Beliefs, Shifts, Milestones, Questions…

Beliefs:

• Work in the community, live in the community, be a part of the community, contribute to community.
• Resist the temptation as a human service agency to be the employer, the landlord, or the sole supporters of people with disabilities. It is a formula for disaster.
• Act as an aid to community integration, not as a barrier to it.
• Change one person at a time.
• Abandon the notions of “readiness”, the continuum of services, and that people need “fixing”.
• Assure there are no double standards (services should reflect what you’d want and need).
• Scrap groups, programs, and buildings. It only works for individuals with supports in the community.
• Invest in “values training”. It is the most important investment you can make.
• Reinforce (or establish) participatory management.
• Listen to the gurus.
• Talk about your dreams, set your sights high.
• Work in a state of discontent. Know there are always better ways.

Shifts:

• Business as usual ? Make the vision work
• Sheltered Work ? Real Jobs
• Artificial training in artificial environments ? Real skill acquisition in real environments (home and community)
• Programs for groups ? Supports for individuals
• Training Curriculum ? Consumer Choice and Person Centered Services
• Foster, group, boarding, ICF’s, anything agency owned ? The person’s own home
• Wait until “they” fix the funding, find more money, etc. ? Do what’s right and figure out the money later

Milestones:

• One staff person experienced PASS Training [intensive values training] (1979)
• All agency staff went to conference featuring Lou Brown [more values training] (1984)
• Began finding people jobs in the community (1986)
• Moved “day program” from residential area to “downtown” location; closed sheltered workshop (1987)
• Abolished all sheltered work (1989)
• Served first person in supported living (1989)
• Restructured center-based services to include home-based instruction and evening hours (1992)
• Proved that even people with the most challenging disabilities can live in their own homes (1992)
• Changed job descriptions to reflect “connecting role” for direct service staff (1994)
• Achieved final phase-out of center-based day hab services (1996)

Questions:

• Why do people with disabilities go to day programs?
• Why do people have to leave their homes during the day? Is that really home?
• What do you look for in staff? People who are already connected to the community?
• Who else in the community can/should do what you do?
• Who (what people) can you begin with?
• How can families help?
• Where are there opportunities to implement the vision?
• If it was your life, what would you want?