When is it important to teach self-advocacy skills to autistic people?
It’s not about the age of the person with autism to teach self-advocacy skills. It is more important to teach them these skills when they may need skills mastered or improved on, such as communication and social skills. All of these skills go hand in hand. I can tell you from this guest in the guest interview podcast series for "The World of Autism":
Merrick Egber
Merrick Egber is an autistic adult who learned to self-advocate for himself. Today, he has many roles with Els for Autism, an autism organization and school on the east coast of Florida for autistic students. He works for them as an administrative assistant, represents their autistic self-advocate advisory board, and co-hosts a podcast to share his experiences on the autism spectrum. Not only he is with Els for Autism, but he is also on the board for Florida ASPE, an organization advocating for employment for people with disabilities. He truly does a lot to advocate for employment for people with disabilities.
Check out the interview I did with Merrick here:
Learn more about Merrick with Els for Autism in the link attached: https://www.elsforautism.org/get-to-know-us/our-board/