Rationale: As an educator, you have probably worked with many students with learning disabilities. Too often, these students go through the paces of school-life and fail to advocate for the accommodations and supports they need. They are overly reliant on teachers to provide their supports and on their parents to advocate for them. In the busy world of high school, students often tackle their assignments without accommodations and consequently underachieve.
It is imperative that all adolescents develop self-advocacy skills, but especially for those who have learning disabilities.
Consider the following:
Self-Advocacy skills are linked to improved outcomes.
Roberts, Ju and Zhang (2014) note that many studies link self-advocacy skills with high school completion rates, as well as with achieving successful outcomes later in life.
Students with learning disabilities will need strong self-advocacy skills to succeed in post-secondary studies.
Students with learning disabilities need to know their rights as students in a post-secondary institution, be able to disclose their learning disability, and advocate for accommodations from their instructors (Garrison-Wade, 2012).
Students with learning disabilities need to be able to advocate in their workplace.
Black (2010) argues that students need to develop self-advocacy strategies before they transition out of school into the workplace. Employees must be able to self-advocate and can best do so by explaining the specifics of their learning disability and the accommodations which will assist them in the workplace.
Did you know? Many students are not entering post-secondary studies with the self-advocacy skills to seek and access accommodations (Garrison-Wade, 2012). In a study of 110 students with learning disabilities, Cawthon & Cole (2010) found that only 43% of participants contacted their Office of Students with Disabilities. Only 31% of students met with school officials in order to receive accommodations. In regards to communicating learning needs with their instructors, only 25% of the students provided their instructors with accommodation letters.
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Self-Advocacy in High School 
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