Ok i will go straight to basics
The definition of an advocate
An advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another, especially in a legal context. Implicit in the concept is the notion that the represented lacks the knowledge, skill, ability, or standing to speak for themselves. Common advocates include lawyers, activists, and public relations consultants.
The more modern use of it
Generally: A person who pleads, intercedes, or speaks for another. It also means a person whose profession is to plead causes in courts of law. This is especially the use in Scotland. In the USA it means any lawyer. To advocate, means to speak in favour of an idea. From the 1970s it was used for speaking up for people with disabilities - especially mentally handicapped people.
The last role there is what im being trainned to do as a nurse. So I would advocate that they recieve appropriate healthcare treatment, have a say in their care plans etc and represent their interests when dealing with other organisations and services. During the process if you are building up their own skills and abilities (obviously some people with severe problems will never really truly be a ble to fully self advocate but you always strive to do as best as you can) would be trainning the individual to eventually become a "SELF" advocate. Basically he no longer needs me,the nurse, to advocate for him and he is capable of saying what he wants and expressing his views clearly and is able to independantly access services when required such as going to see the GP for example when they feel ill, skills you and i take for granted really.
So self advocacy is basically, hey mr fucktard professional/charity organisation/government person I have a mind of my own and I will speak for myself not you. I will tell you what I want and what I believe and my opinions and i'll tell you precisely how your screwing me over.
When it gets confusing is when you have self advocay groups. Now its abit of an oxymoron term to be self advocate in a group
Cause now you have a group of people who can advocate for themselves get together and effectively form a consesnsus. Groups will always have more power then an individual in terms of bringing about change. This is the stage were things obviously become abit messy because now your entering into politics and intrigue and this is probably why the self advocate groups fail alot of the time because sometimes without outside independant support it basically becomes a dog eat dog game for the king of the hill position. Ive seen it happen with an ADHD group, the leader of that group is getting some nice back payments from Glaxo-smythe glyne at the moment because the group promotes the use of drugs such as ritalin. Not public knowledge until she got caught in the act....
