Citizen Advocacy Organisations - Sources of Confusion and Misunderstanding

Sources of Confusion and Misunderstanding

There are several key sources of misunderstanding and confusion complicating the work of Citizen Advocacy organisations.

The first occurs when the founding ideas of this work are misunderstood. In particular, some people believe (incorrectly) that Citizen Advocacy organisations are based on the idea of value 'flowing' from a 'valued' person to a 'devalued' person (as if value was connected to the person rather than being a judgement from outside).

A second, somewhat similar, confusion is caused by people misunderstanding what is implied by 'valued'. For instance it is sometimes said that Citizen Advocacy organisations believe that a valued person needs be white, with money, heterosexual and so on. John O'Brien directly contradicts this in the introduction to 'Learning from Citizen Advocacy Programs' when he writes:

"A 'valued person' is someone who is richly connected to the networks of people and associations that make up community life... CA experience shows that people are rich in these valuable capacities regardless of social class, race, sex, and level of formal education."

A third misunderstanding arises from the name 'Citizen Advocacy' since the word 'advocacy' has broad uses. In the UK it is strongly associated with the legal task of representing a person in a court, even more so in Scotland. The task of an 'advocate' is understood to be one of representing (or supporting) a person so as to ensure that their point of view is heard or their rights upheld. This causes particular confusion because 'advocating' in this way is a common action that the 'valued' person may undertake.

A fourth misunderstanding arises from the common use of the phrase "one to one relationship" in Citizen Advocacy circles. This was originally used to explain that the 'valued' person and 'devalued' person were being introduced personally, not in a (one to many) volunteer to client relationship. In fact, it is hoped that initial introductions by Citizen Advocacy organisations will lead to the 'devalued' and excluded person being re-included and reconnected (i.e. to many people).