Becoming An Advocate

It is the task of the multi agency/disciplinary team to focus on protecting the general welfare of adults with learning disabilities. These teams are generally statutory and non statutory and are composed of different professionals and specialists who support the criminal justice service, (for the courts this might be the Youth offending Team or Court liaison and Diversion Team and in prison it is the healthcare department). These specialists are predominantly community learning disability nurses, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, social workers, care managers, speech and language

At community level, the social worker plays the role of advocacy. She is persuasive, assertive, and patient in her day-to-day encounter with patients. She is a community organizer; she coordinates financial aid to long-term residents without sponsorship and serves as a liaison to some of the patients she cares for. It is vital for the human service professional to provide information about social issues that are likely to affect the public (O'Hagan, 2007).

Independent advocacy is a way that allows people to make informed choices and to remain in control of their own care and needs. It supports people to access the information they need about all options available to them and allows them to make their wishes and views known. It helps to protect the rights of people that are unable to speak up for themselves. Independent advocacy may be a long term thing or only during a difficult time.

By completing this module you will learn about the limits to the advocacy role and

“Work to view my autism as a different ability rather than a disability. Look past what you may see as limitations and see the gifts autism has given me…Be my advocate, be my friend, and we’ll see just how far we can go” –Ellen Botbohm, author of Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew.

There are many different types of professionals who can offer support to children who are not following the expected pattern of development, the support is usually coordinated by the schools, SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). If a child starts school with a disability the SENCO will have been informed by the child’s parents prior to the child starting. The child may already be receiving support from a number of professionals. For example a child with a physical disability may well be receiving treatment from a physiotherapist, with exercises given to

Ways in which human services professionals can meet the needs of families and children are to actively listen to each individual’s perception of the problem and address each issue. If the worker is qualified to provide counseling sessions, such as a marriage and family therapist, single members in addition to the family as a whole should receive services. Referrals should be given to the family if the worker cannot provide counsel (Martin, 2011). A family social worker can assist in providing resources for food, medical, housing, child care and utility assistance, support in filling out appropriate paperwork should be offered as well. Professionals can offer referrals to legal assistance offices in order for a single parent to obtain child support. Informing those in this population of the means for furthering their education can help them regain their independence. A school social worker may be appropriate for those children suffering in their academics due to family matters so they can provide support for the child and to determine what further resources are needed (O*Net Online, 2010). Child welfare investigators as well as health care social workers may have to provide investigations as well as working with other professionals to assess patients' medical or physical condition

I have distinctly applied for Special Needs Education because special education has always been what’s near and dear to me in the field of education. Being a special education teacher would be an inevitably rewarding job, in which I get to watch my students grow, as I celebrate their small breakthroughs and victories with them. These small breakthroughs and victories will improve over time and turn into giant leaps, which will leave a lasting impact and ultimately change the child’s life. Beyond just educating children with special needs, I aspire to educate the public about children with special needs and special education. By doing so, I hope to remove any uncertainty and fear the public has on this group of children. Not only do I want to impart knowledge on these special children, I also want to advocate for them, which is something that goes

Self Advocacy - People speaking out for themselves to express their own needs and representing their own interests. Often people with some form of disability may have received some support in achieving self-advocacy – this is a model employed by People First – a group run by people with learning disabilities for people with learning disabilities.

“An advocate is a person who acts in support of an interested party during negotiation, litigation, or another conflict resolution process” (Barsky, 2007). An advocate helps to give voice to people who are not being heard. They help people who are not able to obtain certain services receive the services that they need.

The Advocate role implies that the social worker must interfere for the client and talk on the behalf of his or her client if necessary, so that she or he can received help and advice if

As social works one of our roles are to advocate not only for our clients but overall communities. This

Your personal goals surrounding advocacy. As a social worker and advocate it’s imperative to set personal goals surrounding advocacy. According to Hoefer (2015), “Meeting client needs, both material and emotional, should be uppermost in the minds of social worker advocates” (p.35). One goal would be to advocate for fair and justifiable access to public services and benefits for my participants. Many time they arrive to shelter without any transportation and no public access in site. Advocate for equivalent treatment and protection under the law and challenge biases, that affect the defenseless and underprivileged. Another personal goal is to only concentrate on advocacy without any other

-liaising with outside agencies with respect to a child's special educational needs (SEN) such as speech Therapist, physiotherapist..etc.

The Council for Exceptional Children offers resources for teachers, it also acts as an advocacy group in the sense that it pushes for public policies that affect children with disabilities, and the professionals who work with those children.