Look   At  the PERSON

Not the Disabled

                                          Kim, Nylons and Liz                                    Gabriel and Me

Elizabeth A. Lyons 04/22/2005

My new skill would be Self-Advocate for Disabled People. I have to start being self-advocate for myself before I can help someone else. What self-advocate means to me is speaking up for you? No matter how small your goals are or how big the goals can get. The reason why I want to be a self-advocate that some people think just because I have a disability they think they know what is good for me. However, sometimes they are wrong. Therefore, I have to tell them what I want and make sure they listen to me. For example, State Rehab helped me get my AA degree in Child Development. However, when it was time for my next step to reach my goal to go to Cal State Northridge to get my BA degree they did not think I could do it. I had to appeal their decision all the way up to the State Rehab office in Sacramento. It took about two years being persistent but I won the case. However, I had a lot of help with this case from Kelly who works at the North Los Angeles County Regional Center. She was my caseworker there. I had to learn how to be a self-advocate for myself to get what I need to reach my goal. I won the case I am at Cal State Northridge. However, I could not get help with some of my studies so my grades went down. Therefore, Rehab said they could not help me because nay grades went down. Therefore, I went to Financial Aid and picked up a paper to get some Grant money. In addition, I went to the Disabled Office and talked to Dr. Zvi and she helped me get my classes. However, Dr. Zvi suggested I should go and get my BA in Child Development but I told her no I want to get it in the Psychology Department. Therefore, that is why I think I want to develop my skills on self-advocacy. To help some other person with the disability who cannot talk or do not know how to speak for themselves. In addition, show" them how to get the skill to speak for themselves when people say they cannot do something. Some people think people in wheelchairs or who have other disabilities cannot do what they want to do for themselves. They do not look at the person they look at the disability. For example, I have a friend who wants to live on his own and his caseworker does not want him to. She needs to listen to what he wants and give him support at what he needs to reach his goal in life. My friend Sammy his assistant living coach thought Sammy could not do math. Sammy first was my student before he was my friend. I was showing him how to do adding, subtracting and doing multiplication. However, his worker told him he could not do it. Therefore, Sammy came • back and told me his worker said he could not do it but I told him he has been doing it for two weeks. Therefore, he went back and showed his worker how good he did. For my next example, I am on the board of trustees at North Los Angeles County Regional Center I have been on it for two years. I am learning how to be self-advocate for the clients at Regional Center. I have to read many different things for I can be the best self-advocate. I need to go to work shops and different conferences for I can get new information for I can give out good information to the disabled people who need my help and so they can reach their goal in life. Solnetimes you have to go up to Sacramento or Washington D.C and talk to the Governor or Senators or even the President of the United States. Sometimes the Government does not want to listen to people with disabilities who have different ideas what they think a person with disability should do with their own life. I think people with or without a disability know what they want to do with their life but sometimes they need someone to listen and to help them getting their point across to other people who might think different. Therefore, these are the reasons I want to develop my skills to be a self-advocate.