In general terms, advocacy is being there to help someone else out and help them by speaking out for them when they otherwise feel that they could not. Some examples, of course, would include scenarios, such as:
* being a Court Appointed Special Advocate or a Guardian ad Litem to speak up in the best interest of the child who has been abused, abandoned, or neglected;
* being a Eldercare Advocate is challenged by talking up for the elderly who may not know how or are mentally or physically incapicitated to speak up for themselves to get the quality of care or life that they so deserve;
* being a Mental Health Advocate help those with any sort of mental illnesses by speaking up for them and making certain that they are provided with the best care in the mental health arena that they so very much deserve; and,
* being a Disabled Advocate helps those who are handicapped or disabled to ascertain that they are provided with the tools necessary to provide them the quality and equality of living and/or working that they need to be able to live/work.
To be a good advocate, I believe that one must always stay informed. As such, I tend to read a lot of materials from a lot of resources. Some of the online resources are indicated to the right in the list under the category “Advocacy” to give you an idea of the array of resources that I try to use — some that are a bit conservative in thinking and some that are a bit liberal in thinking in order to have a balance of the spectrum in keeping open about all viewpoints of things.
The challenge comes from feeling like you stay up on top of the new viewpoints and theories and other new organizations that would be able to increase the level of care and/or life for those who are not able to speak up for themselves. Keeping up on the resources that I have provided under “Advocacy” is certainly a good place to start for any advocate. My list is constantly changing and creating new avenues for me to expand my knowledge and understanding of this world and the societal needs. Each advocate will find their own sources to keep themselves informed in accordance to what they are advocating for.
In addition to the resources that I utilize to keep myself informed on society, justice, and worldly viewpoints (globally and locally affecting my community), I also try to keep uptodate on resources that I have listed to the right, for example, in the category of “Self-Help Sites” that continues to grow as well each day that I can refer folks to obtain some additional resources that I might not necessarily have direct knowledge of or access to within my reach.
It takes a real mixture of things to help make advocacy happen. Advocacy begins with everyone becoming involved in the community – the person needing advocacy speaking out and asking questions so that others find out about their needs, you asking neighbors and friends questions about the needs that they need, and the advocate putting it into action and making the connections known so that everyone needing advocacy gets the quality of life and care that each and every person so rightly deserves on this planet we all live upon.
So, I guess my question left unanswered is: “How are you going to make a difference in this world and ensure that advocacy is continually connecting the world in a quality of living and care that brings equality for everyone?”
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