Fish Communications Ltd
British Sign Language Interpreting & Independent Advocacy
Independent Advocacy
We offer Independent Advocacy specifically for the Deaf Community. Our advocates are all fluent in BSL and are either Deaf themselves or qualified BSL Interpreters.
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Our aim is to support you to say what you want and to feel that you have been listened to.
Our advocates will:
Listen to you
We will listen to what you want and what you want to achieve. We will ensure that you are able to present your wishes to the people you need/ want to.
Give you information
We will work with you to provide you with information to help you decide what to do. We will ensure that the information is provided in a way that you can access and understand.
Help you understand your choices
We will support you to understand the different options you have and how decisions will affect and impact you.
Give you practical support
We will support you to write letters or attend meetings and we will encourage you to speak for yourself. Where this is not possible or you do not wish to, we will speak for you.
Our advocates will NOT:
Make decisions for you
We will provide you with information and ensure that you are aware of your rights but we cannot tell you what to do. Over time you will develop a good relationship with your advocate and this may make it easy to ask for help in making a decision. Whilst we will support you to make the decision we cannot decide what is best for you.
Give you advice
We will not advise you as to the best course of action. We will support you to understand the information we provide but we will not tell you what we think is best.
Speak for you unless you want us to
Our role is to support you to have your voice heard. We will not talk to other people or professionals about you and what you want unless you have given us permission to do so.
Judge you
We will support you to express your feelings and concerns; we will help you understand and explore your options but at no point will we ever judge you.