How to Become an Advocate

If you complete four or more of these activities in the spirit to change your community to be more inclusive for all, please write us to let us know the results. With your permission, Mission Empower will post your experiences in our advocate club. Now go out their and make your community a better place for all!

Activities for Advocates in Training

  1. Interview your friends, fellow students or adults with disabilities to find out what kind of barriers they face on a daily basis.
  2. Read or watch two or more of the following books or videos to learn more about the experiences of people with disabilities. Share what you have learned.
    1. Stuck in Neutral
    2. A Ramp to No Where
    3. All Cats have Aspergers
    4. Billy Broke His Head
    5. Including Samuel
    6. Max and the Magic Pill
  3. Try to experience barriers that people with disabilities face. You could ask your teacher to use this for an activity during class. Examples include:
    1. Blind fold yourself
    2. Plug ears with cotton or ear phones
    3. Tape fingers of one hand together
    4. Tie your two legs together
    5. Use a wheelchair or crutches without cheating by standing or using your feet.
    6. Read all materials up side down
    7. Try to communicate without using spoken language.
  4. Research using the Internet or the library about how people with disabilities were treated throughout history. What did you learn?
  5. Research how people with disabilities are making a difference in their communities.
  6. Take the quizzes to test your knowledge.
  7. Brain storm and write all the words you can think of that relate to disability. Then see if the majority of the words are positive, neutral or negative.
  8. Watch a newscast, TV show or read an article in the newspaper to determine the words that relate to disability. How does the media deal with disabilities?
  9. Interview your parents or grandparents to find out their attitudes toward and experiences with people with disabilities. Are their attitudes different from yours?
  10. Learn sign language.
  11. Learn Braille.
  12. Complete a survey on the accessibility of a restaurant, business or your school with the accessibility check list. Are there improvements that can be made?
  13. Think of ways to make your school, church or community more accepting for all people with disabilities.
  14. Ask your school, youth group, girl and boy scout group to invite Mission Empower to conduct a disability education presentation.