Multicultural Disability Advocacy
Association of NSW Inc
PO Box 884, GRANVILLE NSW 2142
10-12 Hutchinson St, Granville
Telephone: (02) 9891 6400
Toll Free: 1800 629 072
National Relay Service: 133 677
Facsimile: (02) 9897 9402
E-mail: [email protected]
ABN: 60 737 946 674
Information Kit
for Individual
Advocacy
Consumers
October 2013
Revised June 2016
This Information Kit is to support you
in understanding MDAA better. If you
have any ideas on how to make things
better please contact us.
Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ......................................................................... 2
About MDAA ................................................................................ 3
Where are We? ............................................................................ 4
WHO is WHO at MDAA? .............................................................. 5
What do we mean by? ................................................................. 6
How will MDAA Support You? ...................................................... 7
Ways We Can Support You ......................................................... 8
As a Consumer of MDAA ............................................................. 10
Confidentiality ............................................................................... 11
Complaints and Feedback ........................................................... 12
Service Standards ........................................................................ 15
Attachments: ................................................................................ 17
 MDAA Brochure
 General Authority Form
 Individual Advocacy Action Plan
 Complaints/Feedback Form and the Process Guide
 Membership Form
 List of other Disability Advocacy Organisations and other
Complaints Handling Bodies
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
About MDAA
What is MDAA?
We are an Advocacy organisation. This means we
support you in getting your needs met.
Who does MDAA support?
We can support you if:
You have disability or you are a carer or a
family member of a person with disability
AND
You live in New South Wales
AND
You have difficulties in getting your needs met.
MDAA also focuses on people from a culturally and
linguistically diverse (CALD)/non-English speaking (NES)
background with at least one parent or grandparent born in a
country where the main language spoken is not English.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Where are We?
10-12 Hutchinson St Granville NSW 2142
PHONE:
(02) 9891 6400
TOLL FREE:
1800 629 072
FAX:
(02) 9897 9402
E-mail:
[email protected]
Website:
www.mdaa.org.au
Facebook:
Twitter:
www.facebook.com/MDAAofNSW
www.twitter.com/MDAA_NSW
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
WHO is WHO at MDAA?
Members:
Members are important to MDAA. As a member you get a
Newsletter every two months, regular updates on information
about current events, and you can have a say on how MDAA
works because you have the right to vote at general meetings.
Governance Committee
The Governance Committee is responsible
for MDAA. The members elect individual
members of the Governance Committee for a
two year period. If you are interested in being
on the Governance Committee talk to a staff
member and find out more about it.
Volunteers
MDAA uses the skills and experience of volunteers.
In return MDAA provides volunteers with an
environment which meets the learning/working
needs and skills of the volunteer.
Staff
MDAA employs a number of staff. They have
different jobs, but each of them will direct you to
the right person.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
What do we mean by?
Advocacy:
Advocate:
Active support for a person.Working together
with a person or a whole lot of people to get
their rights respected.
An MDAA worker who will ‘stand beside’ and
support you so you make your own decisions
and get your needs met.
Consumer:
You or any other person using a service, for
example, someone using MDAA services is
an MDAA consumer.
Carer:
A person who takes care of someone with a
disability. This can be a husband, wife,
partner, parent, son, daughter, relative or
good friend.
Disability:
A person who experiences barriers to
communicating, understanding, moving
around or participating in the community.
Non-English
Speaking
Background:
A person who is born or whose parents or
grandparents were born in a country where
the first language is not English.
Culturally and
Linguistically
Diverse
(CALD):
A person who was born into a culture
significantly different to the Australian
culture, for example refugees, asylum
seekers and migrants.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
How will MDAA Support You?
You can come to MDAA’s office or if that is not possible, an
advocate can come to you.
The advocate will ask you questions about the support you
need and will listen to your answers. If you need an interpreter
the advocate can arrange one or you can invite anyone you like
to the meeting to help you.
MDAA will provide you with a free interpreter if you have
difficulty understanding English. Sometimes the interpreter
may be in person or on the phone.
After that you and the advocate will plan together what to do.
This plan is called an Individual Advocacy Action Plan (IAAP).
This plan is your list of instructions for the Advocate of what you
want her/him to do. It also sets out what actions you have
agreed to take yourself.
Talk to your advocate if you want to change your IAAP at any
time.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Ways We Can Support You
We can support you:
 By listening to your situation and working with you to
understand your rights that are not being fulfilled.
 By giving you information about what services are
available in the community and where you can get help
 By talking to you about other services that might be helpful
for standing up for your rights and needs
 By supporting you to make choices and take action
What we CANNOT do;
 MDAA is not a legal service. MDAA workers cannot
provide legal advice or legal representation. Legal advice
means applying the law to your situation, assessing how
your situation might be treated by the law and using that
assessment to provide you with options
 Legal representation means taking responsibility for the
presentation of another person’s situation and how the law
applies to it in a Court or Tribunal.
 If you and your advocate agree that legal advice and/or
legal representation would be needed, MDAA can support
you to try and arrange this and work with you and the
lawyer together. Because MDAA is not a legal service we
must accept your lawyer’s advice.
 If an Advocate supports you to represent yourself you will
decide how the law applies to your situation and what you
want to communicate to a decision maker. The Advocate
can only support you to clearly communicate based on the
decisions you have made and to understand the process.
This may require the Advocate to write to the Court or
Tribunal ahead of time to explain their role.
 MDAA does not provide financial assistance. Taxi
vouchers are provided for certain MDAA events, to people
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
who are unable to travel to the venue independently, at
the discretion of the Executive Director.
 MDAA will not support you to take any action that is illegal
or goes against the values of the organisation. MDAA
respects the family and other important relationships of
people with disability however, the main aim is always the
best outcome for the person with disability.
 MDAA cannot guarantee that when the Individual
Advocacy Action Plan is complete you will have achieved
what you wanted. Once the Plan is complete, the
Advocate will talk to you about whether any other actions
could be taken to achieve your goal. If there are no other
actions which could be taken your file will be closed. It can
be reopened, but only if you come back to MDAA for
support about something different or if something has
changed about your situation.
We work with you by:
Writing a letter for you. Assisting you to
complete an application, review or
complaint form
Calling on your behalf
Supporting you to represent yourself
Sitting in a meeting with you and other
service providers
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
As a Consumer of MDAA
You have the right:
 To be listened to
 To be told about what is going on at MDAA
 To make your own decisions
 To have your information kept confidential
 To have a say about what MDAA does
 To become involved with MDAA
 To feel safe
 To make a complaint
You have the responsibility:
 To respect the rights of other people
 To work together with your advocate on your Individual
Advocacy Action Plan
 For any decisions you make
 For letting your advocate access information relevant to
the issue you want assistance with
 For making sure that MDAA has correct information by
which to contact you and responding to contact
 To come to meetings and appointments on time
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Confidentiality
All the information you give us about yourself and your
circumstances is kept confidential. This means we won’t tell
anyone anything about you that you don’t want us to:
1. The only things we ask about you will be important things,
so we can do the best advocacy job for you.
2. You can read any information we keep about you on your
file. Your file is in a locked cabinet. Your advocate, their
supervisor and any staff member as directed by
management are the only people from MDAA who can read
your file, unless you give us written permission to share it
with someone else.
3. The only other time we will discuss your information with
anyone without your permission is if:
 You are at risk; that means if you are in a situation where
you are in danger of losing your life.
 If there is a child involved and the child is at risk.
 If there is a risk that your actions could cause harm to
others.
4. If you are unable to tell us what you want and what we
should do (that is called informed consent), we will ask the
person that you nominate (i.e. guardian, carer, family or
friend) what we should do and to allow us to disclose
information if we need to.
5. If an interpreter is used, the name of the interpreter and the
agency the interpreter came from will be recorded.
To sum up, you have the right to:
 Know what information we keep about you.
 Ask for a copy of your file.
 Know who else has access to your file.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Complaints and Feedback
MDAA wants to run a good service for people
with disability and their families.
MDAA believes it is okay to complain and to give
feedback about the way we do things. This helps
MDAA to become a better service.
What can you complain about?
You can complain about anything you think MDAA or a staff
member of MDAA has done which you feel goes against the
Service Standards listed below.
Who can complain?
Anyone in contact with MDAA or an advocate of somebody who
is in contact with MDAA can complain.
Step 1: Who to complain to?
Below is a list of people you can contact. If possible, start at the
beginning of the list. You can have someone help you any time
you wish. (There is a list of other advocacy services in this
folder)
 If you feel comfortable, speak to the person directly
involved with your problem.
 If you do not want to do that, you can speak to the
person’s team leader and then if the complaint is not
resolved to your satisfaction you may then speak to the
Executive Director (ED).
 If you do not want to speak to the ED you can contact the
Chairperson of the Committee. Ring MDAA and they will
ask the Chairperson to contact you.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Step 2: How to complain?
Tell somebody at MDAA that you want to make a complaint:
 You can ring (02) 9891 6400.
 You can write a letter PO BOX 884, Granville, NSW 2142.
Write on the front of the envelope: “Confidential”
 You can email: [email protected]. Put the word
“Confidential” in the subject line of the email
 You can speak to somebody at the office.
How MDAA will respond?
The senior staff person will investigate the complaint or
feedback and talk with you about what action could fix the
problem. The senior staff will implement the agreed action and
let you know what has happened.
If your complaint is in writing:
 MDAA will write back to you within 21 days explaining
what you can do next. MDAA will also make a record of
your complaint by writing it in the complaints register.
If your complaint is in person or by phone:
 We will make a record of your complaint and explain to
you in detail what you can do next.
Step 3: What happens then?
If the conflict is sorted out between you and the staff person
concerned, no one else from MDAA needs to get involved, if
you feel happy with how your complaint has been dealt with.
If you get the ED involved, the complaint becomes a formal one
and will be registered in our complaints book. The ED will
respond within 21 days to your complaint.
The ED will talk with you about any support/assistance from
outside MDAA which could be available (such as an advocate).
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
If you are not happy with this, you can complain to the
Chairperson, who will try to resolve the complaint within 10
working days.
 If the complaint has not been resolved MDAA will give you
information on other ways you can try to resolve it. These
could include the Complaints Resolution and Referral
Service, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission, a Community Justice Centre, the NSW AntiDiscrimination Board. You can find a list of other disability
advocacy organisations and other complaints handling
bodies at the end of this Information Package.
What else you should know?
 You can stop the complaints process any time you like.
 You can ask MDAA to find you an independent advocate.
 Your complaint will be handled confidentially.
 MDAA will do our best to resolve the complaint within one
month of receiving it.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
Date Introduced: June 2001
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
Service Standards
At MDAA we work according to the National
Standards for Disability Services. These are rules
about how we should work.
1. Rights
The service promotes individual rights to
freedom of expression, selfdetermination and decision-making and
actively prevents abuse, harm, neglect
and violence.
2. Participation
and Inclusion
The service works with individuals and
families, friends and carers to promote
opportunities for meaningful participation
and active inclusion in society.
3. Individual
Outcomes
Services and supports are assessed,
planned, delivered and reviewed to build
on individual strengths and enable
individuals to reach their goals.
4. Feedback and Regular feedback is sought and used to
Complaints
inform individual and organisation-wide
service reviews and improvement.
5. Service
Access
The service manages access,
commencement and leaving a service in
a transparent, fair, equal and responsive
way.
6. Service
Management
The service has effective and
accountable service management and
leadership to maximise outcomes for
individuals.
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Authorised by: MDAA ED
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Information Package for Individual Advocacy Consumers
Current Version: June 2016
Review Date: June 2018
If you feel that MDAA is not meeting all these rules please tell
us so that we can make MDAA better.
You can either speak to one of our staff or write us a letter or
ask someone else to speak to us for you or join the information
forum and raise your issues.
We will take all your suggestions and/or complaints seriously
and act on them together with you.
If you would like to look at our rules in more detail please call
us and we would be happy to show you our policy manual and
answer any questions.
This Kit should be given to you when you first come to
MDAA.
It also includes:
 MDAA Brochure
 General Authority Form
 Individual Advocacy Action Plan
 Complaints/Feedback Form and the Process Guide
 Membership Form
 List of other Disability Advocacy Organisations and other
Complaints Handling Bodies
This Kit is to support you in understanding
MDAA better. If you have any ideas on how to make
things better please call us.
9891 6400 or
1800 629 072 or
133677 National Relay Service
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Date Introduced: June 2001
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