Participants continue getting acquainted and they are introduced to leadership traits. Participants will begin to explore their self leadership.

Today’s Suggested Activities

• Word of the Day
• Self-Reflection
• Compass Activity
• Community Service Speaker
• Proud and Powerful- Activity One
• Decorating Your Bag of Individuality
• Proud and Powerful- Activity Two

Materials needed for day

• Plenty of room space
• Tape
• Pens/Pencils
• Blank pieces of paper
• Paper bag
• Magazines
• Glue
• Markers
• Disability Culture Rap DVD

Staff Handouts

• Four Directions for Compass Activity

Handouts

• Word of the Day- Humility, Competence
• Compass Activity
• Proud and Powerful

Week One: Day Three:

Words of the Day

Time: 20 Minutes

Source:

Purpose: Each day there are two “Words of the Day.” These words have been carefully chosen as key elements of leadership characteristics.

Directions: Hand out the word of the day words: Humility and Competence. Ask participants to read each Word of the Day, and the definition provided. Ask participants to describe in their own words what each word means. Have participants discuss how each word of the day relates to leadership and being a leader.

Self- Reflection: Who are You?

Time: 30 Minutes

Source:

Purpose: Participants will begin to explore their self. Indentifying what leadership characteristics they possess and what skills they aspire to gain.

Directions: Ask participants to fold a paper in half. On one side, ask them to make a list of the words describing themselves (examples: honest, shy, loud, etc.) After each participant has finished, ask them to now list the words they think they would hear if they had a cloak of invisibility and were listening to what other people would say about them in the second column.

Ask participants

· Do your words match on both sides? Why or why not?

· What have you done that shows you are those words?

· What do you still need to do to be the words you want to be?

Pride and Self-Empowerment

Time: 20 Minutes

Source:

Purpose: People with disabilities often lack the feeling of being proud and powerful. Participants will learn about their own disability pride, and self-empowerment.

Directions: As a large group, discuss the concept of disability pride with the participants. Handout the Connections for Community Leadership’s definition, it reads, “Accepting and honoring our uniqueness and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity. Pride comes from celebrating our own heritage, culture, unique experiences and contributions” and includes the following bullet points:

· Disability pride recognizes the power we have to make change.

· Disability pride results when we challenge and ultimately undo the negative beliefs, attitudes, feelings and systematic oppression that come from the dominate groups thinking there is something wrong with our identity or our disabilities.

· Disability pride rejects shame and the need to “blend in.”

· Disability pride is self acceptance and validation of our uniqueness.

· Disability pride results in making choices based on the respect for interdependence, accommodations, and creativity.

· Disability pride is the feeling of strong connection with a community of other people.

· Disability pride recognizes that it is our uniqueness that will transform all people and institutions (society).

The word “power” is usually expressed in negative terms; it’s seen as having control over someone else. There’s the idea that “good” people stay away from power. However, the word “power” actually comes from the Latin word “posse” which means “to be able.” The focus here is on our own power to make positive choices and changes in our lives AND our power as a community by influencing others and creating significant change for more than ourselves.

The word “empower” means to give power to someone else. This infers that there is a power dynamic – that one has more than the other and will give up some power for the “lesser” person. Connections for Community Leadership decided to use the word “self-empowerment” to describe what it means to be powerful. This eliminates the hierarchy that someone else is giving us power.

As a large group, identify some examples of the use of power to accomplish something in the community such as a group that managed to get wheelchair lifts installed on the buses of their local transportation system.