For many people with lived experience of disability or a long-term health condition, situations like having problems with a process that involves education, child protection, benefits, housing or even an argument with a neighbour can be really overwhelming and confusing.

Often these processes involve a lot of new information and it can be hard to understand what is expected of you, not to mention intimidating to speak up for yourself in a formal meeting.

If you’ve ever experienced a situation like this, you might not realise that one of our advocates can help you to say what matters to you and understand your rights in all these situations and more.

Take Linda* (not her real name)
During the pandemic, Linda* wished to see her father who was at the end of his life. Linda’s support workers stopped this happening because they were worried about Linda’s reaction to the visit and managing her worries and anxieties about Covid-19.

Linda is under the court of protection and wanted to see her father before he passed away. She had not seen him for 12 weeks due to Covid-19.

Our Advocacy service challenged those not allowing Linda to see her father and asked them to complete risk assessments for her visit to her father. After the risk assessment was completed, the visit was allowed to go ahead. The advocate supported Linda by telephone, before, during and after the visit.

Linda’s human rights, and her father’s human rights were upheld. Linda now feels that she is able to have choices and to challenge decisions herself in the future… Linda’s father said.
“Thank you so much for fighting for my daughter’s rights to see me at this time. Your reassurance helped her so much, I don’t know what we would have done without you”.

At Disability Positive we’ve been able to continue our general Advocacy service thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, and we know how important this is to people by how many people have already made use of the service.

Our team can help if you:

• have (or care for someone) who has lived experience of disability or a long-term health condition
• want help from an advocate
• live in Cheshire

Get in touch with our team to find out more about how we can help.
01606 331 853 or advocacy@disabilitypositive.org

Learn more about the types of Advocacy we provide here: Advocacy – Disability Positive

By Vicky Randles, Advocacy Manager