People with intellectual and other developmental disabilities have human rights that are sometimes not recognised or upheld. They may want or need a trusted person to help them speak out and defend their rights or at times advocate on their behalf. The advocate may be a family member, carer, friend or they may be a professional advocate who is paid to advocate for others.
DDWA Services
DDWA supports people with disability and their families to stand up for themselves, or will advocate on their behalf, across all areas of life, such as education, employment, recreation, guardianship, health, disability services (including NDIS) and communication disability (complex communication needs).
Our specialist advocacy service supports people:
- People with intellectual disability
- People with developmental disability
- People with autism or other neurodivergence
- People with communication disability (complex communication needs) who have little or no speech
- and their families and supporters.
Cost – This is a free service.
Some elements of our advocacy service include (but are not limited to) assisting with:
- parents negotiating the school journey for their child with disability
- information and advice sessions about State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) in respect to guardianship matters and administration
- navigating disability services
FAQ's
Advocacy in Schools
There are six main types of advocacy:
- Self advocacy – people stand up for themselves or are supported to do so
- Family advocacy – families stand up for themselves or are supported to do
- Citizen advocacy – a member of the community is matched with a person on a voluntary basis to provide ongoing one to one advocacy
- Individual advocacy – an advocate supports an individual or family to stand up for their rights and needs
- Legal advocacy – an advocate represents and defends the legal rights of another and has legal qualifications
- Systemic advocacy – an individual or group seeks to lobby for reform and change of social systems and structures that discriminate against, abuse or neglect the rights of others