The Georgia Advocacy Office

The Georgia Advocacy Office, Inc. (GAO) is a private non-profit corporation, who's mission is to work with, and for oppressed and vulnerable individuals in Georgia who are labeled as disabled or mentally ill to secure their protection and advocacy. GAO is federally funded, and has been designated by Georgia as the Congressionally-mandated agency to implement Protection and Advocacy of individuals with disabilities throughout the state GAO has seven different programs, each rooted in a different piece of federal legislation. Every program uses a combination of self-advocacy supports, citizen involvement, staff advocacy, and legal advocacy to protect and advocate for the rights of Georgians with disabilities. We also focus on community building and partnering with self-advocates and community associates to widen the support network available in Georgia for people with disabilities and those who care about them. GAO supports Citizen Advocacy, an additional strategy to protect and advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities in Georgia. Citizen advocacy happens when a valued citizen, unpaid and independent of human services, creates an intentional relationship with a person who is at increased risk of abuse, neglect and social exclusion. The citizen advocate learns to understand, respond to, and represent the partner’s interests as if they were the advocate’s own. This allows the gifts and concerns of the person with the disability to be brought forth into the circles of ordinary community life. We believe relationships with people who are loyal and free from conflict of interest are what make all people safer. It also helps create a space for our communities to be enriched by all of its members.