Vantage Mobilities
Jan 23, 2017
Legal editor
Imagine this scenario: You’re a wheelchair user who starts a new job, and you join your coworkers at a restaurant across the street. While Fred and Dana are busy raving about how good the food is, you discover the restaurant has stairs and no wheelchair-accessible entry. You speak with the manager about the situation, and she tells you that accessibility issues have to go through the building owner and she can’t help.
What can you do?
You have a lot of choices, actually. One of the most effective options is finding a disability advocate.
What is a disability advocate?
A disability advocate can mean several different things, depending on what type of advocacy you’re referring to. There are two main types of disability advocacy: legal and social. Legal disability advocates are lawyers, or other trained professionals, who litigate for disability rights on behalf of a client, government or organization. Social advocates are people who work toward furthering disability rights through social change and public policy.
Within these two ciategories, you’ll likely encounter specific types of advocacy and advocates.
This is the most common advocacy that you’ve likely encountered before. Citizen advocates are community volunteers who advocate for a disability-related cause; this often involves a specific person with a disability or particular disability itself. The common goals include community awareness, fundraising and long-term care of an individual who can’t support themselves.
Group advocacy
– Group advocacy is typically composed of various different types of advocates and involves advocating for a group of people with the same disability or disability rights goal.
Individual advocacy
An individual-advocate is somebody who advocates for a person with disabilities through a one-on-one approach. Typically, individual advocates are there to prevent or address any unfair treatment or abuse a person with disabilities may face. Social security advocates also fall under this category.
Legal advocacy is what it sounds like; a lawyer provides legal representation on behalf of their client and gives advice to people with disabilities about discrimination and human rights issues. The lawyer may also be involved with legislative litigation, where they pursue positive changes to the judicial system.
Self-advocacy – This happens when someone with a disability represents themselves to achieve legal, social or public policy goals. If you’re interested in self-advocacy, then visit this resource page at the Arizona Center for Disability Law. The Center offers dozens of free self-advocacy guides and presentations that cover disability-related legal topics.
Systemic advocacy
The disability rights movement falls under systemic advocacy. Systemic advocacy involves working toward long-term social changes that validate the collective rights and interests of people with disabilities. The common targets for this advocacy are legislation, policies and practices.
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