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Share Your Views on Strategies

Below are views on issues related to developing strategies to reach your goals. Send your views on one or more of the following issues to doit@u.washington.edu.

Describe a specific strategy you use to reach your goals.

  • When I was in high school, I would talk to my teachers individually each year to describe my needs to them. The teachers found this to be extremely helpful to them, and I found it helpful as well. When teachers or professors know a student's needs and what they can do to help a student excel, it makes everyone feel secure. (college student who is blind)
  • I could never achieve anything without writing things down. Sometimes I use a calendar, sometimes a blank sheet of paper in my notebook, and sometimes the computer. I use a prioritization process. I write out everything that I need to do. Then I mark the things that MUST get done today or tomorrow as opposed to later, and I prioritize in order of importance. I get a lot of satisfaction crossing off accomplished steps. It also helps to break down larger tasks into smaller ones. I make lists, plan how to do the things on the lists, and then use the lists to motivate me to get things done. I accept responsibility for my own actions, decisions, and feelings. Taking responsibility makes me feel that I have control over what is happening. I obtained this trait from my parents and by realizing that it generally makes me feel good when I accept and take responsibility. (Ph.D. candidate who is blind)
  • I accept and take responsibility for myself. My mother and teachers have helped me to see that this skill is important. I have come to realize that a person must be responsible in order to succeed in life. (college student who is blind)

What advice would you give to parents, teachers, and mentors as they help young people with disabilities develop strategies to reach their goals?

  • As someone who reads a lot and considers herself to be well informed, I have never come across the MAGIC answer. I read many books that offer ideas, strategies, and solutions, but none of them will work for everyone. I do encourage adults and young people to also read. Sometimes reading that one important book (like this one) is the critical factor in turning around a negative attitude. I also think giving young people a menu or toolbox to select options from is better than pushing ONE singular way to be successful. So give them many strategies, and let them use the strategies that suit them best. (adult with mobility and hearing impairments)
  • I think adults have an essential role for young people in letting them know that they are not alone and that adults have been through what they are now going through—as a young person one can often feel immensely alone and isolated even with lots of people around. Disability can intensify feelings of differences and isolation. Be around and be available to help young people make choices of strategies, make mistakes, learn from them, and be successful. (adult with mobility and hearing impairments)
  • I think that when a person finally realizes that he can’t get around his disability and that he might as well make the best of things is when he truly begins to take responsibility for himself. I know that might sound pretty harsh, but from my experiences it's true. My mother is the one person who has helped me see this. She has been my supporter and advocate throughout my life, but she never let me think that it was not my problem. (high school student with a learning disability)

What advice would you give teens with disabilities about strategies for reaching their goals?

  • Keep your goals small to begin with, but as you grow in self-confidence, try to raise your expectations. There's no limit in the word "ability." (college student with mobility and speech impairments)
  • I don't aim too high and I don't aim too low. If I feel I can do it, I go for it. I get stressed out a lot, but what's life without stress? No life at all. If I get out there and believe in myself, then nothing will stop me from doing my best! (college student with mobility and speech impairments)
  • If a student does not speak up in school when she needs help because she cannot see the blackboard or she cannot read the book in front of her, she will fall behind in her schoolwork and have trouble achieving her goals. Disabled individuals need to remember that people are not psychic; if they have a problem and they do not tell anyone, nobody is going to magically figure out what the problem is. The more vocal you are, the more willing people are going to be in helping you. (college student who is blind)
  • There is a difference between being the recipient of an act ("victimized") and allowing yourself to become overly affected by that act (to become a "victim"). (adult with mobility impairment)
  • We don't have to be "victims" of other people's assumptions. We are only victims if we choose not to take charge of a situation. If you are blind and someone grabs your arm and pushes you across the street and you don't say anything but would like to, then you are letting the other person force the result of his assumptions on you. If you, on the other hand, say either, "Thank you, but I'll be fine" or "Let me take your arm," depending on what you would like to do, then you are taking charge and aren't a victim. (adult who is blind)
  • I agree with others about taking charge so that we are not "victimized" by other people's assumptions. When [a blind person] tells a bystander, "Thanks, but I don’t need your help," the bystander learns (we hope!) that people with visual impairments don't always need help. And when I ask the airline staff at the gate to tell me what someone has just announced over the public address system (which I can't lip-read, unfortunately), the airline staff person learns (again we hope!) that deaf people are capable of asking for help when they need it. So by being assertive, we lead people to look at their perceptions of us and even change them from inaccurate ones to more accurate ones. (adult who is deaf)
  • The more often I express my needs and preferences, the easier it becomes. The easier it becomes, the more comfortable I am, and that makes people more comfortable, and on and on and on. And somewhere in the midst of this is also the need to be both polite and clear. (adult who is deaf)
  • The way to preempt or erase assumptions is to tell people what you need rather than let them "act out" what they think you need. It is okay to say what you need help with. I think that is part of being independent. (adult who is blind)
  • Just by going about your normal business, you also show people what you don't need help with. After all, we all make assumptions, and even if a person has met someone with your disability, that other person may have had different abilities and needs than you do. For instance, people always assume that I access a computer using speech output, but I use a Braille display. The point is that communicating your needs is the best way to make everybody comfortable. (adult who is blind)
  • Tell people what you can do. Until a while ago, people doubted my wanting to work with games and graphics. I have a vision problem but so what. I'll give it a try, and if I can't then I can't. It's worked quite well so far. Like this semester I wanted to take an art class. My instructor had no past experience with someone visually impaired. I guess you don't see low vision students enrolling in a drawing class too often, but I love the class and am doing fine. (college student with a visual impairment)
  • Some people feel that because you have a disability you can't do normal tasks by yourself. I've even had people ask me if I wanted them to open my soda can for me. I think the best thing to do is to be assertive when people do something, or want to do something, for you that you feel you can do for yourself. I think people are just trying to be helpful and that they don't know for sure how much help, if any, they should give. (high school student who is blind)

What events and/or what people (parents, siblings, friends, mentors, teachers, etc.) in your life helped you to learn to act on your own convictions and stand up for your beliefs? You can also share stories about how people and situations have made it difficult for you to do this.

  • I think that when a person finally realizes that he can't get around his disability and that he might as well make the best of things is when he truly begins to take responsibility for himself. I know that might sound pretty harsh, but from my experiences it's true. My mother is the one person who has helped me see this. She has been my supporter and advocate throughout my life, but she never let me think that it was not my problem. (high school student with a learning disability)
  • I learned to stand up for myself. [My mother] made sure that I was given the opportunities that were needed to allow me to grow and develop to my maximum potential. After that, it was up to me to fight for what I needed. [She] taught me how to be independent and to take matters into my own hands. I learned to be my own self-advocate at a young age, and I think a combination of that with self-esteem and confidence allowed me to excel to the level that I’m at today.
  • My grandmother, my mom, and my teachers have helped me stand up for my own convictions and beliefs. One fitting phrase my grandmother uses is "Dare to be different if different is right." (college student who is blind)
  • If you want to work toward something, go out and work for it. People can argue the point all they want, but I still don't let them make up my mind. (college student who is blind)
  • People with disabilities are no different in this case. I always got in trouble with my parents if I didn't stand up for what I believed. Even if they didn't agree with it. (college student with Tourette’s Syndrome, Panic Disorder, and Epilepsy)