Help to understand and speak up

An advocate helps you say what matters to you.

An advocate can help with a particular problem.

This may be called community advocacy.

The law gives some people a right to an advocate.

There are different rules for different situations.

Ask the council which service could help you.

Self-advocacy means speaking up for yourself.

You can get support to do this.

Peer advocacy means help from someone with similar experiences.

For example, another person with a learning disability might support you.

Citizen advocacy usually means help from a volunteer.

The volunteer gets to know you over time.

Group advocacy means people speaking up together.

You might ask together for a service to change.

An independent advocate should put your rights and wishes first.

They can question the services making decisions about your care.

Family and friends can help too, but their role is different.

Some people can tell an advocate what they want them to do.

This is called instructed advocacy.

Other people need the advocate to find out their wishes in other ways.

This is called non-instructed advocacy.