Advocacy Scope
What is advocacy?
Advocacy is about supporting you to understand your human rights, and to speak up when your rights need to be defended.
An advocate can help you understand your options, work out what steps you can take, and communicate with services, organisations or government agencies on your behalf.
What does working with an advocate look like?
To use an analogy: if life is like driving a car, you could think of advocacy like using a GPS.
You are driving the car. The advocate is the GPS
We can help you understand the different routes available, point out possible obstacles, and give you information to help you decide which way to go.
We might even suggest a route that we think might work best, but you are always the driver. You decide where you are going and which route to take.
We cannot drive the car for you, and we cannot guarantee what will happen when you get there. Our job is to help you navigate the journey, understand your options, and make informed decisions along the way.
How does DRC's advocacy's service work?
We are a disability advocacy service. This means we work with disabled people to address issues that are related to their disability.
We use a human-rights framework. This means that we want to make sure that the human rights of disabled people are upheld and maintained.
- The disabled person is at the centre. We work with you, not around you or without you. Friends, family members, carers and other supporters can be involved where appropriate.
- You decide what is best for you. We can give you information, explain your rights and options, discuss possible pathways and likely outcomes, but you tell us the outcome you want to work towards.
- We won’t advocate to restrict another disabled person’s human rights. For example, we won’t advocate for guardianship to be imposed on someone; we won’t advocate for someone living independently to be moved to an institution; or for a disabled person to be excluded from decisions about their own life.
- We won’t advocate for something you don’t want. We will not try to convince you to make a choice because someone else thinks it is best. Our advocacy is based on your rights, will and preferences.
- We won’t help you do something illegal.
- We’re not mediators. We do not resolve conflicts between family members, support workers, providers or other members of a person’s support team. We advocate for you and your rights.
- Communication rights and access are part of advocacy. People communicate and understand information in different ways. We will work with you to understand how you prefer to communicate and what adjustments or supports you need to participate in your advocacy. This might include:
- more time
- written information
- Easy Read
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
- communication partners
- interpreters
- video calls
- other communication methods.
Is DRC independent?
We are funded through the Victorian Disability Advocacy Program (VDAP). This funding keeps us independent from services you may have problems with, such as Centrelink, disability service providers or local councils.
Who can use DRC’s advocacy services?
Our funding allows us to work with people aged 16 and over in so-called Victoria, with a focus on Naarm / the greater metropolitan area of so-called Melbourne.
We cannot work with children and young people below the age of 16. For children and young people, we would suggest getting in touch with the Youth Disability Advocacy Service.
What type of support does DRC provide?
We offer four levels of support:
- resources
- wayfinding;
- information sessions
- support for an advocacy issue.
We make decisions about which level of support we can provide using our decision-making process, which takes into account things like the issue, your needs, and our capacity. This helps us make decisions fairly and consistently.
1. Resources
You can access our resources and information on our website to help you understand your rights, options and next steps.
We are currently expanding our resources and information. If there’s a topic you think we should create a resource about, please let us know!
2. Wayfinding
Wayfinding can help if you know you have a problem but are not sure what services or supports are available, or what to do next.
We can help you work out which services and supports may be able to assist with your issue. Please note that we do not do healthcare navigation, and cannot help you find a supportive GP or specialist.
Wayfinding appointments are usually held over the phone, but can also be provided in writing, or by video call depending on your needs and preferences.
We would need you to complete a short intake process. This includes answering some questions about yourself, completing a consent form and receiving our client handbook.
3. Information sessions
You can meet with an advocate for one 60-minute session and an optional short follow up to:
- Talk about your issue
- Discuss barriers, or where you have gotten stuck
- Understand your rights and options
- Work out possible next steps.
Information sessions are usually done over the phone, but can also be provided in writing, or by video call depending on your needs and preferences.
We would need you to complete a short intake process. This includes answering some questions about yourself, completing a consent form and receiving our client handbook.
4. Support for an advocacy issue
In some cases, an advocate can work with you over a limited period on one specific disability-related issue.
We will talk with you about the issue you are facing, and whether it is something we can help with. If there is more than one issue, we’ll work with you to choose one to focus on.
We would need you to complete a short intake process. This includes answering some questions about yourself, completing a consent form and receiving our client handbook. Sometimes we might also ask you to complete a form allowing us to contact other people on your behalf.
Your advocate will talk to you about your issue, what options are available to you, and what the outcomes could be. You will decide what steps you would like to take. From there, you and your advocate will create an advocacy service plan. This sets out what your advocacy will focus on, and what you plan to do. It will be updated if things change, and the plan will be reviewed every three months. Advocacy support will not usually continue for longer than 6 months.
When will my advocacy support end?
Advocacy support can end when:
- We have not been able to contact you for 3 weeks.
- We have tried all reasonable options to help you reach your goal.
- You have reached your goal.
- Your goal has changed.
- 6 months have passed.
If you need help with another issue we can talk to you about other support options, including accessing DRC again in the future.
Why can I only work on one issue with DRC?
We understand that most people are facing many complex issues at the same time. We use a time limited single issue model because it:
- allows us to support more people
- helps us to set clear and achievable goals
- allows us to focus to the issue we are working on with you
- helps us provide a sustainable service with our small team of part-time advocates.
What issues can DRC help with?
Our primary areas of interest are:
- helping you understand your rights and options
- communication rights
- guardianship and administration
- human rights and discrimination
- restrictive practices
- moving from institutional settings into the community, including from prison*
- disability-related advocacy issues that other organisations cannot help with
*We do not provide case management. However, we may be able to help with wayfinding, or providing information to support your own advocacy, including around reasonable adjustments.
High-demand issues
There are some areas where we receive lots of enquiries, like the Disability Support Pension and the NDIS.
In these areas, we will generally suggest that you use our website resources to have a go yourself. If you get stuck or have any questions along the way, please get in touch! We may be able to offer wayfinding or an information session.
Some issues need a lot of time and resources. In these cases, we may not be able to provide ongoing, hands-on advocacy. We may instead provide resources, an information session, or help you find another service or organisation through wayfinding.
Our Belong team also provide opportunities to connect with community, including fortnightly drop-ins at Ross House.
What can't DRC help with?
- We do not provide advocacy support in areas where the issue does not relate directly to disability.
- We are not a crisis service.
- We are a non-legal advocacy service. This means we cannot work with you on legal matters, provide legal representation, or give legal advice.
- We are not funded under the NDIS Appeals Program, so we do not provide support for people seeking a review of an NDIS decision at ART.
- We cannot provide case management.
- We cannot provide care coordination or care navigation.
- We cannot help you apply for housing.
- We cannot help you with family mediation.
- We cannot provide material aid, financial assistance, or financial counselling.
There are also some areas where we can only provide information and resources, such as WorkCover, TAC and FAS. We will have information and resources about these on our website very soon, including links to support services.
I need help with something else
Please see our other services page for information about other organisations that may be able to help.