Self-Advocacy
Hear this word Self-Advocacy
Also known as: Speaking up for yourself
Image description: Advocating for accessibility
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What Is It?
Self-advocacy is when you represent and share about experiences from your life and the lives of people in your communities to get what’s needed and wanted for yourself and others. Self-advocacy allows people to show up for themselves and their communities. Self-advocacy works to remove barriers that exist between your choices, your decisions, your rights, and the things you need or want in life.
Self-advocacy is a right for everyone, including people who communicate in different ways or make their preferences known without words.
An Example
| Veronica, Jamie, and Shawn live in a group residence. They practice self-advocacy by communicating with administrators and staff about what they and the other residents need so that their rights to sex education, sexual health care, bodily autonomy, and making informed decisions are respected. Together, they share what the residence administrators and staff should do in order to best support the residents, their rights, and their needs. |
What to Know
Every glossary word connects to different parts of the Sexuality Wheel. Explore the information below to learn more.
- Self-advocacy means people have the “dignity of risk” to make choices, including sexual health and consensual sexual activity choices, that others may not agree with.
- Self-advocacy also means having the responsibility to respect other people’s advocacy and choices.
- Self-advocacy means people have the right to information that will help them make decisions.
- Self-advocacy is not always easy. Sometimes it can be tricky to manage personal sexual needs when a person lives with a lot of people nearby or shares a bedroom with another person who is not their partner.
- In these situations, it’s very important to communicate openly and clearly about what is needed so people can plan schedules and arrange important conversations about privacy, boundaries, consent, the needs of partners, and necessary support from staff (if any).
Think about
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What might be important to communicate about during self-advocacy?
- That we have the right to our choices, decisions, and the things we want and need.
- Self-advocacy is a right.
What questions do you have?
Write down or record an audio note with any questions you have to ask someone you trust. You may also find answers to your questions by using websites, books, and other resources in the Resource Hub.
