Step #6. How do I tell if it's working?

Hopefully after Step #1 you have completed a plan of how you are going to self-advocate i.e., your strategy, evidence, and goals . The best way to evaluate how you are going with the advocacy process is to take some time and review your plan. If (for a specific goal) you have completed the strategy and you now have your evidence, then you should have completed your goal, congratulations!! If you feel that your goal is completed, make sure you check it off your list. This will not only give you a sense of achievement, but also prevent you from doing any additional, unnecessary work.

You may however, not feel as though the goal has been completed, even if you have done the strategy just as you outlined. If this is the case, then you should go back and review the strategy, evidence, and goals you have set yourself. It may be a matter (especially after you have now had some experience) of redefining some of your strategies or evidence to better suit the goal you have. You might have found that the strategy you identified does not work or is not practical and you may need to make some changes. Additionally, you may find that the goals you have previously set are too big or too broad . If this is the case, you may need to re-evaluate your goal and break is up into smaller, more manageable goals. The benefit of this is that you have a more realistic idea of how you are progressing, and you should know a lot earlier if things are not going according to your plan.