Who are we: Mackay Advocacy is an Independent Disability Advocacy Service supporting people in our community from Birth.
What we DO NOT do: Offer legal advice, Financial Advice, Counselling, Secretarial Services, Decision Maker.
What is Advocacy: Advocacy is speaking and acting uphold and defend the rights and needs of people with a disability to ensure their basic human rights are being met and to empower the individual to speak for themselves.
Why do we need Independent Disability Advocacy?
- To ensure people with disabilities’ fundamental human rights are being met and to ensure we minimise the risk of harm, neglect abuse and exploitation.
- To assist individuals to have control and direction of their own lives.
As a community to ensure we are all connected & responsible for enabling inclusions.
“The good things in life are universal and include being treated with dignity, respect, acceptance, a sense of belonging, an education, developing and exercising one’s capacities, a voice in the affairs of your community and society, opportunities to participate, a decent material standard of living, a normative place to live, and opportunities for work and self-support” ~ Wolfensberger et al 1996 7
What Disability Advocates Do:
Disability advocacy may include:
- Providing information to people with a disability on issues, strategies, their human rights and identifying instances of discrimination, including the right to have access to a wide range of services to meet their individual needs.
- Assisting people with a disability to uphold their rights by speaking to people and organisations to raise awareness of problems and seek solutions
What are the Key Advocacy Issues:
- Abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence
- Access to non-National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) service
- Child Protection
- Community inclusion – social/family
- Disability services
- Education
- Employment
- Equipment/aids
- Finances
- Government payments
- Health/Mental health
- Housing/Homelessness
- Legal/Access to justice
- NDIS – Internal review
- NDIS – Access/planning
- NDIS – Support implmenting plan/accessing services/complaints
- Physical Access
- Transport
- Vulnerable/Isolated people with disabilities
- Other Issues
We are funded by: Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors & Queensland Health
MISSION STATEMENT
Mackay Advocacy Inc. provides free, confidential, individual advocacy
and assistance to people with a disability in
Mackay, Whitsunday and Isaac regions to ensure their fundamental,
human rights are met.