What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is having someone acting in the best interests of a disadvantaged person or group to promote, protect and defend their welfare. It is being primarily concerned with their fundamental needs and assisting them in a way that is empathetic. Or more broadly, it is the public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy. So you can advocate for an individual or for a cause.
So what do advocates do? Advocates can assist people in a number of ways. They can help you to understand the entitlements afforded to the individual. They can also help you to negotiate with schools, Government departments and organisations to help facilitate conditions for the individual. The support and assistance may be attending meetings with you and taking notes, or prompting to remind you about a particular point you wish to make. Alternatively, they may carry out all communications on your behalf if this has become too difficult for you as an individual. Advocacy should be tailored to each individual’s needs, desires and the circumstances of the situation – it must also be flexible to change as the situation dictates. An advocate should not make decisions on behalf of the individual, their purpose is to assist in the decision making process, but not to take over it.
I recently attended a session involving a conversation with Graeme Innes, the former Australian Disability Commissioner. Naturally the subject of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) came up. I was delighted to hear Mr Innes state that he will be taking an advocate to his planning meeting with the NDIA, especially someone with his background and experience. Clearly he understand the importance of advocacy.
At the recent NDIA conference in Brisbane, I went to a presentation by Michael Kendrick, from Massachusetts, an independent international consultant in human services and community work. He spoke about the increased importance of advocacy with the implementation of the NDIA. He spoke about how the reduction and withdrawal of government funding for advocacy services is going to influence the realm of advocacy.
I was also fortunate to meet with the new Executive Officer of the Early Childhood Intervention Australia, Jason Henham. We spoke about the pathway I have taken from advocating for my own sons with the transition to their NDIS plans, to becoming an advocate for other children. He said that service providers often evolve when Government infrastructure changes (i.e. the implementation of the NDIA). He was incredibly excited to hear how an individual emerged as a result of such changes. He was intrigued to hear about why I had made the decision to commence Lifelong Pathways.
There are exciting times ahead for advocacy services in Australia. I look forward to assisting families in 2016 and beyond.