'To support someone to understand and be understood.’
“Families can play an invaluable role in supporting and advocating for their loved one; offering advice, helping your loved one to be heard and understood, helping them to understand what is happening and have access to reasonable adjustments or just being there as support and another pair of ears. We do this often without knowing we are doing it, but it’s value can never be ignored.” - Essex Carers Network
Advocacy means getting support from another person to help your loved one express their views and wishes and help them to stand up for their rights. Getting help in this way is referred to as Self Advocacy.
Advocacy refers to receiving support from another independent individual, (ie an advocate), to assist someone to express their opinions and make their views heard in order to lead the changes in their lives.
Self-Advocacy is defined as:
‘Speaking for yourself and what is important to you. It means you have a voice of your own and you use it.’
Everyone can be a self -advocate but for someone with Learning Disabilities it’s even more important to be heard and understood.
In circumstances where someone is unable to express their views in any way, Advocates are able to be involved to ensure that the outcomes of planning for the person’s future are fair and in their best interest. A formal Advocate is independent of the person’s family, funding authority and Service Provider.
Speak up for them, it is important that you ensure an Advocate is requested, particularly when you consider the importance of the person future planning to age well.
Have a look at these two recordings about Advocacy, on YouTube;
VoiceAbility are an independent charity and one of the largest providers of advocacy and involvement services in the UK. Advocates are independent professionals who work with people to help them understand their options, know their rights and say what they want. This helps to make sure that people are involved as much as possible in decisions about their health and care.
All statutory and non-statutory referrals for advocacy can be made to VoiceAbility by the following ways:
- Directly on VoiceAbility’s website using the referral journey tailored for each advocacy type
- By downloading a referral form from VoiceAbility’s website and sending it via email to helpline@voiceability.org
- By calling the VoiceAbility’s Contact Centre on 0300 303 1660 or using our webchat option, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Find out more about Advocacy in Essex here
