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What is Advocacy?

Our parents are often our first advocates and our first advocacy role models

Advocacy is the action taken to promote the issues of a specific person or group, or, a social or political cause.  Back in 2017, Joe Fuld, writing for The Campaign Workshop, stated that there are various categories of advocacy.  Mr. Fuld related that advocacy could be:

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  1. Legal

  2. Health

  3. Community

  4. Political.

         This writer would add ...

  5. Educational, and

  6. Disability (1)

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An advocacy issue could fall into more than one

category.  For example; 

The Issue: people with Fibromyalgia deserve affordable, effective pain management.

 

Possible advocacy categories:  

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  • Health advocacy: many, if not most, people with FM are not receiving treatment or are undertreated for their pain. 

  • Community advocacy: many, if not most people with FM are members of the general community, and form a specific community referred to as the Fibromyalgia community and often need social services.

  • Legal and political advocacy: the main treatment protocol available to the FM community has been medication to curb the pain and this treatment vehicle is systematically being abolished by legislation. 

  • Educational advocacy: many healthcare providers have little to no knowledge of how to help their patients with Fibromyalgia and often refuse to take on Fibro patients.  Erik Robinson recently reported that "the average American medical student received less than 10 hours of education specifically about pain, compared with 80 hours of training for people studying to be veterinarians in Canada." (2)  Canadian Vets know more about pain than American Doctors of human beings?

  • Disability advocacy: Merriam-Webster defines disability as "a physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person's ability to engage in certain tasks or actions, or, participate in typical daily activities and interactions". (3)  Many people with Fibromyalgia find that they either have made lifestyle adjustments, adapted the way they perform, or, even eliminated activities of daily living due to their physical condition.  Yet many of those disabled by Fibromyalgia, especially those disabled by injury-related FM, have difficulty obtaining disability or workmen's compensation. 

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Advocacy can range from:

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  • Personal;  the goal of the action is to help oneself or another particular individual;

                                           to

  • Group or Public; in which the goal of the action is to help a particular group such as those with Fibromyalgia or even more specific such as people of color, men, or First Responders with Fibromyalgia

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Next:   Who is an Advocate?

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Endnotes:

(1) Fuld, Joe. "ADVOCACY DEFINED: WHAT IS ADVOCACY AND WHAT IS NOT?". The Campaign Workshop, 15 June 2017. 

(2) Robinson, Erik. "Educating the next generation of physicians amid the opioid crisis." Oregon Health & Science University [OHSU], 15 June 2019.

(3) Disability. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disability Accessed 12 November 2019

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