Advocacy For People With Disabilities

The incident of albino killings in Tanzania in 2011

Albino person being cut her hands

Meaning of advocacy

The term advocacy refers to “speaking for” or “speaking on behalf of” other people, specifically for those people who are denied their rights, the forgotten ones in the human society. The major aim in advocacy activities is to influence the decision making in the society. Other aims are the winning over the hearts and minds of the public, and create the positive understanding about the people with disabilities.

Types of advocacy

Self-Advocacy

This is condition whereby an individual struggles for himself or herself to be recognized. It is when the individual raises to defend the denied rights.

Joint-Advocacy

This is the state when people join hands to defend the rights of their own and/or of other groups. They are in groups. These groups may be of people with disabilities and other groups with non-disabled people that are devoted to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.

Functions in Advocacy

The functions of advocacy are of three types, these are:

Interpreting

Here there is attachment of meanings to every aspect of spoken word. In each item to advocacy there are mult-meanings and the consequences associated with it. Sets the comparison between the desired and undesired ones. Indeed, in interpreting in the advanced sense is to win the minds and the hearts of the public.

In advocacy we fight against the status quo. This is the situation about changing the existing social conditions. Another aspect dealt within the advocacy for people with disabilities is to fight against the custodians of the system. In every system there are people who want to continue with the existing bad situation. With these fights, we need to win over the hearts of the public and indeed to make sure that the public is on our side-so that it supports us in every stage we advance.

Connecting

Connecting is about establishing networks, penetrating the system. Within the custodians we come to get supporters. The advocacy groups have to establish networks within the experts and aristocrats. Connecting is generally about networking to influence decision making. It is about giving state persons, big business men and women the responsibilities in the advocacy process. Connecting is the weapon to win over the hearts and the minds of the public.

Gluing

Gluing is among the functions in the advocacy movement. This is the act and process of keeping the ranken files together. Putting together different documents about what is jontly decided by the groups. To implement the decisions in groups. Gluing is, indeed, about numbers of people. When the number is big the custodians consider.

Let us come together for advocacy movement!

       "Think Inclusively ~~~ Act Inclusively ~~~ Create an Inclusive Nation"