Self-Advocacy


The 411 on Disability Disclosure: A Workbook for Youth with Disabilities

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability created this workbook to help youth with disabilities and the adults working with them to make decisions about whether or not to disclose their disability. It discusses the impact of that decision on the youth's education, employment, and social lives.

Visit the The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability website

Explore Work Website

The Explore Work website provides activities to help youth explore their interests and strengths related to learning and working after high school.

Visit the Explore Work website

Transition to Adult Health Care Quick Guide

This guide from the University of Iowa Hospitals focuses on building independent health care skills. Includes self-advocacy skills, preparing for the adult model of care, and transferring to new providers.

Visit the Child Health Specialty Clinics website

Heathcare Transition Timeline

This document provides suggestions for youth involvement to gradually build the skills they need to manage their own healthcare.

Visit the Got Transition website

The Field Hoffman Self-Determination Assessment

The Field Hoffman Self-Determination Assessment Battery measures cognitive, behavioral, and affective traits to determine levels of self-determination. Input can be gathered from students, parents, and teachers.

Visit the Green Hills AEA website

Your IEP Meeting: A Great Place to Practice Self Advocacy Skills

This document explains the benefits of youth working on their self-advocacy skills in their IEP meeting.

Visit the PACER Center website

ID Action Website

Iowans with Disabilities in Action is a non-partisan group that encourages people with disabilities to participate in politics.

Visit the ID Action website

How to Talk to Your Doctor

A self-advocate describes "How to Talk to Your Doctor" about disability related issues and needs.

Visit the National Parent Center on Transition and Employment website

The ARC Self-Determination Scale

The purpose of the ARC Self-Determination Scale is to assess the self-determination of adolescents with disabilities. The ARC Scale produces a total self-determination and sub-domain score in the areas of: Autonomy, Self-Regulation, Psychological Empowerment, Self-Realization and total Self-Determination.

Visit the Zarrow Center website

How to Help Kids Talk About Learning Disabilities

The Child Mind Institute describes the importance of helping youth to be able to talk with teachers and peers about their disability.

Visit the Child Mind Institute website

Students Get Involved!

These resources explain the basics of student involvement and person-centered planning. Includes materials for youth.

Visit the Parent Center Hub website

What Youth Need to Know if They Are Questioned by the Police

This fact sheet contains a brief summary for parents of youth with disabilities at risk for arrest by police at school or in the community to help them be prepared.

Visit the PACER Center website

Sample Self-Advocacy Plan

Youth can use this worksheet to help be prepared to participate in their IEP meeting.

Visit the PACER Center website

ME! Lessons for Teaching Self-Awareness and Self-Advocacy

Lesson plans on self-awareness and self-advocacy skills for students who have disabilities. Includes materials to supplement the lesson and links to resources.

Visit the Zarrow Center website

Whose Future Is it Anyway?

A curriculum that helps prepare students for their IEP meetings and gain self-determination skills. Includes lessons on making decisions, communicating, identifying goals and being a good team member.

Visit the Zarrow Center website

Transition to Adulthood Webinar Series

The University of Iowa's Child Health Specialty Clinics offers a webinar series on Transition Planning for families of youth with special needs. Topics include: School Transition Planning, Applying for Social Security, Estate Planning, Promoting Self Determination, A Youth and Parent Panel, Guardianship and Shared Decision Making, and a screening of the Intelligent Lives Documentary with Guided Discussion.

Visit the Child Health Specialty Clinics website

It's My Choice

This free workbook helps youth build self-advocacy skills. It also helps with transition planning for students with significant disabilities. Easy to download and print.

Visit the Minnestoa Council on Developmental Disabilities website

Cyber Disclosure for Youth with Disabilities

This workbook helps youth understand issues around talking about their disability online.

Visit the The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability website

Best Practices in Self Advocacy Skill Building

Resources for self-advocacy skill building are provided by the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR). It includes resources for youth, factsheets, toolkits and resources in other languages.

Visit the Parent Center Hub website

T-Folio

T-Folio is a free online transition portfolio tool for high school-age youth with disabilities. The curriculum provides lesson plans and tips to help youth build self-determination and job-readiness skills through a series of interactive exercises.

Visit the T-Folio website

Self-Advocacy and the Transition to College: A Curriculum for Practitioners

This curriculum was created for students with disabilities who are getting ready for college. The eight lessons focus on developing students' skills in self advocacy. Topics include understanding their disabilities and knowing how it affects their learning. Students learn what accommodations they need and how to ask for them. Student's rights and responsibilities are also covered.

Visit the Monadnock Center for Successful Transitions (MCST) website

Youthood Website

Youthood is a virtual classroom-based transition tool for youth with disabilities that includes activities.

Visit the Youthood website

IEP Owner's Manual

This workbook supports youth participation in their own IEP meeting, addressing IEP goals, course of study, target graduation date, etc.

Visit the PACER Center website

Video series:Taking Charge of My Own Healthcare

Youth leaders discuss the process of taking charge of their own health care with a series of short videos.

Visit the National Parent Center on Transition and Employment website

AIR Self-Determination Assessment

The AIR Assessment creates a profile of the student's level of self-determination. It also identifies areas of strength and need.

Visit the Zarrow Center website

Self-Advocacy in the Workplace: Requesting Job Accommodations

This article from the Learning Disabilities Association describes how to ask for accommodations at work.

Visit the Learning Disabilties Association of America website

Disability Disclosure

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability provides many handouts for youth around disclosing their disability.

Visit the The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability website

Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace

This fact-sheet describes what reasonable accommodations in the workplace are and how to ask for them. From the ADA National Network, a nation-wide resource.

Visit the Americans with Disabilities Act Technical Assistance website

Transition Education Resources

The Zarrow Center provides free lesson packages and curricula that can be used for skill building.

Visit the Zarrow Center website website

The 411 on Disability Disclosure: A Workbook for Families, Educators, Youth Service Professionals, and Adult Allies Who Care About Youth with Disabilities

This workbook can help adults support youth with disabilities to understand their disability. It describes who, what and when it is appropriate to discuss details about their disability with.

Visit the The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability website

Talking to Your Child About His or Her Disability

The Very Well Family provides suggestions and ideas for families around how to talk with a child about their disability.

Visit the Very Well Family website

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Individual Transition Planning Guide

This planning tool from the Minnesota Developmental Disabilities Council helps students and their families think about and plan for the student's transition needs. This is an electronic form that may be printed out or saved by the user.

Visit the Minnestoa Council on Developmental Disabilities website

Transition Terms

Use this 2-page document as a tool to identify important transition related vocabulary. Many of the terms include links to find additional information on the topic.

Visit the ASK Resource Center website

Transition to Adult Healthcare

Resources from the National Resource Center on Healthcare Transitions aim to improve the transition from pediatric to adult heathcare through information for youth and families.

Visit the Got Transition website

Supported Decision Making

Supported decision making is the act of supporting an individual with a disability to make their own decisions. This document describes a range of options to support individuals with disabilities in decision making and includes definitions of important terms.

Visit the Iowa Department of Education website

ASK a Family- Transition to College

In this video Mike, a youth with disabilities, and his mom discuss the experience that he has had and what they have learned when he started attending college at the University of Iowa's REACH program.

View the webinar from ASK Resource Center

How to be Your Own Best Advocate: A Guide on How to Navigate Managed Care in Iowa

Use this resource to navigate Iowa's Managed Care System. Includes information about getting started, rights and responsibilities, and the grievance and appeals processes.

View the resource from Iowa Department of Human Rights

Learn about Self-Advocacy

This collection of short videos cover a range of important topics that support self-advocacy and independence for people with disabilities

Visit the Self-Advocacy Online website

Recruiting, Selecting, and Retaining Direct Service Workers to Provide Self-Directed HCBS

This interactive training series was created for individuals who self-direct home and community-based services (HCBS), their family members, and others for recruiting and hiring the right direct service worker (DSW).

View the training