Self-Advocacy is a 1950s inspired animation written to promote self-advocacy among college students with learning disabilities. Advocating for yourself can be difficult, and everyone has their own struggles. The goal behind this project was to make it diverse, believable, and more importantly, relatable. These characters are diverse with completely different struggles than what is typically seen in the mainstream. We wanted to show that everyone, no matter who they are, has challenges, especially during the college years. College is a hard transition for anyone, but for diverse learners, it can be even more difficult. Moving from high school where accommodations were provided for "success" to college where accommodations are provided for "access" is a big change. Students must learn to advocate for themselves if they want to succeed We hope this animation shows that although it can be difficult, it is an important skill to learn. We also hope to bring awareness to learning disabilities in the college years.

Other characters were written to help expand on the diversity and the relatability, but sometimes one’s passions are limited by deadlines and pandemics. We wrote and designed two other characters, who currently only make an appearance in the animation. Jonathan, a student struggling with dyslexia and his wrath, and Sam, a shy student with processing disorders afraid to speak up for themselves. They would have been two wonderful additions to the animation.

  / od.k9  

  / dsousa90