My voice, my choice: What self advocacy means to me

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October 13th is National Self-Advocacy Day.

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Jane, Michelle and Lisa, who are all members of OPA's Lived Experience Advisory Committee, talk about what this day means for them.

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What does self-advocacy mean to you?

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[JANE] Self-advocacy means to me being a woman with an intellectual disability and to be out in the community just like anyone else and to be accepted out in the community as well.

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[MICHELLE] Self-advocacy means recognising my human rights, my choices, and my individual preferences.

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It also means being able to break down the barriers that I have in health, in areas of employment, housing and disability support.

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[LISA] What self-advocacy means for me is the ability to stand up for yourself as a human being, whether you have a disability or not.

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Why is self-advocacy important?

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[LISA] It seems to be important because it allows people with a disability to show their humanity.

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[MICHELLE] I think that advocacy is important because all people with disability have

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the right to be included in the mainstream community in the same way as other members do.

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However, many people with disability

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they face many barriers and it is important to be able to self-advocate for their human rights.

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[JANE] Self-advocacy means to me on having a voice to be heard, to be accepted in the community and not to be (experiencing) racism as well and to be proud on who you are as well in the community.

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With a disability or even without a disability, you have to be accepted.

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How can other people support you in self-advocacy?

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[JANE] They can support me by going to an organisation called Reinforce.

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And Reinforce has been going since the 1980s on closing these institutions down and having these people, having a voice to be heard out in the community.

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And as well, our AMIDA is for housing for people with a disability as well.

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And for the SARU is self-advocacy resource unit as well.

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And they can help people to be included in their self-advocacy group and they can learn things as they go along on things that they've never heard of before.

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[LISA] People can support me and my self-advocacy by basically accepting me.

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And that means accepting my views, all my

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opinions, whether they agree or disagree, they can, because humans do.

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But they're my, they're my opinions, they're my pieces of knowledge and they can accept it.

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[MICHELLE] I think other people can support

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self advocacy by respecting a person's choices and their individual preferences.

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Ensuring that they help people to pursue their individual preferences goals and aspirations.

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Thank you Michelle, Jane and Lisa for sharing your insights.

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To find out more visit www.publicadvocate.vic.gov.au.