Sarah McNally is the part-time Advocacy Worker available through the Disability Project. The Advocacy Worker supports young people with disabilities and their families to identify their own areas of need, to develop a plan, and to put it into effect. This involves in-depth one-to-one work with individuals and mediation between young people, their families, and often the schools in order to address and resolve issues affecting their lives. The nature of presenting issues ranges from education to health, as well as general support and information.

What is Advocacy?

Advocacy is a process of empowering and supporting people. It is a way of enabling those who may have difficulty speaking up for themselves to do so. Advocacy is representing the view of a person and supporting them to exercise and secure their rights. Advocacy helps people to make informed choices. Advocacy is not about telling people what to do; it is about helping people to take control of their lives and enabling them to do positive things for themselves.

The Advocacy Worker's main role is:

• To support people with disabilities to identify their own areas of need, develop a plan to address these needs and support the individual in implementing this plan
• To provide in-depth one-to-one work with individuals
• Mediation work between young people, their families, and the education system - this is a key feature of Advocacy.
• To provide support and relevant information for people with disabilities, and their families.

Who does the Advocacy Worker support?

• The North Fingal ADD/ADHD parent & adult support group.
• The North Fingal Autism and Aspergers Support group.
• All people of any age with a disability, special needs, Autism, Aspergers, and ADD/ADHD, their parents, family and friends.