Every Center for Independent Living offers five core services, and one of them is advocacy. The Dayle McIntosh Center (DMC) provides advocacy in two ways:
Individual Advocacy: This type of advocacy is for people with disabilities and older adults who have issues that are unique to them. It involves the department associated with the particular issue providing support. For example, if a person needs a mobility aid and their health insurance denies coverage for it, our Assistive Technology department can help advocate for the device to be covered.
Systems Advocacy: This form of advocacy focuses on the larger disability and aging community of Orange County. It aims to identify patterns of inaccessibility and inequity and works directly with systems to address these issues or find long-term solutions. For instance, our Systems Change Advocate may work on improving legal accountability for cases where airlines lose or damage mobility devices.
To learn more about these different types of advocacy, please visit the Individual and Systems Change Advocacy pages.
