Individual Advocacy

"A community where everyone, regardless of background or disability, feels welcome, included and supported"

Through our Individual Advocacy, we promote and protect the rights of people from a non-English speaking background with disability and their family and carers in NSW.

"To advocate," means to promote, protect and secure a person's rights. The Individual Advocates at MDAA will help you to make sure that your rights are recognised and respected. An advocate will "stand beside" you and support you so you can make your own decisions and get what you need. We help people to stand up for their rights, for example, when people have problems with housing, immigration, school, work and disability services.

Are you a person from a NESB with a disability or a family member and you live in NSW and you want to:

• Be free from abuse, neglect or discrimination?
• Be treated fairly at work, home, within your community, or by your service provider?
• Have your issues heard and acted upon?
• Know more about your rights and responsibilities as a person with a disability or as a family member or carer?
• Make your own decisions?
• Know more about the services that are available to you?

When you contact MDAA, an Individual Advocate will ask you questions about your issues and the support you need and will listen to your answers. If you need an interpreter the Individual Advocate will arrange one. You and your Individual Advocate will make a plan together about what to do.

If you have any more questions please read our MDAA Consumer Information Kit
440 KB download as a word document or
605 KB download as a pdf document

If you live in Bega, Griffith, Newcastle or Wollongong you can contact our regional advocates
please click here for contact information.

If you want to visit our Harris Park office, please call beforehand to make an appointment.
To contact us click here or click here for a map to assist you to find our office.

Share With Us consumer newsletter - to read the latest newsletter click here

Every year we advocate for over 400 people from different cultural backgrounds with different disabilities living in different areas of NSW.

To read some of the stories of individual advocacy - click here.

If you do not speak English we can arrange an interpreter.