Advocacy

What is advocacy?

 Advocacy means to speak out or argue for a cause, but advocacy means different things to different people. The main goal of advocacy is to ensure that a person's voice' is heard or a groups point of view is taken into account.

Advocacy has a lot to do with rights. A self advocate speaks up for their own rights.  An individual advocate speaks up for the rights of another as if those rights were their own.  A systemic advocate speaks up for the rights/views of a group. Advocacy is about establishing and maintaining those rights.

The three main types of advocacy are self, individual and systemic.

Individual or Self Advocacy is – speaking for the needs and desires of oneself or person.

Systemic Advocacy is - working to change attitudes, policies, systems or laws that impact negatively on the lives of individuals.