What Is An Advocate? What Does It Mean To Advocate?

"Become a great advocate for your child" and "learn to advocate" were phrases offered often by doctors, teachers, social workers, friends, and family when we first learned of our daughter's diagnosis. But what did they mean? Upon asking, I uncovered numerous interpretations.

And with my love for words, I wanted to know more.

I searched for the definition of advocate in the Merriam Webster, Oxford, and American Heritage dictionaries. There are similar definitions for advocate as a noun: one who speaks, pleads, or argues for a cause; a supporter or defender; one who supports or promotes the interest of another; a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy; and a lawyer or barrister. As a verb "to advocate" is defined as: to speak, plead, argue in favor of; publicly recommend or support; and speaking up for someone who can't speak up for themselves.

Next I wondered about the etymology of advocate and referred to the Online Etymology Dictionary: " mid-14c., one whose profession is to plead cases in a court of justice," a technical term from Roman law, from Old French avocat "barrister, advocate, spokesman," from Latin advocatus "one called to aid; a pleader, advocate," noun use of pp. of advocare "to call" (as witness or advisor) from ad- "to" + vocare "to call," related to vocem. Also in Middle English as "one who intercedes for another," and "protector, champion, patron. Feminine forms advocatess, advocatrice were in use in 15c."

My curiosity peaked when I read the synonyms listed by Merriam Webster: exponent, advocator, apostle, backer, booster, champion, expounder, espouser, friend, gospeler, herald, hierophant, high priest, paladin, promoter, proponent, protagonist, supporter, true believer, white knight. Some of these words have different meanings from the original use of the word.

I was beginning to understand why individual interpretations were numerous.

Then I googled "advocate" and found links to adoption, GLBT, human rights, children, family peace, mental health, women, self government, youth, and farm advocates. When I googled "special needs advocate" and "special education advocates" I came across paid positions that support children and families. When I googled "parent advocate, special needs," I found references to advocacy agencies. When I googled "parent advocate, special needs child" and "parent advocate, special needs medical," I found limited guidelines on how to advocate for your child. And when I googled "special needs teens, self advocate," I came across useful tips to help teens develop into advocates for themselves.

Not only in advocate's defintion, but there are also various interpretations in advocate's application.

It seems that advocate has experienced a semantic change, a shift in its meaning over time. A word's meaning can change over time, even drastically, based on how people use it. That means we can influence how advocate and other words are used. I have and will continue to use advocate to mean being a proponent and enthusiastic supporter for those whose voices aren't heard or who can't use their voices for themselves.

To take this one step further I am asking others to share their stories of being an advocate for another or to share how they have learned to become an advocate for themselves.

Allyson

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