9. Advocacy & Advice
For those disabled people who choose to have someone to represent their views and act for them in their interactions with the system, social power structures and resource gateways (e.g. Social Services, the medical profession, financial institutions, housing agencies and government establishments.) then Advocacy is a true precursor to living independently. Some people who have lived in restrictive environments can lose some of the skills and confidence needed to interact with those in authority. Advocacy, which represents a partnership between the disabled person and their advocate, is a way of moving forward without losing identity and still able to be in control of their own future. Within BCIL, the advocate is also a disabled person and so brings the commonality of experience to the partner relationship. Self advocacy: where people are supported to make known their own views/choices and to speak up for themselves regardless of how they communicate. It has a wider meaning and implication, embodying principles of independence, freedom of choice and self-expression.Citizen advocacy: where an independent person, without conflicts of interest with service providers, advocates on behalf of another.Peer advocacy: where a person with the same experiences as another person advocates for her/him.The Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 contained an entitlement to independent advocacy for disabled people but this provision has never been implemented. This denies many disabled people the statutory right to exercise the choice that this Act purported to offer two decades agoPeer support and advocacy enables disabled people to make best use of the information on independent lifestyles. This support needs to be independent of service providers.In order to move from dependence to independence disabled people need support and advocacy along the way from disabled people with direct experience of living independently. Peer advocacy and support services also help disabled people leave institutional care and also prevent disabled people entering into segregated provision.
