John Murphy works at Disability Rights Nebraska, which provides consultation, training, and technical assistance to the boards and coordinators of the five independent Citizen Advocacy offices in Nebraska. Citizen Advocacy is a form of advocacy that was created by Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger. The world’s first Citizen Advocacy program was started in Lincoln in 1970. Citizen advocacy is a relationship-based form of advocacy and protection that builds long lasting relationships between ordinary citizens, who are unpaid and independent of the human service system, and people with an intellectual or developmental disability. Citizen advocates are asked to make a commitment to representing their partner's rights and interests as if they were their own. A citizen advocate may assume one or more advocacy roles, some of which may last for life. The role of the Citizen Advocacy program is to make the introduction and then support the citizen advocate in the relationship.
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