Self-Advocacy, Rights & Responsibilities
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Tell us about your network? Who do you know that you would ask to help you, or recommend you, when you are looking for a job? How do you communicate with your network? What makes you add someone to your network? Do you keep business cards so you can contact people later? Who asks you for help or tips with job hunting? Did you ever think that you are in their network?
<Body Break> Move it, use it, love it!
Go over the questions about Life Skills Story 7.
One good thing about these stories is that you can figure out things that are similar to the story but still different, like how cooking and baking are similar but there are differences.
PRESENTERS: the Life Skills Questions help learners explore lateral thinking—thinking about related things that aren't in the story. This is very helpful for "generalization" which is the ability to apply learning from one context to a different context.
ANSWERS AT BOTTOM OF PAGE
<Body Break>
Thematic Connection: Labor Day
This video explains why Labor Day is more than a day off.
The Labor Movement changed the lives of most people in America, and in other countries where workers decided to stand up for themselves.
This video is about how Filipino Americans contributed to farm labor rights.
The labor movement taught us how to fight for disability/differability rights. The workers who marched and fought in the courts for fair lives for American workers opened the path for other people who wanted fair treatment. These movements are still going on today because we should never give up on fairness and equality.
This video is about the advocates that created the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Discussion Points
- The union workers have strikes and walk-outs, refusing to work and making a picket line to embarrass people who would replace the workers. Differability advocates had sit-ins and marches, which disrupt regular activities and force people to pay attention to the issue. How are these actions similar? Do you think they work? When you see a strike or a march, do you pay attention?
- Workers and union activists fight for safe and sane working conditions, reasonable pay, and a life they can enjoy. Differability activists fight for participation in society, access to jobs and education, and civil rights. How was the unfairness to workers similar to the unfairness to people with disabilities/differabilities? In what ways can workers and people with disabilities/differabilities have their rights violated? How does that affect life quality?
- When a person with a disability/differability wants to accept a job, the employer is required to provide accommodations. This is an connection between the labor
disability/differability rights. Can you think of ways that you have benefited from that work they did to make that a requirement? - Being an activist like the people we learned about takes courage. Many people argue against you and tell you you are wrong to ask society for more than it gives you. Even though most protests are peaceful, violence can happen and people often get arrested. Do you feel inspired by Labor activists? Can you see how their courage gave courage to other people later on? What would you like to inspire people to do with your courage?
Here are some songs from these movements. The first one is a union song. The next two are about disability/differability rights.
Solidarity Forever (Pete Seger)
Solidarity means coming together and staying strong together.
Choices & Rights (Johnny Crescendo)
The singer has a rude T-shirt on in the picture. He is expressing his anger both in the song and in his clothes. Anger is a normal human feeling and it has a place in the fight for rights. We can express it without letting it rule us or make us ineffective. We can ACT peacefully, like singing a song, and still FEEL angry, like this singer.
This singer uses a hip-hop/rap style of music to express his feelings. A feeling that is close to anger but is usually more productive is DEFIANCE. Defiance is when we refuse to cooperate with unfairness even if it is scary or uncomfortable or expensive to do it. Defiance is the feeling of standing up to unfairness BEFORE the rules change, so that the people who come after us don't have to.
<Body Break> Jump, wave your arms, blink your eyes...
Persistence Over Time
PRESENTERS: click the arrow to the right of the text item in the center of the page to move to the next moment on the timeline. The time line is depicted below the text.
Discussion
- What does this timeline teach us about being persistent in claiming our rights?
- What can we learn about the kinds of things people create and invent to make their voices heard?
Quiz Answers:
Set 1 answers:
1. A-seven, many, single, twice
2. C-semi driver
3. D-Happy Birthday, Kelly - From Maysie
4. B-bake
5. C-Place the hotdog in an open cereal bowl.
6. A-in the kitchen
