Advocacy Is Not About You

It’s about lifting up the voices of the people for whom you advocate

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Advocacy

Advocacy is defined in the dictionary as “any action that speaks in favour of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports or defends, or pleads on behalf of others.”

When we think of advocacy, we often think of professionals and formal organizations. As Mel Baggs wrote, that is only one aspect of advocacy:

“Advocacy is fundamentally about true equality, respect, and power, and about recognizing and changing the current imbalances in all of those things.”
— Mel Baggs

Advocacy has also been described as everyday behaviours that cannot be separated from other actions people take, because advocacy and self-advocacy are often woven into other practices (i.e. everyday living).

Advocacy encompasses forms of solidarity, information-sharing, education, and support — oftentimes by members of the community themselves connecting, sharing resources, and supporting each other.

There are three types of advocacy: individual, systemic, and self-advocacy.

1) Individual Advocacy

In individual advocacy a person, or group of people, concentrate their efforts on just one or two…