Self-advocacy is the ability to speak up for yourself and represent your views, interests and needs. This includes brain injury supports and services. Self-advocacy is an important part of making sure you have the resources to meet your needs and are not discriminated against. Although brain injury associations and other groups advocate at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of health care and government, self-advocacy is something you can do yourself to create positive change in your own life. And not just you—other people in your life can be advocates as well.
Self-advocacy toolkit
There are many ways to become an effective self-advocate, and anyone can do it. Before you start, clearly identify the issue you want to address. Examples include:
- Accommodations
- Discrimination
- Employment
- Health care needs
- Housing needs
- More services and supports
It’s important to educate yourself on the issue and the specific challenges you’re facing. Understanding your rights related to the issue will help you be a strong self-advocate.
Once you have identified this information, you’re ready to create a self-advocacy plan. This will help you keep track of progress you make. Some tips for creating a strategic plan include:
Just because your self-advocating doesn’t mean you have to do everything alone. The support of family and friends can go a long way. They can help by making calls, contributing advocacy ideas, and giving feedback.
Talking about the challenges you face can be overwhelming. It can also make some people feel anger or frustration. Advocacy is difficult, which can also lead to frustration. But if you’re communicating using angry words or a frustrated tone of voice, you won’t be as effective as a self-advocate. Practice what you’re going to say to whomever you’re speaking to and ask someone to listen and provide feedback. Remember, try not to take the feedback personally. If you’re sending a letter or email, ask someone to read it for you before you send it. If you don’t have someone to read it, you can use spell check on your computer to make sure all the spelling and grammar is correct.
You need to advocate to the right people. This could include:
- Employers
- The Human Rights Commission
- Government – here’s how to communicate with members of government
The best way to track your progress and the responses you receive is to keep accurate records. You can do this by:
- Save all emails and letters on your computer or in a file folder
- Taking notes as you speak
- Use the voice recorder on your phone when speaking with someone in person. There are even ways to record phone calls on smart phones. Just make sure that you tell the person the call is being recorded for accurate record keeping
The last part of a strong self-advocacy plan is to believe in yourself and what you are doing. Self-advocacy takes time and patience. Don’t get discouraged by the answers you get, and most importantly, don’t give up
Tools to help in your advocacy
Check out the following PDFs to help with specific areas of self-advocacy.
Current advocacy efforts
Brain Injury Canada participates in advocacy work in Canada and internationally. Learn more about what initiatives we’re currently involved in, and how you can take part:
Additional advocacy resources
More topics to explore
Brain injury doesn’t happen on its own. It interacts with lots of different parts of ourselves and our society. This is often referred to as intersectional or intersectionality. Learn more about how brain injury can affect and/or be affected by different things.
