Why do we advocate?
- Sometimes, the change we want to achieve through advocacy might be obvious. Maybe you are facing a specific barrier or issue in your life that you want to solve.
Types of advocacy issues:
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Personal issue: A problem that affects you, your family or someone you know directly that you want to see changed.
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Community issue: Something in your neighborhood or community that affects a group of people that you want to change.
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Institutional issue: Something within a specific institution, such as a school, a company or an organization that is affecting many people.
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Systems-level issue: A problem that is systemic, meaning it is part of our social, economic, or political systems.
Prioritizing multiple issues:
- If you have multiple issues that you care about, you might need to narrow the list down. It can take a lot of time and energy to try to advocate on a long list of issues, and you don’t want to burn yourself out. Plus, if you go to a decision-maker with a long list of issues, they are likely to pick the easiest thing on your list. Being able to prioritize is an important skill for all advocates!
Next steps:
- Once you have an idea of the change you want to see, you can create a goal to advocate towards.
- This toolkit will still be helpful for building those foundational skills, but you’ll also want to build your understanding of government and politics. Join our Disability Advocacy Network for more resources on building your skills as a political advocate and to sign up for live advanced courses on advocating to government.
Next: Developing SMART goals (Section 5 of 43)
