Finding Independence through Advocating for Myself

Independence is not something that comes overnight for anyone but it can come slower for those with a disability. You aren't born knowing how to take care of yourself, you have to rely on someone else to take care of you until you're old enough to learn to take care of yourself.

Independence for someone with a disability will look different case by case. One thing that I have found is that I limit myself a lot. When I was younger and I still do this from time time of asking for help when I could do the task for myself. I find myself asking for help because it's easier in the short term to have some else do it essentially when the task doesn't come easy to me.

I have found that there were many of things that I wasn't doing for myself not because I wasn't ready for it but simply because I was used to always having someone there to help me.

I started becoming more and more independent when I learned to advocate for myself and asking to do things for myself. I realized I don't want to have to rely on someone the rest of my life and I started chosing to do the hard every single day. I learned to speak up foe myself and tell me when and when I don't need help.

Advocating for yourself gives you more than just independence it gives you a support system, happiness, freedom, confidence, and self awareness.

Self awareness was a huge step for me of knowing what I needed and how to ask for it if I could not figure out how to do it for myself.

Learning to advocate for myself gave me the confidence I needed to explore the world without having to have one of my parents go with me everywhere because I now know my needs and how to have them met.