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Self Determination

Self-determination is defined as having the skills and knowledgebase to look forward with plans in mind to attain their goals and make their dreams happen.  In order to have self-determination you must understand and know your strengths while accepting your limitations in life.  Once you have this understanding, you can start believing in yourself and believing that you can do anything that you put your mind to.

Self-determination is very important to an individual with disabilities for several reasons.  The first one is overcoming barriers because it takes a strong conviction to break through them.  Secondly, on an everyday basis people with disabilities have to deal with stigmas and misconceptions.  Due to that, they are always having to prove themselves and show that despite their disability, they have the same ability to reach goals as everyone else.

There are many ways to build self-determination.  The first one is to explore what your options and interests are.  After reflection you focus in on what you want out of life and plan a strategy on how to achieve it.  It is also important to have good advocacy skills to help you fight for and win what you want.

Having strong self-determination can help build a strong, positive self-esteem while giving oneself confidence in their abilities and help them see what they can achieve.  I believe all of my success from school to being a columnist to a disability advocate comes from having a strong determination that allows me to believe that you can do anything you put your mind to.  Every day is filled with exciting new possibilities waiting to be discovered.  That is what keeps my life exciting and fun.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 8:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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