A Different Kind of Power
[SARN Memo for January 6, 2010]
(Part one of a five-part series)
How can self-advocacy ever become a powerful movement? C’mon. Be realistic. Powerful people are the ones with money, with fame, with inside connections, with influential jobs in big systems. Our movement doesn’t have a lot of those folks.
The good news is that self-advocacy draws on a different kind of power—and there’s plenty of it to go around. We just have to learn how to use it.
[Next week: Three Kinds of Power]
Respond to this memo!1. Group Exercise
Pass out paper and pencils/markers. Ask everyone to draw a picture showing someone with a lot of power. After 15 minutes, go around and invite each person to show his or her drawing and tell about the power that person has. After all have gone, ask: “Do all these drawings show the same kind of power?”
Tell the group that you will look at different kinds of power in the next four weeks, and think together about what power self-advocacy has and how self-advocates can get more power.
2. Resource
Reach for the Power Switch: How Ordinary People Can Use Power to Make Change
Learn to recognize the different kinds of power, and begin using the healthy forms of power to build self-advocacy, using this self-led workshop.
Today’s Trivia Question:
What US state has the highest percentage of people with disabilities?
- West Virginia
- California
- Minnesota
- Florida
(The answer will be published in the next Memo.)
Answer to December 23rd Trivia Question: a. Winter solstice
Question was:December 21st is always the shortest day of the year. What is this day called?
- winter solstice
- winter equinox
- Thanksgiving
- too dark
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