October Blog Post

The Key of Advocacy

Personally, I believe one of the most key concepts learned and dissected this month was the idea of advocacy. Advocacy serves as a means of recognition and acknowledgment for a specific cause. However, the avenues of advocacy spread deep. The waves of advocacy is represented through: reflexivity, the acknowledgment of the roles played; dialogue, respecting what a person has to say; critical literacy, digesting what is beyond an image, tale, gesture, etc.; listening, central line of communication; speaking up, standing up for a cause and saying something; alliance building, baning with others to stand behind a cause (“Chapter 12”). Though there are distinct avenues, the waves of advocacy tend to work together.

I have recently learned about how crucial advocacy can be to a culture as a whole. This semester has been my first opportunity to take an American Sign Language, ASL, course. Throughout this course, ASL history serves as a primary section of the curriculum. Embedded in the ASL history, is a long line of oppression and mistreatment. It was not until recently that the deaf culture was able to have their needs heard and accounted for. It was through a main combination of advocacy through dialogue, advocacy through listening, and advocacy through speaking up, that the oppression was recognized. Through this dynamic trio and the assistance of many other things and people, the mistreatment of deaf people has begun being brought to light.

The concept of advocacy is key to many things, for many reasons. Advocacy allows for people and things to be heard and stood up for. The avenues of advocacy are important to know of by all, so when the time is comes, everyone will have the tools to advocate.

Works Cited

“Chapter 12: Communication as a Means of Social Action.” Communication: A Critical/Cultural fgffIntroduction, by John T. Warren and Deanna L. Fassett, Second ed., Sage, 2015, pp. 245–249.