Q & A: What is advocacy?
I wrote this about advocacy a few months ago when I started this blog:
I chose the word vox for the title of Autism Vox because vox and the -voc- in advocate share the same Latin root word, voco, “I call.” While “Autism Vox” literally means “Autism Voice,” by no means is this blog meant to be the “voice of autism.” There are many blogs by autistic authors that are all about autism from the inside out. As the mother of Charlie, my son who has autism, I am called everyday to translate his sometimes garbled speech and his needs. I am called to action and to advocate, and I believe that blogging on Autism Vox will help to spread the word.
You can read the rest by going here.
What is your definition of advocacy?
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POSTED IN: Disability Rights, Q & A
2 opinions for Q & A: What is advocacy?
Kassiane
Aug 6, 2006 at 8:58 am
To me, advocacy is a process by which one attempts (sometimes over and over because people can be dense) to make their needs and desires known, in a manner that the recipient of the communication can understand.
And it spans everything, really, from people sitting down/flopping/having a tantrum to express NO! to typing to letters to one on one talking to standing in front of a LOT of people and typing/talking/throwing picture cards on an overhead/whatever.
The advocate often has to work harder than is “fair”, in my experience, especially since a) they say things that the recipient of the communication doesn’t want to hear and b) nonstandard communication is often dismissed as less important, or they plain old don’t understand, either willfully or because they can’t wrap their heads around it.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Aug 6, 2006 at 9:07 am
I second the notion of a process—something you have to keep working at, constantly.
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