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.
As Orange County’s only Independent Living Center DMC and is a peer-based organization, we’re fortunate that every DMC staff member is an advocate. If someone needs support with an issue that specifically affects them as an individual, DMC is able to assist in supporting and advocating for a variety of individual issues one may face.
Systems Advocacy: DMC’s primary focus will be identifying ongoing and emerging issues that affect the disability community, older adults, and Veterans, and then developing strategies to promote meaningful change. 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.
The work DMC does is directed toward legislators, public officials, County and State departments, and other key decision-makers. She is also part of a statewide network of Systems Change Advocates and will be engaging in advocacy efforts at the local, state, and national levels.
DMC’s Systems Change Advocate, BreeAnna Adner wearing black suit smiling as she does ASL with her hands signing ‘advocacy’ in support of her work at DMC.
To learn more about these different types of advocacy, please visit the Individual and Systems Change Advocacy pages.
