for you, even if you don’t think so. • You all have different skills.

31. What is common in your group?

32. Some people feel……… • Different from brothers and sisters. • Have difficulty in reading and writing. • Find it difficult to learn. • People look at us in the street. • Other people treat us differently. They sometimes come together in a group called a self-advocacy group.

33. What do these people have to do? • When people come together they can make things happen.

34. Self-advocacy groups …… • Address that it is not OK to be treated differently. • Builds peoples confidence. • Teaches people about their rights. • Makes people feel strong, not vulnerable. • Allows people to talk about their lives. • Allows people to talk about things that are not fair.

35. I joined a self-advocacy group because I felt sometimes things weren’t fair. Sometimes people made decisions about my life and didn’t ask me. Some people treated me in a way that I didn’t like. I can talk about things that bother me with my friends in the self-advocacy group.

36. It feels great……. • Having friends who understand how I feel. • Having friends who feel the same way I do. • Talking about what is not fair. • Changing things that are not fair. • Taking control of our own lives!

37. Time to Do • Everyone in this group can have a sweet, apart from the tallest/shortest person. • is fair? • What do you think?

38. Figure out what this is about “The term “equalisation of opportunities” means the process through which the various systems of society and the environment, such as services, activities, information and documentation, are made available to all, particularly to persons with disabilities” United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, 1993.

39. It is about……. Equalisation of opportunities

40. Fairness is…….. • Listening to all people’s opinions. • Listening to yourself and asking; “do I agree?”. • Being allowed to voice your opinion. • Being able to ask questions about situations that you don’t find fair. • Treating people as you would like to be treated. • Your personal feeling you get about a situation/decision. • Sticking to the rules agreed. (both formal and informal)

41. What self-advocacy groups can do for you? • Builds self-esteem. • Makes you realize that you are important. • Helps you become active in how you would like your life to be.

42. Building self-esteem……. • Self-esteem is loving who and what you are. • Believing that you can make things happen • Believing that you can make a difference. • Knowing that you are good at something.

43. Time to Do….

44. Role play. • Pair up and stand facing each other. • Act like a confident person, a shy person, an aggressive person. • Explain which of the roles was easiest or hardest for you to play.

45. Realizing that you are important • Being there to help others. • Knowing that your opinion counts. • Leading other people. • Having peoples attention. • Knowing that you have skills that others can use.

46. Being active in how you would like your life to be.

47. How to get into a self-advocacy group. • Find out what's available in your local area. • Ask your friends. • Ask staff/family that support you. • Search on the internet; Look for; • People First • Advocacy • Learning Disability www.ulf-web.dk www.peoplefirst.com www.listentome.org

48. What to expect when you arrive.. • You will be welcomed. • Other people will tell you who they are and why they are in the self-advocacy group. • You will be respected. • You will be asked for your opinion. • You will meet new friends. • You will talk about your dreams. • You will hear other peoples stories.

49. Rules in a self-advocacy group • All self-advocacy groups have rules. • The group decide their own rules. • Rules help the meetings to be good. • Rules help all the people know what to do and how to do it.

50. All people should get a chance to speak. Have a break every 45 minutes. All information must be easy to read. All people should respect the rules and the tools that people use. Things that should happen in a self-advocacy group…