Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Stand with us! campaign all about?

Stand with us! is a community campaign to secure a commitment from the Queensland Government to continue to fund independent disability advocacy services in Queensland, which currently deliver free and independent advocacy services to people with disability.

What is disability advocacy?

Disability advocacy is supporting people with disability to speak up for their rights and needs. An advocate is someone who works alongside you to help you navigate the system or resolve an issue, or who works to change the system.

Individual advocacy is where something has gone wrong for a person or they have been treated unfairly or have experienced discrimination. Systemic disability advocacy seeks to influence legislation and policies to break down barriers and ensure people with disability have a say on the issues impacting their lives. Citizen Advocacy involves a one-to-one relationship between a person who has a disability (the ‘Protégé), who is vulnerable and has unmet needs and a competent, resourceful citizen (the Advocate) who is free from conflicts of interest and who makes a personal, unpaid commitment to provide ongoing advocacy support to the person with disability.

Many people with disability, because of their significant impairment and decision-making capacity, are not able to speak up or voice their concerns nor are they able to challenge services and systems that do not meet their needs or are in fact harmful. Because of this, funded independent individual and systemic advocacy is needed to protect their fundamental human rights, safety, and well-being.

Why is disability advocacy important?

Independent advocacy exists to ensure that people with disability have a voice and support to overcome barriers and challenges. We all want to be included in our communities and have access to the same opportunities, but for people with disability it can be a whole lot harder.

Disability advocacy can make a critical difference in a person’s life. It can be the difference between getting a disability support worker to help you at home or struggling on your own; living comfortably in your rental home or becoming homeless; having your child attend the local school versus a special school which is further away; being part of a local club or being isolated at home.  There are so many areas were disability advocacy matters.

Isn’t disability advocacy covered by the NDIS?

The NDIS does not fund individual or systemic advocacy. There are also over 900,000 people with a disability in Queensland, and only around 90,000 are expected to be eligible for the NDIS. This leaves a lot of people and families who need support. It’s important to keep advocacy separate from any support scheme so that the independence intrinsic to sound advocacy practice is upheld.

What does Stand with us! want the state government to do?

We want the Queensland Government to stand with us and provide the funding that disability advocacy organisations need to keep serving people with a disability.

We are also calling on the community to stand with us, and to write or talk to their local MP. Find out how you can take action here.

Who started Stand with us?

Stand with us! was started by an alliance of 14 Queensland independent advocacy organisations who have joined forces to campaign to ensure Queenslanders with disability continue to have their voices heard. You can find out more about us here.