I have been working on self-advocacy for many years. I have made so much progress, but continue to prioritize it because self-advocacy has helped me feel much happier overall. I think there is always time to grow in this area. Right now, my focus is on initiating things to do and talk about. I didn’t realize how much needing full-time care could impact idea generation. Always having family and staff to help plan my day caused me to expect it.

I am still struggling with initiating things to do and talk about. In the past, it helped to be given choices, but that became more of a crutch over time because I don’t have trouble with choice making. I do still need help with ideas sometimes, so instead of choices, it helps me to be given categories and I can come up with ideas from there. This is still a good challenge for me that is helping me improve my self advocacy. I am proud of my progress and am seeing the pay off for my mental health.