What is Listen Up! ?

Listen Up! is a citizen advocacy scheme, run by the Quality Action Group in Stirling.

Listen Up! works with adults with a learning    disability who live in the Stirling Council area, or who are living in Royal Scottish National Hospital, Larbert but are moving  to Stirling as part of the planned hospital closure.
Listen Up! aims to promote the empowerment, inclusion and protection of adults with a learning disability. This is done through recruiting, training and supporting ordinary, valued members of the community to become citizen advocates. That is, to get to know and understand a more vulnerable member of their community, so that they can represent the interests of that person.

What is citizen advocacy?

Citizen advocacy is an attempt to respond to the social injustice and exclusion from society of people with a learning disability. It seeks to do this by aligning valued members of the community with those who are more vulnerable to give them a voice and to safeguard their interests.
 

• Citizen advocacy relationships are one to one, to ensure the advocate’s time and energy are focused on their partner alone.
• Citizen advocates are independent, from agencies that provide services to their partner and their partner’s family.
• Citizen advocates are independent from Listen Up!. They are recruited, trained and supported by Listen Up!, but are accountable only to their partner.
• Citizen Advocates are encouraged to develop long term relationships with their partner, which will develop and change over time.
• Citizen advocates are expected to have complete loyalty to their partners. This principle should be the key to all the advocate’s actions.
• Citizen advocacy relationships should be freely given and focused on what the benefits of the relationship will be to the partner.

What does a citizen advocate do?

A citizen advocate would be introduced to someone with a learning disability. They would become partners.  A citizen advocate would spend time with their partner, listening to them and getting to know them, learning about what they want and what they need.
They could do a number of things:

• They could support their partner to make a difficult decision.
• They could speak on their partner’s behalf at a meeting.
• They could support their partner to become more independent and speak up for him/herself.
• They could do things together that they both enjoy.

Can You Help?

Listen Up! is looking to recruit a broad range of people who live in the Stirling area to become citizen advocates. You do not need any experience, as training is given. We are looking for people from all walks of life who:

• Want to make a difference
• Are willing to learn new skills
• Are good listeners
• Are willing to speak up on behalf of someone else
• Believe we all have the right to the same opportunities in life regardless of our abilities

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