Legislative Mandates of the Georgia Advocacy Office
The Georgia Advocacy Office is a private, non-profit organization that protects
and advocates for the human, civil, and legal rights of Georgians with all types
of disabilities. We have been doing this work in Georgia since 1977.
Although we are a private, non-profit organization, we are mandated to exist
by federal legislation, we receive federal funding that comes with that mandate,
and we are designated by the Governor to protect and advocate for individuals
with disabilities. The Georgia Advocacy Office has five different programs,
each begun when a different piece of federal legislation was passed. Each of
the programs uses a combination of staff advocacy and legal advocacy to protect
and advocate for the rights of Georgians with disabilities. We also focus on
community building and the training of self advocates to widen the network of
support that is available in Georgia for people with disabilities and those
that care about them.
The Georgia Advocacy Office was founded in 1977 when Congress passed the Protection
and Advocacy for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Act. The DD Act
said that each state would have a protection and advocacy agency for people
with developmental disabilities. That is, people who become disabled before
the age of 22, whose disability is likely to last their entire life, and whose
disability affects at least three major life activities such as mobility, learning,
ability to feed and dress oneself, decision making skills, ability to live alone,
and other such things. Each state sent out a request for proposals and had their
own selection process, but in the end, each Governor selected one group, in
Georgia’s case the Georgia Advocacy Office, to designate as the Protection
and Advocacy agency for individuals with developmental disabilities and to receive
those federal funds.
Since 1977 we have been serving Georgians with developmental disabilities by
working with them to secure free, inclusive, and appropriate educational placements;
safe community living arrangements; and to address most any other situation
that is related to discrimination based on their disability. One of our goals
is to help people become stronger self-advocates and stronger community advocates.
Once we help a person through a situation, we like to see them able to help
themselves and their neighbors through the next situation, with our backup.
Then in 1986, Congress passed the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with
Mental Illness Act which extended our services to individuals labeled as mentally
ill and being held in the state psychiatric hospitals. We concentrate our efforts
there on issues of abuse and neglect, and also work hard to reconnect people
to their home communities so that when they are released from the hospital to
the community they have some support in the community to help them remain out
of the hospital.
In 1994 two pieces of legislation were passed. The Protection and Advocacy for
Individual Rights Act covers all of the people who were not covered by the Protection
and Advocacy for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Act or the Protection
and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act. It covers people who became
disabled after the age of 22, people who have a severe disability that is temporary
in nature, and people whose disability began in childhood, but is less severe.
This program addresses any issue of discrimination that is directly related
to the fact that a person has a disability, such as free, inclusive, appropriate
educational placements; community living options; guardianship issues; and physical
accessibility issues.
The other program that began in 1994 is Protection and Advocacy for Assistive
Technology. This program focuses exclusively on helping people obtain payment
for assistive technology devices. Assistive technology can range from something
as simple as velcro on a stick to help a person pick up things, to something
as complex as a communication board. Often there is a question over whether
or not something is necessary for school, for work, or if it is medically necessary.
Often a device is a combination of things and funding can be worked out from
a variety of sources. Our office tries to work out the best solution for the
person with the disability so that they can get the technology they need.
Our newest program began in 2001. It is Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries
of Social Security and is designed to help people figure out how they can work
and earn income without losing their benefits. This program serves Georgians
with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 65 who are receiving Social Security
benefits.