Tools and information to help you find advocacy services in your state or territory
DANA does not provide direct support with individual advocacy. Our organisation works alongside Australian state and territory advocacy networks and the peak organisations for people with disabilities, meaning that we can provide you with contact details for advocacy organisations around Australia. There are also online tools available you can use to search.
Individual Advocacy Services
The following organisations provide support with individual advocacy and may be able to assist you depending on your location and the services required. You may wish to make an inquiry about individual advocacy by contacting one of the organisations by using the details listed on their website.
Use our Quick Link guide below to search by state or territory.
New South Wales
- ACT Disability Aged and Carer Advocacy Service (ADACAS)
- Action for People with Disability
- Australian Centre for Disability Law (ACDL)
- Disability Advocacy (DA) NSW
- Down Syndrome NSW
- Family Advocacy
- Illawarra Advocacy
- Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS)
- Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW (MDAA)
- Newell Advocacy
- People with Disability Australia (PWDA)
- Regional Disability Advocacy Service (RDAS)
- Rights Information and Advocacy Centre Inc (RIAC)
- Self Advocacy Sydney
- Side By Side Advocacy
- Spinal Cord Injuries Australia Advocacy (SCIA)
- Sydney Regional Aboriginal Corporation (SRAC) Indigenous Disability Advocacy Service (IDAS)
- Synapse (formerly Brain Injury Association of NSW)
Queensland
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Disability Network of Queensland
- Aged and Disability Advocacy Australia (ADA Australia)
- Amparo Advocacy Inc
- Independent Advocacy North Queensland (IANQ)
- Mackay Advocacy Inc
- Newell Advocacy
- People with Disability Australia (PWDA)
- Queensland Advocacy Inc (QAI)
- Rights in Action
- Speaking Up For You (SUFY)
- TASC – Qld Social Justice Centre
- Capricorn Citizen Advocacy
Victoria
- Action for More Independence and Dignity in Accommodation (AMIDA)
- Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities (ADEC)
- Association of Employees with Disability (AED Legal)
- Barwon Disability Resource Council (Assert 4 All)
- Blind Citizens Australia (BCA)
- Colac Otway Region Advocacy Service (CORAS)
- Regional Disability Advocacy Service (RDAS)
- Disability Justice Australia (DJA)
- Disability Resources Centre Inc (DRC)
- Gippsland Disability Advocacy Inc
- Grampians Disability Advocacy Association
- Leadership Plus
- Melbourne East Disability Advocacy (MEDA)
- North – East Citizen Advocacy (NECA)
- Regional Disability Advocacy Service (RDAS)
- Rights Information and Advocacy Centre Inc (RIAC)
- Southern Disability Advocacy
- Southwest Advocacy Association
- Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability Inc. (VALID)
- Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)
- Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service
- Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS)
Western Australia
- Advocacy WA
- Albany Community Legal Centre (ACLC)
- Developmental Disability WA
- Explorability
- Individual Disability Advocacy Service (IDAS) (Sussex Street Community Law Services)
- Kin Advocacy (formerly Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre)
- Midland Information Debt & Legal Advocacy Service (MIDLAS)
- Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council
- People with Disabilities WA (PWDWA)
- Uniting WA
- South Western Autism Network
Online Tools
Ask Izzy
Visit Ask Izzy – Disability Advocacy Finder online
Another useful tool for locating the organisations or branches closest to you (or that provide statewide services) is the ‘Ask Izzy’ Disability Advocacy Finder.
Disability Gateway
Contact the Disability Advocacy Support Helpline
To request disability advocacy support through the Helpline contact the Disability Gateway:
- Call 1800 643 787, Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, or
- Fill out the Contact Us Form.
Searchable Map
First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) have created a useful searchable map of disability advocacy organisations.
As well as information about independent disability advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: Let’s have a yarn about advocacy – FPDN
What is advocacy?
Advocacy is speaking, acting or writing with minimal conflict of interest on behalf of the interests of a disadvantaged person or group, in order to promote, protect and defend the welfare of and justice for either the person or group.
Visit the What is advocacy? page to find out more.
Other Advocacy Services
Systemic Advocacy
- Council for Intellectual Disability (CID)
- Physical Disability Council of NSW
- Association for Children with a Disability (VIC) Inc
(Many of the organisations listed in Individual Advocacy services above also engage in systemic advocacy)