By Nicholas Jimenez
The First Year Center held a presentation on February 27 about how a person can self advocate for themselves. The presentation was held by Noe Dominguez and Negina Osmani, lead success coaches.
The presentation started with how a person can use self advocacy in their life by speaking up for what is going to benefit the person. Self advocacy can be students speaking up for themselves, understanding or obtaining something of interest to them and knowing their rights and responsibilities.
Osmani and Dominguez talked about what self advocacy is in a person’s life. Self advocacy is being able to make their own decisions in life and building relationships with people they meet in their life.
Students can self advocate in their life by learning how to express themselves to peers and having the confidence to expand any relationship.
Dominguez and Osmani then talked about how self advocacy impacts their life by opening up. Dominguez said it’s important to have an open mind. To activate self advocacy a person has to reflect on their life and an honest assessment of your strengths.
Students can also access your knowledge of support services available and the ability to adjust your behavior as necessary. Both presenters then talked about how a person can hold a healthy advocacy.
To hold a healthy advocacy is by maintaining healthy methods of communication, do research, come prepared, compliment people, and empower others. They both talked about how students could show self advocacy to each other by identifying their skills, strengths, and weaknesses. Dominguez and Osmani ended the presentation about tips to be an effective support person.
Listen to what a person is saying or asking for and be present about the person’s needs and goals without distractions. Encourage others by supporting the person to try new things on their own. Ask instead of doing something for them and make sure they want your support.
To ask about self advocacy they are located in building E1-121 and their office hours are M-T 9am-5pm and on Friday 9am-12pm.