Systemic Advocacy
Systemic advocacy works to solve an issue that affects a large group of people with disability. The sorts of issues this advocacy addresses are often a problem with the system, meaning that a lot of people are experiencing the same problem.
Systemic Advocacy focuses on making a more inclusive community through changes to legislation, policies and practices that ensure the collective rights and interests of people with disability are served.
At Grampians disAbility Advocacy our systemic advocacy empowers people with a disability to:
- Bring about positive change in their local communities.
- Improve the policies and practices of disability service agencies, governments and other authorities.
- Increase control and influence over the decisions and choices affecting their lives.
- Influence public understanding and community attitudes to disability.
GdA works for systemic change by forming partnerships with other like-minded organisations, making submissions to government and engaging with the media to raise public awareness of issues.
Systemic Advocacy example
Several GdA members reported that disability access was severely lacking at Ballarat Railway Station and nothing was being done to make it better. In 2019 GdA supported five people with a disability to apply to the Human Rights List of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to make systemic change. As a result the Department of Transport is now designing improvements to make moving around the station better for people with a disability, parents of young children, the elderly and anyone carrying luggage.
