Tag Archives: Self-advocacy

#CPChatNow Recap 7/31/24

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This past week in #CPChatNow was grooving as always. Members discussed their favorite Olympic and Paralympic sports and who helped them become an advocate. This is #CPChatNow co-host, Devin Axtman, taking you along for the ride on this week’s recap. All aboard!

First, members discussed their favorite Olympic and Paralympic sports. Hannah rightly pointed out that the Paralympics are coming up. The Paralympics are the Olympics for disabled athletes.

i ask what member's favorite olympic sports are. hannah tweets gymnastics and swimming and points out the paralympic sports of swimming and wheelchair curling.

Next, members discussed who helped them become an advocate. Veronica talked about her husband helping her be herself.

veronica says her husband has helped her be an advocate by encouraging her to be herself

Many people talked about how actions their parents took sparked their advocacy skills. Zach also discussed how he became an advocate at college.

i tweeted that my parents helped me become an advocate because they knew i would have to later in life.

This brings us to our Extend-The-Conversation Question: What skills do you think are necessary to be a good advocate?

Thanks for reading and please join us each Wednesday at 8 Eastern on X!

-Devin

#CPChatNow Recap- 9-20-2017

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Last week was an eventful week in #CPChatNow as always!  Members discussed searching for their medical records, the return of the TV show Speechless, their high school accommodations, and the importance of self-advocacy.  This is #CPChatNow Co-Host, Devin Axtman taking you along for the ride on this week’s recap.  Buckle up!

The chat started out on a light note as Mindy discussed the difficulty of finding medical records and Blemi shared in the frustration:

Mindy expressed frustration she can't find her medical records. Blemi stated she found her's with a chocolate stain

Next, the chat turned to #CPChatNow’s favorite TV show, Speechless! Speechless returns Wednesday at 8:30 Eastern! Zach shared a fantastic article covering the show and we discussed the director of Speechless saying a goal was to lose the shackles of the “dreaded disability factor”:

Zach and Devin discussing the return of speechless and the director's thoughts

Talk then turned to high school accommodations and how much members were involved in their own accommodations. Blemi mentioned that her small town in Canada just did the bare minimum:

Blemi and Zach discussing high school accommodations in Canada. Blemi said there is no national standard and her small town did the bare minimum

Blemi reported that her school just exempted her from PE and allowed her to simply write papers.  Simply excusing something rather than accommodating for disability is definitely not the best response:

Blemi reported she wrote papers instead of doing PE

Christine and Zach discussed their evolution from being mad at being included in IEP meetings to taking self-advocacy as a point of pride:

Christine and Zach discussing their evolution from being shy to feeling prideful regarding their disability

Omens also discussed the occasional difficulties of self-advocacy, but rejoiced in the good moments when you find an ally that helps you like their stat teacher:

Omens discusses difficulties with self-advocacy and her stat teacher being her ally

This brings us to our Extend-The-Conversation Question: What memorable stories do you have surrounding CP and self-advocacy?  Please share your answer in the comments!

Tweet you later!

Devin An oranage cat in the lower left hand corner with a shadow of a lion. There is white text saying Extend-The-Convrsation and What memorable stories do you have surrounding CP?