Advocacy

What is Advocacy?
To advocate is to stand-up for yourself, a family member, a friend, or maybe someone you haven't even met. Some reasons you may choose to advocate for someone or something is because you have a certain set of values or believe strongly in a particular cause.

Do I need experience to be an advocate?
You may not see it as advocacy-but most of us are already advocates in everyday life. Here are some examples of "everyday" advocacy:

• Standing up for someone who you feel has been treated unfairly;
• Finding out what services are available to you in your community;
• Asking questions;
• Requesting that an IEP or an ISP reflect you or your loved one's needs, dreams, and interests;
• Expecting accountability; and
• Sharing a story about an injustice with someone you know.

Access to the community does not always mean a ramp or the measurements of a doorway for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities - it is most often a relationship that makes the community accessible for people with ID/DD.

What does The Arc of Northern Virginia advocate for?
We advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to have "A Life Like Yours" - a home, a job, a life - in the community. To have "A Life Like Yours" individuals with Intellectual Delays/Developmental Delays need access to ADEQUATELY FUNDED community-based services staffed by ADEQUATELY COMPENSATED direct-care workers.

Why is your advocacy needed?

• Virginia is ranked 47th in the United States for its fiscal effort in funding community-based services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (State of the States in Developmental Disabilities, 2005).
• Services for people with ID/DD are not mandated after the age of 22.
• On January 13 2007, Virginia's Office on Mental Retardation reported there were 3,497 individuals with intellectual disabilities on the waiting list for the Mental Retardation (MR) Waiver. 1,751 people on this waiting list (more than 50%) are identified as having an urgent need. The waiting list for the MR Waiver is estimated to be increasing at a rate of one person per day.
• There are over 800 people on the waiting list for the Developmental Disabilities Waiver.
• Due to inflation and cost of living/doing business, a Medicaid MR Waiver is estimated to be worth 50% less now in Northern Virginia since it was first created in 1991. This affects the quality and quantity of services available to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in our region.
• A Medicaid MR Waiver is estimated to be worth 50% less now in Northern Virginia since it was first created in 1991. This affects the quality and quantity of services available in our region.
• Due to several group home closures and providers' inability to expand services, many people have had to move out of the Northern Virginia region over the past five years to other parts of the Commonwealth so they could obtain the services they need. This forces individuals with disabilities to leave behind friends, family, and the communities they know. Community-based funding does not mean just ANY community... it means YOUR community!

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