ACT Email Memo : Memo Title Goes Here | Advocating Change Together (ACT)

[SARN Memo for August 25, 2010]

Acting is a good way to practice new skills. Below is a short skit for four people. Find four volunteers and practice it, then perform it for your next meeting. Then talk about what issues it brings up.

Script: What Time Is Dinner?
Resource

1. Script: What Time Is Dinner?

Scene: Three self-advocates are meeting with the director of the group home where they live, hoping to get the meal time changed.

Self-Advocate #1:

Mr./Ms. Director, we want to talk to you about the dinner time.

Director:

What’s the issue?

Self-Advocate #2:

We want you to change the rules so that we can eat dinner later than we do now. Five o’clock is too early.

Self-Advocate #3:

Yeah, we have a petition here, and almost everyone in the house has signed it.

Director:

Well, that won’t work. The house rule is that dinner is at 5 o’clock. It’s always been that way; you know that. We can’t change it.

Self-Advocate #3:

But almost everyone in the house wants to change it.

Self-Advocate #2:

Most of us aren’t ready to eat that early. We get home from work, and some people want to rest for a while. Some people want to watch TV for a while. What if we want to call someone on the telephone? It’s just too rushed.

Self-Advocate #1:

What I really want is to decide for myself when I’m ready to eat. I want to go to the kitchen and get some food when I’m hungry.

Director:

Oh, no, no! We can’t have that! There would be dirty dishes all over the kitchen if everyone just helped themselves. Besides, you have to eat at 5 o’clock so that the kitchen staff can clean up and get home to their families.

2. Resource

Reach for the Power Switch
The above skit is taken from this training kit, which includes more support materials to help your group effectively use the skit, and other exercises to think about finding power by working together.

Today’s Trivia Question:

August is not only the name of a month; it’s a word with a different meaning. What does the word “august” mean?

sad
boring
enticing
majestic

(The answer will be published in the next Memo.)

Answer to August 18th Trivia Question: a. House of Representatives

Question was: The Community Choice Act is also known by its reference number: HR1670. What does HR stand for?

House of Representatives
Home Run
Historic Resource
Harvey Reid

Do you have a trivia item you’d like to submit?

Create a trivia question and we will review your question for possible use.

Your trivia question:
The correct answer:

Would you like your name to appear as the author of the trivia question? If yes, give us your name and where you are from.

Reader Responses

^ top of page

This sounds like fun! Good idea we will try it at our next meeting which I will schedule a date for next week. Thanks