ADVOCACY, INC. MISSION
To advocate for, protect and advance the legal, human and service rights of people with disabilities.
PRIORITIES:
- Community Integration
- Protection & Civil Rights
- Health Care
- Housing, Employment, Access, Transportation (HEAT)
- Education
GOALS:
- To represent people with disabilities to secure their human, legal and service rights in accordance with A.I.'s federal mandate.
- To assist people with disabilities in advocating for their human, legal and service rights.
- To establish and expand rights and services for people with disabilities.
- To inform all individuals of the rights of people with disabilities and to inform and refer individuals to programs and services.
MAJOR PROGRAM AREAS:
Advocacy, Inc. is the federally funded and authorized protection and advocacy system for Texans with disabilities. The following programs provide funding and structure for AI's work in all priority areas:
- Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PADD): Protection and advocacy for persons with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.
- Client Assistance Program (CAP): Assists people with disabilities in getting information about and accessing services from state vocational rehabilitation agencies.
- Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act (PAIMI): Provides protection and advocacy for persons with mental illness.
- Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights (PAIR): Serves people with disabilities who are not eligible for services under the PADD, PAIMI, or the CAP programs.
- Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology (PAAT): Focuses on consumer access to assistive technology including augmentative communication devices, wheelchairs, environmental control systems, computer software and hardware.
- Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS): Provides information, advocacy and other support to Social Security disability beneficiaries who want to enter or return to the work force.
- Help America Vote Act (HAVA): Educates the public, election officials and others about people with disabilities' right to vote and advocates for voters who encounter obstacles at the polls.
- Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (PATBI): Addresses the advocacy needs of the growing population of persons with traumatic brain injuries.
- In conjunction with the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation, AI carries out three programs including Interest Earned on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA), Basic Civil Legal Services (BCLS) and Crime Victims Civil Legal Services (CVCLS). With IOLTA and BCLS dollars, AI serves people whose income is at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level, who are eligible for services from the PADD, PAIMI, PAIR or CAP programs. CVCLS funds support legal services to children under the conservatorship of the state protective and regulatory agency.
- Texas Community Integration Collaborative (TCIC): Assists people with disabilities of all ages to move from state schools, ICF-MR facilities and nursing home. TCIC offers training and technical assistance to help people with disabilities understand their choices and options about where to live, plan for their futures and identify and develop resources to support their new lives in the community. The Collaborative also provides training and technical assistance to family members, facility staff, community service and support providers and others. Advocacy Inc., the Center for Disability Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities are the major partners in the collaborative.