Advocacy organisations: Find an advocate
Our organisation does not provide any support with individual advocacy but you may wish to find an advocate by contacting one of the organisations listed below.
Another useful tool for locating the organisations or branches closest to you (or that provide statewide services) is the ‘Ask Izzy’ Disability Advocacy Finder.
You can also call the Australian Government Disability Gateway on 1800 643 787 and ask to be connected with an advocacy organisation.
First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) also provides a searchable map of disability advocacy organisations, and some information about independent disability advocacy from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective: Let’s have a yarn about advocacy – FPDN
ACT
Northern Territory
- Darwin Community Legal Service
- Disability Advocacy Service
- Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council
NSW
- Action for People with Disability
- Australian Centre for Disability Law
- Council for Intellectual Disability (CID)
- Disability Advocacy NSW
- Disability Aged Information Service (DAISI)
- Family Advocacy
- IDEAS
- Illawarra Advocacy
- Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS)
- Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW (MDAA) (Facebook and Twitter)
- Newell Advocacy
- People with Disability Australia
- Penrith Disabilities Resource Centre
- Physical Disability Council of NSW
- Self Advocacy Sydney
- Side By Side Advocacy
- Spinal Cord Injuries Australia Advocacy including Northern Rivers
- Sydney Regional Aboriginal Corporation (SRAC) Indigenous Disability Advocacy Service (IDAS)
- Synapse (formerly Brain Injury Association of NSW)
Queensland
- Aged and Disability Advocacy Australia (ADA Australia)
- Amparo Advocacy Inc
- Capricorn Citizen Advocacy
- Independent Advocacy North Queensland
- Mackay Advocacy Inc
- People with Disability Australia
- Queensland Advocacy Inc
- Rights in Action
- Speaking Up For You
- Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy
- TASC – Qld Social Justice Centre
South Australia
- Citizen Advocacy South Australia
- Disability Advocacy & Complaints Service of South Australia
- Disability Rights Advocacy Service Inc
- Advocacy for Disability Access and Inclusion
- Independent Advocacy SA
- Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council
Tasmania
- Advocacy Tasmania
- Association for Children with Disability (Tas)
- Citizen Advocacy Launceston
- Speak Out Association of Tasmania
Victoria
- Action for More Independence and Dignity in Accommodation
- Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities Inc
- Association for Children with a Disability (VIC) Inc
- Association of Employees with Disability Inc (AED Legal)
- Barwon Disability Resource Council Inc (Assert 4 All)
- Blind Citizens Australia
- Citizen Advocacy Sunbury & Districts Inc
- Colac Otway Region Advocacy Service
- Communication Rights Australia
- Regional Disability Advocacy Service (RDAS)
- Disability Justice Australia (DJA)
- Disability Resources Centre Inc (DRC)
- Gippsland Disability Advocacy Inc
- Grampians Disability Advocacy Association
- Leadership Plus
- Melbourne East Disability Advocacy (MEDA)
- North – East Citizen Advocacy (NECA)
- Rights Information and Advocacy Centre Inc (RIAC)
- Southern Disability Advocacy
- Southwest Advocacy Association
- Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability Inc. (VALID)
- Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)
- Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service
- Youth Disability Advocacy Service
Western Australia
- Advocacy WA
- Citizen Advocacy Perth West
- Developmental Disability WA
- Explorability
- Individual Disability Advocacy Service (IDAS) (Sussex Street Community Law Services and Uniting West)
- Kin Advocacy (formerly Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre)
- Midland Information Debt & Legal Advocacy Service (MIDLAS)
- Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council
- People with Disabilities WA
- Personal Advocacy Service
- Synapse – Australia’s Brain Injury Organisation (formerly HeadWest, Brain Injury Assoc of WA)
Advocacy is speaking, acting or writing with minimal conflict of interest on behalf of the interests of a disadvantaged person or group, in order to promote, protect and defend the welfare of and justice for either the person or group.
Approaches to disability advocacy can be categorised into six broad models:
- Citizen advocacy: matches people with disability with volunteers.
- Family advocacy: helps parents and family members advocate on behalf of the person with disability for a particular issue.
- Individual advocacy: upholds the rights of individual people with disability by working on discrimination, abuse and neglect.
- Legal advocacy: upholds the rights and interests of individual people with disability by addressing the legal aspects of discrimination, abuse and neglect.
- Self-advocacy: supports people with disability to advocate for themselves, or as a group.
- Systemic advocacy: seeks to remove barriers and address discrimination to ensure the rights of people with disability.
Visit the What is advocacy? page to find out more.