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What Peer Advocacy Means to Me
By David Rissling Venit, ADAP Peer Support Specialist
What does peer advocacy mean to you?
Being a peer advocate or peer specialist does not mean advocating for someone else. It is the job of the peer advocate to help individuals make informed decisions, which, in turn, will guide them in taking the actions they need to ensure they can live a productive and independent life. All of us, regardless of ability or disability, should strive to live a meaningful life.
How have you been helped by peers over the years?
I myself have probably received informal help from peers through my training with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), through at least two of their training centers. Most of it had to do with cane travel and independent living. When I was at both Blind Industries in Maryland and the Colorado Center for the Blind for one summer each, many of the teachers and counselors were blind, especially the apartment counselors. This was actually the best way to learn, through the experience of others who face and have faced many of the same challenges as the trainee. For this reason, I am glad that I’ve gotten the opportunity to be a peer specialist. I now will be working with people who have faced and are facing the same obstacles that I’ve experienced.
What are the dos and donts you keep in mind as a peer advocate?
I know that a peer specialist is a guide and mentor, not a do-it-for-me person. In other words, I am giving clients who come before me the tools to do things for themselves. The same can be said about speaking for others. As peer specialists, we don’t speak for our clients, we give them the information they need to call and speak up and say, “Hey, this is wrong.”
You sound super confident!
I don’t pretend to know all the answers; I honestly don’t. For this reason, I was quite nervous when I first started this position, and I’m still a bit nervous. But I know that if I do not have the answers to any questions, I can ask and also do research on my own.
As they say, we learn something new every day. I am still learning, and the staff here is learning a lot about me, what I need, how I do things independently, etc. Though I am still a little nervous, I am so honored that I have been chosen to help fellow individuals with disabilities learn to live the lives they want.