Advice and discussion with families covers a wide variety of life experiences including: preparing a vision for the future, planning for starting school, working effectively with schools, considering leisure pursuits, transitioning from primary to high school, thinking about life after school, preparing to start work or interacting with employers, supporting a family member to develop relationships, planning the move from the family home, setting up a network of support and making long term plans around the person with disability.

Advocacy is inevitable – if you love or care about someone with developmental disability 

Advocacy sharpens your capacity to critically view what is just and unjust within our communities and what must be done to foster needed social change. It is the experience of many people with disability and their families that the ordinary good things in life, that many of us take for granted, don’t just happen for people with disability.

The familiar experience of families when trying to advocate for their family member to have these ordinary typical things rests on the fact that our communities and society does not yet fully value individuals with developmental disability, and inclusion is not typical or ordinary.

Our work is directed towards enabling and supporting families to speak up for opportunities for people with disability to enjoy the same environments, lifestyle and living conditions as are available to the majority of Australians. People often think of advocacy in terms of legal advocacy. Family Advocacy is concerned with social advocacy.

While advocacy is often associated with legal issues, Family Advocacy focuses on social advocacy. Our work supports families in speaking up for people with disability to enjoy the same environments, lifestyles, and living conditions as most Australians.

What is social advocacy?

Speaking, acting and/or writing on behalf of the interests and rights of, and justice for, a person or group of people. In order to enhance and defend the roles of:

• Human being
• Developing person
• Citizen

With minimum conflict of interest. In a way which is vigorous and which is likely to be costly to advocates.

In the video clip below you can hear from John Armstrong and Bob Lee, who both have extensive knowledge and experience in working with people with disability and their families in a  variety of roles but in particular as advocates and citizen advocacy.

Advocacy for People with Disability
Bob Lee and John Armstrong discuss some issues concerning advocacy for vulnerable people with disability

Response to enquiries made by families has varied depending on the circumstances but has included:

• working with the caller to formulate a course of action
• sending resources such as articles or brochures to supplement knowledge and make the possibility of coming to an informed decision more likely
• providing contact details for other organisations where the information required is outside the areas of expertise of Family Advocacy such as legal matters
• completing research around an issue to ensure that the caller has the most up to date information or new perspectives about an issue
• making contact with a senior decision maker where an issue is of systemic significance

This contact, with a wide range and large number of callers from around the State, helps to inform Family Advocacy’s planning around the workshops and the resources that are likely to be most useful for families. It also helps the organisation to be aware of issues that may be of systemic significance – either within a region or across the State.

Some examples of the types of enquiries we receive:

• The sister of a man with autism was interested in what would happen to her brother when their parents were no longer alive. We discussed and strategised around planning for the future and provided a range of literature and contacts that would provide ideas and assistance.

• The father of a child with intellectual disability was concerned about the amount of support that his child would receive in a mainstream school setting. We discussed the funding process, how supports could be used and the relevant personnel that could provide assistance. We also spoke about relevant web sites and provided him with documents and articles that included details about support. In addition, we discussed examples of inclusion at school.

• A mother called to discuss her son with disability who it was alleged had been assaulted in a group home. We discussed who to contact, assisted with the drafting of letters, considered the appropriate outcome and discussed preparation for future communications.

• A parent of a man with intellectual disability called to discuss the Community Participation Program. There was a discussion of the funding levels, the process of appeal, dealing with service providers and a consideration of the questions that need to be asked.

• A mother of an adult son who is supported by a non government agency rang because she was concerned that he was being moved into inappropriate accommodation. A strategy was devised that included possible options. Meeting preparation was also covered with a consideration of who should attend, what materials to prepare and what information should be obtained before the meeting.

If there is something you would like to discuss, please call our free call number 1800 620 588.