Resource
Self-Determination
Taking Charge of Your Life
What do you want your future to look like? Where do you want to work, live, and spend your time? What goals matter to you?
Self-determination means having a voice in your own life and making choices about your future. It includes knowing your strengths, setting goals, solving problems, speaking up for yourself, and taking responsibility for your decisions.
Being self-determined doesn’t mean you have to do everything on your own. Everyone needs support sometimes. It means having a say in the decisions that affect you and getting the support you need to work toward your goals.
Building Self-Determination Skills
Self-determination starts in childhood and continues to grow throughout life. Young people learn these skills by practicing them, making choices, and gaining experience.
Young people with disabilities don’t always get the same opportunities to make decisions. Sometimes, people try to protect them by making choices for them. Others may wrongly assume they can’t make decisions for themselves.
But young people with disabilities need opportunities to learn, practice, and build confidence just like everyone else.
Important self-determination skills include:
- Knowing yourself: Understanding your strengths, interests, needs, and goals.
- Making choices: Exploring options and deciding what works best for you.
- Solving problems: Thinking through challenges and finding solutions.
- Speaking up: Sharing your opinions, asking for what you need, and advocating for yourself.
- Setting goals: Making a plan and taking steps toward what you want.
The best way to develop these skills is to use them in everyday life. Before leaving high school, young people should have opportunities to practice making decisions, speaking up for themselves, building relationships, and preparing for work and life in their communities.
How Families Can Help
Families play an important role in helping young adults build confidence and prepare for adulthood. One of the best ways to help is to give your young adult more opportunities to make their own decisions.
Here are a few ways to get started:
- Offer choices. Let your young adult make decisions about everyday activities, schedules, spending, and personal interests.
- Explore adult-life options together. Look into jobs, housing, transportation, and recreation programs in your community.
- Build connections. Ask friends, relatives, and community organizations about opportunities to try new activities and gain experience.
- Make room for mistakes. Everyone learns from choices that don’t work out. Offer guidance without taking over.
- Respect their voice. Include your young adult in conversations and decisions about their future, even when their choices differ from yours.
Supporting self-determination doesn’t mean leaving your young adult to figure everything out alone. It means helping them learn to make informed choices, while respecting their right to have a say in their own life.
The Power of Mentors
Sometimes, it helps to learn from someone who has been there. Adults with disabilities can be valuable mentors for young people who are preparing for adulthood.
Mentors can share their experiences, offer practical advice, help solve problems, and encourage young people as they work toward their goals. They may also understand challenges that parents or other supporters haven’t experienced themselves.
To find a mentor or mentoring program, consider contacting:
- Your local Center for Independent Living
- The Utah Parent Center
- Utah’s vocational rehabilitation services
- Community organizations and youth programs
- Disability organizations and self-advocacy groups
A mentor can help a young person see new possibilities, learn from someone else’s experience, and build confidence in their ability to shape their own future.
Remember: Self-determination is a skill that grows with practice. When young people have opportunities to make choices, speak up, learn from experience, and pursue their goals, they can take a more active role in creating the future they want.
Self-Determination Information Sheets
Tips for Teens: Use Your IEP Meetings to Learn How to Advocate for Yourself
Self-Determination Videos and Recorded Webinars
Parents Teaching Self-Advocacy Skills: Helping Your Child Toward Self-Determination Video
Do you want to help your child with a disability live an included and productive life? Your son or daughter needs self-determination skills such as making choices, setting goals, and self-advocacy. The Self-Determination video will provide you with a foundation of how to teach these skills to your son or daughter. Utah Parent Center 2015.For more information, refer to the GREEN section of the UPC’s Choices and Youth Workbooks.Student-Led IEPs Webinar
This short recorded webinar provides informaiton on Student-Led IEPs (Individualized Education Programs). A student-led IEP is an IEP in which the student participates on a variety of levels.
Presented by Susan Loving, Utah State Office of Education. Recorded April 27, 2015.
Student-Led Section 504 Meetings Webinar
This recording describes the process of holding a student-led Section 504 Accommodation Planning Meeting. Details about the student’s role, benefits, and outcomes are explained.
Presented by Jennifer Slade, Utah State Office of Education. Recorded May 6, 2015.
Self-Determination Links
Opening Doors to Planning for Life After High School to Self-Determination Skills
Beyond Guardianship: Disability Law Center Presentation
Self-Determination Toolkit for Children and Young Adults Who Are Deaf-Blind
Successful Transitions For Youth Workbook