Disability Self-Advocacy and Youth Leadership? What are they? What do they serve? Why are they important? How can they be used in everyday society? Disability Self-Advocacy and Youth Leadership are two similar concepts that go together. They speak a shared language on how people of all abilities can become their own leaders and self-advocates in a world that has not always been designed for them. These concepts give people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities both a voice and place to speak up for themselves and help to create impactful and meaningful change for everyone. At the same time, they can be used to create a life you would want to have going forward following completion of high school. Disability Self-Advocacy is the act of always advocating for yourself, for your needs, and what you wish for everyone to have in our society. Youth Leadership is the art of helping young people in school to prepare to become leaders for anything they have their heart set on, or to be part of any disability advocacy or rights movement. This idea can also be applied for either any other area of life and/or other advocacy or rights movements in-general. When speaking with young people with disabilities always keep in-mind what strengths and qualities they can bring to any table, what values are most important to them, what they are interested in doing in life, how they wish to be addressed, and ensuring accessibility to create a sense of ease and autonomy for them. Through guidance, understanding, teamwork, collaboration, and direct engagement, we can all build a more beloved community and world by developing a leader in anyone, including people of all abilities.
Disability Self-Advocacy is a term used to describe the act of speaking up for yourself as someone with a disability in your everyday life. Self-Advocacy is speaking for yourself and how you want to direct your life long-term. At the same time, it is the everyday engagement of working to help create a better future for people of all abilities through community involvement and policy action. Disability Self-Advocates are people who continually self-advocate for anything that is important for the disability community daily. They always know when to speak for their needs in any public place and to look for solutions on how other people with disabilities might live if we create a more accessible and equitable society. This can and should always start with you. Knowing what life you want to lead and for others to have means both knowing about yourself and about the world around you. As Wernative points out below:
It’s important to remember that we all have the right to determine what our needs are and advocate for them. However, it can take time to build the confidence and skills we need to be able to effectively advocate for ourselves.
Becoming a confident and competent advocate isn’t something that just happens overnight. Self-advocacy is a skillset and mindset that we build throughout our life.
Some tips for building your skills and comfort advocating for yourself include:
We can all be self-advocates for the world of disabilities. That includes both people with disabilities and people without them. It is a collective effort that requires action and drive on everyone’s part everyday. To self-advocate means you can and will be someone who will help change the world in ways that will be impactful for future generations.
Youth Leadership is a term used to describe a practice by which people of all abilities are developed and encouraged to become their own leaders in a complex world. It is universal concept and act that creates opportunities for people to lead in any area of life, to join any disability self-advocacy or rights movement, to join any other advocacy or rights movement, to speak about their life experience and how it could apply to you, and how we can engage more with our local communities on both issues and topics that matter to us the most. Youth Leadership speaks the language of positivity by telling anyone that they can be successful when they set their mind to something they are either good on or passionate about. When we all work together, we are leaders to each other and for different causes that are for the benefit of everyone. In the world of disabilities, these can involve creating more access and opportunities for people to obtain disability resources, to have disability and human rights expanded through equitable and inclusive policy, creating more programs and community activities for people to develop leadership skills, creating more opportunities for community partners and people to engage more with people with disabilities, developing more skills and growth-based programs, and creating a culture of understanding and forwardness for everyone in our everyday society. As Bridges: Removing Barriers, Advancing Autonomy carefully points out:
Self-Advocacy helps people with disabilities to deal with stigmas and preconceived ideas people have about the disability community. Sometimes youth with disabilities struggle to speak up due to encountering prejudice while growing up, based on their disability. Youth with disabilities also may struggle with family patterns that make it difficult to find their voice. Sometimes family members, in an effort to help, can be over-protective, making it difficult for youth with disabilities to speak up. Youth with disabilities need to remember they do have a voice!
The more youth with disabilities work on their own voice, decide what they want, and decide how they think about life while they are transitioning to adulthood, the easier it will be. This can even be true for youth with significant disabilities who may have even more struggles with decision-making and self-determination. However, some youth with significant disabilities have the support needed for self-determination. People with significant disabilities’ needs and choices are just as valid and appreciated as those of every other person with a disability and without.
Self-Advocacy is not just speaking with our voices — a lot of times it is in our body language, actions, and attitude. People have to speak up when they are ready. To be ready during transition to adulthood, you need a plan. The plan involves family support, practicing self-advocacy skills on your own, and speaking up in the moment using manners and creating and respecting boundaries. It’s OK to take chances. Sometimes self-determination involves taking a risk. We can always change our plan or our approach.
Youth with disability have a voice, too, whether they express it like everyone else or they express it differently. Self-advocacy helps youth with disabilities to speak up for themselves.
When it comes to youth with disabilities speaking up, let’s help each other. People with disabilities are in this together as part of the disability community. In order for a person with a disability to get a seat at the table speaking up with everyone else, we must be willing to help each other. Self-advocacy can help people with disabilities to get a seat at the table. People with disabilities have a right to communicate about their disability so that decisions can be made based on the needs they express for the community.
Youth with disabilities who have a self-Advocacy plan get their voices heard. Everyone is included and everyone has a voice!
Anyone who is in school and has a disability has a voice too! All of our voice and minds should always be honored! Our needs and lives matter just as much as other people. When people allow those of all abilities to speak at the table, our lives can become better for everyone. Developing such a world starts when people are still in school and preparing for life as adults.
Pre-Employment Transition Services(Pre-ETS) is a type of service that is used by many different school systems and disability programs across the United States. The service is used to help people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities prepare for life after high school. At the same time, it helps people of all abilities to develop the advocacy and independent living skills necessary to succeed in the real world. Pre-Employment Transition Services mainly help people with disabilities to prepare for the workforce and to know what steps they need to get into it. Other lesson plans in independent living, skill building, growth, advocacy, and teamwork are always coupled into any disability education plan for people with disabilities accessing the K-12 School System. These always include Individualized Education Plans(IEP) and 504 Rehabilitation plans. Pre-Employment Transition Services can serve as a gateway for people of all abilities to know that they have both purpose and a place in society. This starts with knowing more about themselves and how they might want live upon leaving high school. Services like Pre-ETS are a quality plan that allows people with disabilities to integrate more into society and have more daily interactions with other people through any place in it. As NTATC(National Technical Assistance Training Center) lists below:
Five Required Activities (section 113(b) of the Act and §361.48(a)(2));
Four Pre-employment Transition Coordination Activities that are essential for arranging and providing pre-employment transition services (section 113(d) of the Act and§361.48(a)(4)):
With five activities all used together congruently, people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities can always have an opportunity to not only receive a reasonable education, but a chance to engage in more activities and programs designed to help them prepare for both independent lives and for being their own leaders at the same time. It is prudent that Pre-Employment Transition Services always be offered as an option for people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities during any school meeting involving an Individualized Education Plan or 504 Rehabilitation Plan when preparing for life after it. By giving people with disabilities such options, they can better think for themselves what services or tools they can use to be more successful in their daily lives long term. At the same time, services like Pre-ETS can serve as a lifeline for letting people know what type of person they ultimately want to be. This is done through career engagement, resource allocation, and continual growth in any skill area that can allow anyone to better connect with others in the world.
Vocational Rehabilitation is an alternative form of schooling that people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities can do. This type of schooling can be done either in-addition or instead of going to college or straight into the workforce. Such an experience can apply for people of all abilities. These include people who were born with disabilities or who are recovering from serious injury. Vocational Rehabilitation is a path towards entering into any career of your choice by training and education in one of your interests. In many case, you will always train for that career by going to school to actually learn the work and skills for doing it in the actual workplace. This service is offered in different ways in states all across America. Disability Service Providers may either partner with special schools or offer programs through school that provide people with disabilities opportunities to prepare for any career through specialized and comprehensive training. As DARS(Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services) carefully points out:
What is VR?
Eligible students will work with their assigned counselor to:
Vocational Rehabilitation Services can include:
Vocational Rehabilitation can look different depending on how it is offered in your state. In almost any case, it could involve services along the lines of career preparation and opportunities for community engagement and independent living skill-building. These services can be vital for any who chooses to use them. They serve as a blueprint for how anyone can be successful in the workforce just like other people. That includes others who receive different forms of education.
Youth Disability Self-Advocacy Councils are a community network of people working to effect and create impactful and fulfilling change for people of all abilities in the world. These councils can either meet in-person or virtually. The missions of any such council are always similar in-terms of principle and goals. Youth Disability Self-Advocacy Councils always work to create more communication and action on any issues that matter to the disability community. These issues and topics all have wide-ranging meanings and understandings. The work of these councils intends to create both cultures, programs, and in some cases policies that help anyone with disabilities to live fully independent and engaging lives. At the same time, these types of councils also do work towards creating plans for other people with disabilities to develop the skills and abilities to be their own best self-advocates or leaders for both themselves and others.
As a member of three different disability self-advocacy councils, I always how powerful advocacy can me when people from the disability community come together to speak about their life experiences and on-topics that would matter to anyone with disabilities. The value of continual open dialogue and community engagement always sets the bar for how we can work with anyone to develop more leaders and communities of leaders in our society. These conversations always expand on each other and almost always lead to meaningful and powerful action on the part of either the council itself or for organizations that run them. At the same time, comprehensive team projects and tasks are always put in-place to provide plans and outlines for how inclusion and belonging truly work for people of all abilities. These projects are always worked on one after the other.
Disability Self-Advocacy and Youth Leadership will always be two very important concepts when it comes to the disability self-advocacy and rights movements, and/or providing people of all abilities more opportunities to decide their own futures. They work hand-in-hand with helping to not only serve the disability community, but to increase community engagement on everyone’s part to support it in anyway. These ideas and missions always serve the purpose of letting anyone know that people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities matter. With the support of both fellow people with disabilities and people without them, we can use these concepts and action plans to make constant progress towards creating a more engaging and kind world for everyone to live in and share with each other.
Thank you to all the disability self-advocates, allies, people representing disability organizations, people representing disability programs, and community members for taking the time to read and engage with this blog. Disability Self-Advocacy and Youth Leadership are two highly important concepts to know and understand. They always run in parallel with each other in-terms of principle, idea, and design. They set a standard for what can be made possible for anyone with disabilities through deliberate action and daily collaboration. Just as importantly, these concepts work to make anyone both leaders and team players in helping each other work towards an ever brighter future and a more kind and understanding world. When we work to create more opportunities for people with disabilities to succeed, anyone will flourish through wider contributions and flows of ideas.
Hello everyone! My name is Ryan Hill. I am currently an Office Services Assistant for a law firm called Holland & Knight in Washington DC. I serve the Office Services Department, which deals with the firms printing and mailing services. My duties and responsibilities there are delivering mail and packages, picking up outgoing mail and packages, cataloging tracking information from packages, preparing postage stamps for outgoing certified mail, delivering print job requests to employees, restocking copy machines with coffee, tea, and other drinks, restocking kitchens with coffee, tea, and other drinks, restocking kitchens and pantries with other kitchen and pantry supplies, restocking kitchens, pantries, and copier stations with office supplies, and always being available to take up any additional work for my department. I started working for Holland & Knight in March of 2025.
Previously, I did vocational training in Business at the Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, Virginia. At WWRC, I studied and trained in Microsoft Office(Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook), Business Communications, Customer Service, and Call Centers. I have also had the opportunity to develop and apply many of these same skills through several internships in the area of Business & Administration and Office Support.
I am also a disability and neurodivergent self-advocate. I currently serve on two different disability self-advocacy councils, which represent the disability or naturally differing ability population for Virginia and for the whole country respectively. They include serving on the YET(Youth Empowerment Transition) Council and the YETI(Youth Engagement Transition Initiative) Council. I work with other self-advocates and council members to raise disability awareness and acceptance for other people, help youth with disabilities to become their own best self-advocates, to push for acceptance for more inclusive disability language, to share information about disability resources that people can use to lead successful lives, and to challenge traditional beliefs about people with disabilities. Also, I believe in creating culture that is centered around acceptance with people with disabilities and can lead to laws and policies that uphold that. Additionally, I work with people from other organization to share my story and what it means to be someone who has a disability or naturally differing ability. People with disabilities or naturally differing abilities are also human and are meant to be respected and recognized as everyday citizens too.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Arc of Northern Virginia relies on private support from individuals, corporations, organizations, and foundations to fund our efforts. Your generous donations help make it possible for us to provide programs, services, and advocacy so that people with IDD can live “A Life Like Yours.”
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