
Promoting Fairer Health and Wellbeing in Scotland: Advocacy, Education, Empowerment, and Stakeholder Partnership
VoiceAbility is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting human rights by providing free, independent advocacy to individuals across the UK. We believe in working alongside people to amplify their voices and assist them in pursuing their aspirations. Our advocates empower individuals by equipping them with the knowledge and skills to ensure their voices are not only heard but actively listened to by the people who need to hear them.
Last year, Alex, the Team Leader for Edinburgh, Lothians, and the Borders area, invited Yasmin, an Advocate in Edinburgh, to the VHS conference. There, we learned about the power of poster displays. With her design background, Yasmin was eager to get involved. With support from Alex, our Policy Lead, Julia, and Jo and Nick from our Communications department, she designed a poster providing an overview of VoiceAbility and how our work addresses health inequalities in Scotland.
Individual work with our advocacy partners
Our advocates support their advocacy partners to be heard and address specific issues.
We are commissioned by the Scottish Government to provide statutory independent advocacy under Section 10 of the Social Security Scotland Act 2018. We are also funded by local authorities to delivery independent advocacy in other contexts.
Our services in Scotland include Social Security Scotland Advocacy (Nationwide), Adult Unpaid Carers Advocacy (Edinburgh), Adults and Older People Advocacy (Shetland, Moray, North Ayrshire, and Fife), and Children Advocacy (Fife).
“I’m lucky, I wasn’t on my own” – Adult Disability Payment Claimant
“You have moved mountains in two short weeks that others had been unable to do over months. I cannot thank you enough for this. I cannot believe it is actually going to happen. Thank you so very, very much.” – Adult Unpaid Carer.
“It’s taken me 53 years to get benefits support, which I should have had from birth. I cannot thank VoiceAbility enough for what they’ve done for me and my son.” – Adult and Child Disability Payment Claimant.
Partnership working
Our advocates build relationships with local services to learn about the support available to people and help them access the assistance they need. We also hold community drop-ins in places such as local libraries or community centres, making it convenient for people to access an experienced advocate.
“For us, working with VoiceAbility is worth its weight in gold. If you meet a patient who you think might be entitled to adult disability payment or any other benefits, you have that service there to help people complete the forms.” – Other service provider working with VoiceAbility.
Education
We offer a complimentary 5-day course in high schools, where our advocates and volunteers visit and educate students about their human rights and the importance of advocacy. This empowers the younger generation with essential knowledge about their rights and how to provide mutual support to one another.
“I enjoyed learning about advocacy as my future job to involve support to those who need it” – Student feedback.
Self-advocacy resources
We have developed a guide to help people navigate the Scottish benefits system. Our toolkit shares key information to support people to be involved in processes that affect them. It also includes contact details for requesting an advocate if needed.
Group Advocacy
We organise and facilitate group discussions to bring together individuals with shared perspectives and experiences to collaborate on addressing common issues. By amplifying their collective voices, these sessions aim to draw attention to important issues, share knowledge, and create opportunities for people to advocate for positive social change. We feed back the key points from these meetings to the Scottish Government or relevant local authorities.
“I wish to thank you for arranging for the [group advocacy] meeting.
I attended to it in person and found it very insightful.” – Group advocacy participant.
Volunteering
We also offer volunteering opportunities to provide individuals with the chance to contribute their lived experiences to support and guide those who are currently undergoing similar journeys, offering them valuable insights. We also recruit individuals with firsthand knowledge and experience to share their expertise with others.
“There are really amazing charities doing all this great work in the local community that I live in, but I would never have known about it if it wasn’t for VoiceAbility.” – VoiceAbility Volunteer.
Summary
We believe that our service helps people in Scotland know more about their rights, to feel empowered to challenge health inequities and to be heard by those who need to hear them.
For more information on VoiceAbility and our services, please visit our website VoiceAbility | In Scotland or VoiceAbility Scotland | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree.
Alex Adair is the Team Leader and Yasmin Ali is an Advocate at VoiceAbility