| Source: |
L. D. Baucom, & G. J. Bensberg (Eds.), Advocacy systems for persons with developmental disabilities: Context, components, and resources (pp. 127-131). Lubbock, TX: Research and Training Center in Mental Retardation, Texas Tech University. [Conference proceedings of Developmental Disabilities Advocacy and Protective Services] |
| Overview: |
Lay advocacy includes citizen advocacy and also advocacy by individuals with disabilities and their parents. Advocacy activity includes finding the forum, specifying the injury, spelling out the issues, and securing a determination and mutually-agreeing upon remedies and rules.
Advocates also observe, gather information, provide practical help, give emotional support, and do whatever else is necessary. They often negotiate, finagle, and put pressure on service providers. Strictly speaking, none of these activities is advocacy but they are part of the process.
Advocacy takes place in a system where somebody wins and somebody loses. Herbert Kutchins, Sacramento State University, maintained that adversarial systems have ten elements to consider:
A forum
A decision-making mechanism
Specific procedures
Issues
Something that is wrong (an "injury")
A specific determination
A remedy
Adversaries
Equality between adversaries
Helpers such as witnesses or advocates
By carefully understanding these elements, an advocate is best prepared to seek a remedy to a problem. #1832
Hansen, R. F. (1976). Alternatives in lay advocacy. In L. D. Baucom, & G. J. Bensberg (Eds.), Advocacy systems for persons with developmental disabilities: Context, components, and resources (pp. 127-131). Lubbock, TX: Research and Training Center in Mental Retardation, Texas Tech University. [Conference proceedings of "Developmental Disabilities Advocacy and Protective Services"]
Keyword: Advocacy |
