Advocacy, Self Advocacy and Autism Ranking:

Risks and Safety

Hazards

There are no hazards in providing advocacy to autistic people but there are some significant difficulties and barriers. For example,

According to Saeki and Powell (2008) many autistic people "have communication difficulties, and may - unintentionally - misrepresent their support needs".

Autistic people may also find social interaction difficult, particularly with people that they do not know. This may make advocacy particularly stressful for autistic people.

According to Boshoff et al (2016), parents reported “... barriers to advocating for their children (such as being from a lower socioeconomic background, as well as from a different cultural background as the service provider, and being less articulate)”. 

According to Waltz et al (2015), it is important to understand that there are tensions between the advocacy provided by some organisations and the wishes of some autistic self-advocates. They note, for example, that some organisations may use advocacy as a way of achieving their own objectives, as opposed to meeting the needs of the people they are supposed to be advocating for.

“The form and language of autism self-advocacy may also be adopted by service providers and  governments, at the same time as these constrain what can be said, who can say it and, most importantly, whether and when self-advocates can exert power. Self-advocacy can also be co-opted as a way to further institutional objectives”.

Contraindications

There are no known contraindications (something which makes a particular treatment or procedure potentially inadvisable) for advocacy and self-advocacy. 

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Aug 2017

Next Review

01 Nov 2023