A Self-Advocating Necessity

Czarnecki, Charlotte. "Self-Advocacy in the College Classroom." National Federation of the Blind. Web.

               Charlotte Czarnecki writes "Self-Advocacy in the College Classroom" from a personal experience she had while attending a university in Michigan.  Obviously, from her experience, the concept she is conveying towards the subject of self-advocacy is is very biased.  The idea of self-advocacy gives people the tools in which to better themselves so that they may be able to handle obstacles that arise in life situations.  Being a part of the blind community, Czarnecki writes to persuade how crucial it is for handicap people to be able to self-advocate for the sake of strengthening themselves.  Without self-advocacy, many handicap people might find themselves lost, or falling behind in school.  What Czarnecki happens to skip past is the reasons why self-advocacy might better students not affected by a handicap.  My belief is that self-advocacy is helpful to anyone in any situation.  Czarnecki recalls an example of her sitting in class, and the professor writing an important piece of information on the blackboard.  The professor, innocently forgetful, doesn't read aloud what information is on the board (even though Czarnecki had previously spoken with him about it).  So, Czarnecki politely raises her hand and asks the professor to read aloud the information, which was in fact vital to passing the class.  Without that ability to self-advocate, the author would have failed the class.  Self-advocation is a big part of ANSER's educational process, and a huge impact on the way that the students view their future's in school/life.