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Hello, my name is Lori Mallory. Welcome to this Disability Law Lowdown ASL podcast. Today we'll be talking about "Planning Your Future".

Today’s podcast is really targeted to teens who are still in high school. What will you be doing after high school? Have you given it much thought? Where will you be working or going to school or living? What do you want out of life in the next few years?

If you are in high school, you probably have an IEP – an individualized education plan. It’s basically an agreement between the school and your parents on how you will be educated. Before you get into high school, you don’t have much input into that document, but as you get older, you naturally want more control over decisions about your education and your future.

The law called the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) supports your right to take an active role in developing your IEP, and especially in developing a transition plan for the future life after high school. Taking an active role in this planning for your future is critical and will help you figure out what you really want to do, and how to reach your goals.

The first step is to think about what you want in life. Planning for the future can be exciting. Think about the things you like to do now and what you might like to be doing five years from now. Think about what you’re good at now and what you would like to be good at in five years.

As your goals become clearer, it will help to start discussing them with your friends and family to get their input, too. You might have many ideas of what you want to do but it's a good idea to set one goal at a time. There are many things you might need or want to do, but the planning process is more manageable if you can pick just one specific goal that is most important to you.

You might want to ask people you trust, like your parents or a teacher, to help you break down the goal into smaller steps. For example, if your goal is to be a teacher, then the first small steps might be deciding which school to attend and applying to different schools.

Don’t worry if you’re feeling confused while you make this important decision about your future education, employment, and living arrangements. Everybody feels that way.

Lastly, know who can help you. Everybody needs someone who will listen to their future plans and help sort through all the options. That person could be in the same career you want to enter. or someone who goes to the college you’re considering, or someone who has started a business, if you think you’d like to do that.

As you prepare to go to the IEP meeting, you might even consider putting together some pictures, a video, or a PowerPoint presentation about what you’ve done to explore options for your future.

The information in this podcast is from “Chart Your Own Future” by the Pacer Center. You can get more information at www.pacer.org.

I hope you enjoyed watching this ASL video podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can subscribe for free through iTunes or by going to ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.

The Disability Law Lowdown is sponsored by the Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers (DBTAC) a network of ten ADA Centers around the country. The ADA Centers provide training and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability-related laws.

If you have questions or would like more information, you can call us at 1-800-949-4232 (V/TTY).

The ADA Centers are supported by a grant from NIDRR.