Person to Person Advocacy Facts
Why is there a need for Citizen Advocacy?
What is involved in becoming a Citizen Advocate?
Aside from becoming a Citizen Advocate, are there other ways of helping out?
In the Person to Person: Citizen Advocacy world, an advocate is a community volunteer who has entered into a one on one relationship with a person with developmental disabilities.
An advocate has recognized that a person with developmental disabilities has challenges but that with a relationship with an advocate, they can lead a full, active, and productive life. What can make the difference in the life of developmentally disabled person’s life is the friendship of a person who cares, encourages, and shows interest. Going one step further, a full life may depend on an advocate who can assess a need and then take actions to restore or create the right environment that the developmentally disabled person can’t do alone. Although the basic economic needs of the person with a developmental disability may be met, unmet emotional and social needs may be better recognized and actualized by a caring advocate.
In the Person to Person: Citizen Advocacy world, a protégé is a person with a developmental disability. The only thing that distinguishes a protégé from a typical person is that he or she has a cognitive and/or physical disability that became apparent before age twenty-one.
A protégé has been identified by a Person to Person: Citizen Advocacy professional as someone who could become socially isolated from the community. The developmentally disabled person has been evaluated to be someone who would benefit from a one on one relationship with another person.
A match is a one on one relationship between a community volunteer (an advocate) and a person with a developmental disability (a protégé) in which both share their gifts, talents, and friendship. There is no advocate compensation and there is no reimbursement for contact expenses.
No two matches are the same. The match is formed by mutual agreement between the advocate and protégé, and exists as long as they are both satisfied. There are no external minimum requirements or expectations on the duration of a match, on when and how often the advocate and protégé get together, or on what activities take place during a contact. As with any other relationship between two human beings, matches change and evolve over time. They are as unique as the two individuals involved and the activities in which they choose to take part.
Why is there a need for Citizen Advocacy?
Everyone needs other people in order to get along in life. Too often, a person who has disability has few or no other people who would be there on a voluntary basis. Family members may have died or abandoned the person. Some people who have a disability are not able to speak out for themselves. Their rights are denied and they are not getting a fair deal out of many situations.
People with disabilities are often socially isolated. When this happens, individuals need someone in their lives who will view the world through their eyes, and stand by them.
What is involved in becoming a Citizen Advocate?
Aside from becoming a Citizen Advocate, are there other ways of helping out?
Sure. You can help by:
Person to Person: Citizen Advocacy Association, Inc.