Thoughts of Peter Dawson-Manager of Peaks & Dales Advocacy 2012.
Was it Chairman Mao who is quoted as saying "We live in interesting times"? From an advocacy point of view, we certainly do in 21st century Britain.
We have never been busier. Advocacy referrals in all our partnerships are on the increase. People in our society who are already vulnerable to being marginalized, misunderstood and treated badly are made more vulnerable still by the ever increasing speed and technology of everyday life and the complexity of communication. Add to this; cuts in public services, new and often frightening hoops and hurdles of assessment and examination people have to endure in order to get benefits and other sorts of help. People who have needed advocacy up to now probably need it more than ever.
It is also true to say that some people who have managed in their lives without independent advocacy such as ours are finding that they are at risk of sinking in the present environment. For instance, a woman of nearly seventy who has a learning difficulty but has been managing to live on her own, in her own flat in a small town, with a bit of help provided through Social Services (only three hours a week) to do her shopping suddenly finds that she has been assessed as no longer meeting the criteria for that help. Yes, she needs advocacy now but in reality we may not be able to reverse such a decision. We will though be able to help her think about what other options she has and to help her to advocate for the help she needs in order to get along as independently as she has up to now.
People I have referred to above largely already know about advocacy or other people with whom they have contact may know. One way or another they have the possibly of getting some help from us. But what about the increasing number of people who are on the margins of society - those who are just out of sight, those who don't have anyone who will refer them to us or who wouldn't not be in a position themselves to know we existed? It's a worry.
Actually it is a worry really because advocacy has limited authority and limited power. Advocates certainly do not possess a magic wand and neither are we ubiquitous. We do pretty well in PADA. We have a very dedicated team of over twenty busy and skilled advocates. But if everybody who could benefit from advocacy did get referred I know for a certainty we would not have enough advocates to go round.
What I've said so far is still only scratching the surface. If we start to consider the care of older people across the country then it is rapidly realised that there is a national need for independent advocates to act as critical friends in care provision, protectors of rights and close friends and allies to an increasing population of people who often have no one close to turn to.
So, I started these "thoughts" by quoting Mao and I am certainly not advocating a Chinese Communist solution but I do think we are living in interesting times because balanced against all the negatives are in fact some good developments. Advocacy is not actually the solution. What it can do, should do and does do (when it is effective) is to point out that things are not right. It is needed for that function alone. It can do this because we stand outside the system. Independent advocacy is not a Health Service, a Social Care Provider, part of education, advice, therapy or treatment. It is a separate pair of eyes, it is ears, and most of all it is a voice of the direct experience of the people who are marginalized and who are vulnerable and who so desperately need and deserve to be heard.
The most interesting and perhaps paradoxical thing of all is that though advocacy is needed more and more for an ever wider group (or groups) of people it is also being gradually accepted and listened to. I sometimes say to my colleagues that the point of advocacy is to say what needs doing but not to do it. It is part of our job to identify who needs to get their act together to make our advocacy partners' lives better. Often, though not always, that does occur. I could give you numerous positive examples. These would include details of people we work with getting to live where they really want to, rather than where someone else thinks they should. Examples of people truly getting a say in the decision making processes that effect their everyday lives.
Advocacy is a tool for empowerment. It is not the only tool; information is another. Karl Marx said "knowledge is power." Oh dear you'll have me down as a communist. Jesus also said, In the remarkable and revolutionary Sermon on the Mount: Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.
Coupled with all the cuts, pressures and confusions in life nowadays is also a growing recognition of the need for all citizens to have respect and value. What I say is, "Bring it on." Advocacy needs to continue to develop and promote clear moral and person centred values and principles As long as we do that, we have a real part to play as a social conscience, as outraged members of the public and as promoters of the unique and wonderful qualities of humanity that will be shared as a result of better inclusion and social equality.