Why Conduct Media Advocacy? (Parable of the Good Samaritan)

One day a Good Samaritan was walking along the river bank and heard a person crying out for help. She looked up and saw a person drowning in the rushing waters. So the Good Samaritan jumped in, swam to the victim, and pulled him to safety of the river bank. While she was swimming to shore, two more victims swept past her in the rushing waters toward certain drowning. On seeing a fourth person in the water, the Good Samaritan swam to the victim and was able to save him, but more victims swept past them. The Good Samaritan spent the rest of the afternoon and all of her energy saving some drowning victims, but losing many more to the rushing waters. In fact, she was so busy being a Good Samaritan that she never took the chance to walk upstream and see why all these people were falling into the river.

Why is this parable important to advocates for individuals and families with developmental disabilities? We want to keep these individuals and families from falling into the river and having to be saved. We want to help them remain in their homes and communities and stay as healthy, active, productive, and engaged as possible. We don’t want to have to “save” them later because they did not get the minimal support it would have taken to stay healthy and happy in their homes and communities.

Media advocacy can help to focus attention on these policy goals and keep them in the forefront of the public’s attention. It allows us to promote public debate and generate community support for changes in community norms and policies that will help individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Community attitudes and practices are shaped by the conversations that take place within families and among the social networks in our everyday lives. Public policies reflect community leaders’ understanding of those attitudes and practices. The news media play a powerful role in shaping those dialogues and policy decisions.

In other words, media advocacy doesn't tell people what to think; it tells them what to think about. If people are thinking about the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities to remain with their families, to enjoy self-determination, and to be healthy, productive, and engaged members of their communities, then we, as media advocates, have done our job.