Advocacy

At ABA, an advocate may assist you and/or your carer with benefit claims, finding the right housing, or getting the community care services you are entitled to. An advocate can provide support if you want to complain about services you’re not happy with. We can also help you find out about work, education, or leisure opportunities in your area.

We provide specialist advocacy support to people with visual impairments from BAME communities. The service we provide is culturally sensitive and we can provide support in community languages.

Advocacy enables individuals to do more for themselves and lessens their dependency on other people.

We believe advocacy helps people to make informed choices. An advocate must ensure the service user is making real choices based on good quality information.

We believe that service users should be able to choose the type of advocacy that suits them best. Some service users feel that they need one person who’s willing to act on their behalf, whereas others will prefer the support of a group. Some will want to advocate for themselves, as far as is possible, with only the minimum of support. The choice of advocacy model will vary according to the person’s needs.