What is Advocacy?

Advocacy means: speaking up in support.

Advocacy helps you stand up for yourself, to be who you want to be and to make the choices you want.

Sometimes it helps to have somebody there to stick up for you when your head is full of information. They can help you understand.

Advocacy enables you to:

• Have information to make real choices and decisions
• Believe that you are important
• Be listened to
• Have the right to disagree
• Have the chance to try new things and take calculated risks
• Have the right to your own ideas and opinions
• Understanding your rights and responsibilities
• Have an advocate who is independent of services or family if you wish
• Have the confidence to say what you want.

Why Advocacy is Important

We all need different types of support to make sure that our views and opinions are heard with respect and acted upon.

We need to make sure that this will always happen.

This means:

• Supporting people to speak up for themselves or
• Linking people with independent advocates to speak up for them

Speaking Up is empowering for everyone.

It is not always about what we can do for ourselves; it is about the control we have over what we do and who we do it with.

What is good advocacy?

• Our voices are heard
• We get the service and support that we need and want
• We have all the information we need to make informed choices
• We are empowered to use the community for support
• We know and have the support to understand our rights and responsibilities
• We regularly feedback our ideas and views to managers and bosses