Advocacy

Advocacy is the support and encouragement given by a professional advocate to a disabled user, to enable him/her to obtain services needed to live an independent and dignified lifestyle in the community.

The advocate works in partnership with the disabled user. This means that the advocate does not take control of the user's life, but researches the options so that the user can make informed choices and take decisions, which the advocate will assist them to fulfil.

The advocate will:

• Meet with the service-user to establish his/her need(s) and draw up a plan of action (which is an agreement between both parties).
• Provide the user with adequate information to enable him/her to make informed choices.
• Co-ordinate the various services from different agencies and ensure that they are in place for the disabled user. Thus, the advocate provides a single entry point to the whole system of statutory, voluntary and private services.
• Monitor services to ensure that the user is satisfied.
• The advocates, through CHOICE, will feedback gaps and good practice in services as identified by users, to planners, policy makers and providers.

The main areas of advocacy work are as follows:

We have had many successes especially at tribunals, in obtaining equipment and care packages.