SLIDE 1 Speaking for ourselves The Importance of Disability identity and self-advocacy in youth leadership development Presenters: Amber Smock and Jason English SLIDE 2 Picture of person Who are You? How would you describe yourself? How would other people describe you? Do people know what you want and need? SLIDE 3 Being an advocate means speaking up for yourself. How can you speak up for yourself if you don't know who you are? SLIDE 4 Know yourself! Choose words that describe you...and use them! Words have the power to get you what you want. SLIDE 5 Handicapped vs. disability Be careful of using words that let people pity you. The word "handicapped" started when people with disabilities would beg in the streets with their caps in their hands. Today, we use "person with a disability" because that is more respectful. It is also more POWERFUL. SLIDE 6 Disability power We say "disability" as in: DISABILITY RIGHTS. DISABILITY PRIDE. DISABILITY COMMUNITY. DISABILITY HISTORY. SLIDE 7 Do you know your disability history? Let's check out some famous people with disabilities. SLIDE 8 Picture of Harriet Tubman Who is this? SLIDE 9 Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman is famous for helping slaves escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad. When she was 14 years old, her master hit her in the head really hard. As a result, she had narcolepsy, which means she would pass out suddenly. This did not stop her from freeing her people. SLIDE 10 Picture of Wilma Mankiller Who is this? SLIDE 11 Wilma Mankiller Wilma Mankiller has a form of muscular dystrophy. She is Native American. She was the first woman to be Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. SLIDE 12 Picture of Ed Roberts Who is this? SLIDE 13 Ed Roberts Ed Roberts had polio when he was fourteen years old. He was quadriplegic. Ed Roberts was the first severely disabled student to attend the University of California at Berkeley. He later helped start the first Center for Independent Living, among many other things. He loved to travel and was an international disability rights advocate. SLIDE 14 Picture of Frida Kahlo Who is this? SLIDE 15 Frida Kahlo had multiple disabilities from illness and accidents. She was a very famous Mexican woman artist. Frida Kahlo was also a political activist. She was married to the painter Diego Rivera. SLIDE 16 Picture of Wade Blank Who is this? SLIDE 17 Wade Blank Wade Blank did not have a disability, but he was deeply committed to getting people with disabilities out of nursing homes. He helped start the Atlantis Community in Denver, Colorado. He also helped to start ADAPT, which today stands for Americans with Disabilities for Attendant Programs Today. SLIDE 18 Making Change All of the people that we just saw wanted to change their world for the better. Everyone should think about making change. But first you should ask yourself some questions. SLIDE 19 What kind of change do you want? Do you want to change something in your life for yourself? Do you want to change something that will help a lot of people? Do you want to work alone or with a group? SLIDE 20 Where does change need to happen? At school? At work? At home? In your community? Using transportation? Going to a restaurant, post office, mall, or grocery store? SLIDE 21 Who can help you? Your family? Your friends? Your caseworker or counselor? Your teachers? Your youth group? You? SLIDE 22 Who has the power to make the change? Who is in control? Who can make the change happen? This can be a very tricky question to answer. The person in control is not always the person you think is in charge. SLIDE 23 The power game SLIDE 24 If one person in the room has all the power, what are you going to do about it? Power game review SLIDE 25 Who had the power in this game? What is the best way to take the power from that person? Did you feel like the person in power "crossed the line" with you? When did you decide that they should not have power anymore? SLIDE 26 Taking action So, you've thought maybe you'd like to make some changes in the world around you. You know what the problem is and you know who can help you. When is it time to TAKE ACTION? SLIDE 27 Crossing the line YOU decide when it is time to take action. Many times, you might find yourself in a situation and you want to say, "That's just wrong!" That is one sign that it is time to take action. You also can take action when the problem is personal. You are more likely to fight if it is YOUR problem. SLIDE 28 So what do you do??? SLIDE 29 Pictures of people with disabilities in different settings EXAMPLE Story: The Chicago special education budget fight SLIDE 30 Advance Youth leadership power (AYLP) AYLP is a group of young people with disabilities in Chicago who work on disability rights. This spring, AYLP heard that the Chicago Public Schools planned to cut 200 special ed teachers and 750 aides for next year. That is a $26 million budget cut. SLIDE 31 STOP the cuts! AYLP decided they had to try to stop the cuts. 95% of Chicago juniors with disabilities cannot read at grade level. 40% of Chicago students with disabilities drop out of high school. Without teachers and aides, students can't get the help they need. SLIDE 32 What to do? AYLP decided to do a few different things. AYLP spoke out against the cuts at the Board of Education meeting. AYLP met with the chief of staff for special ed to ask her to stop the cuts. AYLP collected over 500 signatures on an online petition. SLIDE 33 What else? AYLP met with the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. They asked him to stop the cuts. AYLP got their story in the newspaper and on TV. AYLP demonstrated outside the Board building and spoke at a press conference. SLIDE 34 So...did AYLP stop the cuts? No. The Board passed the new budget with the cuts. The good news is that they spoke up! AYLP inspired special education advocates to work harder than ever before. Next year, the fight to improve special ed services will be bigger than ever. SLIDE 35 What did AYLP learn? You have to speak up for yourself. You have to try different things to get what you want. You can't be scared. You have to be able to WORK TOGETHER. Listen and be respectful. You have to have youth, not adults, decide what to do. You can't be shy about talking back to people with more power than you. SLIDE 36 Also... AYLP learned that people listened to them! SLIDE 37 The adult advisors learned... To let youth solve their own problems and learn from their mistakes. To challenge everyone to take risks. To let people just talk if they need to. To have fun and not always be so serious. To let youth be in charge! SLIDE 38 Why does AYLP work? They know who they are and they use the word "disability" as a way to show power. They know disability history and feel confident that other people with disabilities have made a difference. They know what problems they want to change, who can help them, and when to take action. They work TOGETHER. They know you have to try different things to win what you want. Spreading the power SLIDE 39 Empowering someone to take action in one area of their life can inspire them to take action in other areas too. Taking action can also inspire your friends, family and other support people to take action WITH you. And you never know...maybe you can make change for not just one person, but maybe hundreds or thousands. SLIDE 40 Leadership styles A self-advocate speaks up for what he or she needs. A systems advocate works with elected officials and agencies to change laws. A grassroots leader works with a group of people to do things like marches, testimonies and sit-ins. An organizer empowers other people to take action for themselves. SLIDE 41 What kind of leader are you? It takes time to develop your leadership style. YIELDD has once weekly meetings for 16 weeks. We have trained about 40 youth so far. AYLP meets weekly and has been ongoing since January 2005. It has about 25 members. SLIDE 42 Access Living has found that group mentoring through grassroots organizing is an excellent way to develop emerging leaders. SLIDE 43 Picture of group of young people smiling Power to the people! For more info If you would like to know more about YIELDD and AYLP, please contact Amber Smock at asmock@accessliving.org (preferred) or (312) 253-7000 ext. 191.