Articles of Interest About Quality Supports and Better Futures for People with Disabilities and their Families
Envisioning the Future of Supports for People with Disabilities, Nancy Weiss, Co-Director, National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities, University of Delaware
How do we articulate a vision for our work if we don’t know where trends will take us? This article discusses the author’s vision for a better future for people with disabilities and the supports we provide.
View Article: Envisioning the Future of Supports for People with Disabilities
You Can’t Give What You Don’t Get, Nancy Weiss, Co-Director, National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities, University of Delaware
Only when the people who work directly with people with disabilities are treated as valued, respected participants in work that society views as important, will they be able to give what they get on a consistent basis. This article discusses the need to treat staff with the same value and respect we would want them to convey to the people they support.
View Article: You Can’t Give What You Don’t Get
Living with the Questions: Notes from a Gathering of People Concerned with Supported Living, John O’Brien, Gail Jacob, & Connie Lyle O’Brien
Despite much talk about individualization, most people with developmental disabilities either live with their families or live in a place that belongs to someone else: a state service system, a nursing home operator, a residential service agency, or a family care provider. But a growing number of people with disabilities and their families have a better idea. These are notes from a discussion on supported living from some time ago - 1995, but the discussion is still very relevant.
It’s How You Look at Your Work the Makes the Difference, Direct Support Workers Consider the Meaning of their Jobs - John O’Brien and Staff from Creative Community Living Services
One aspect of the search for ways to build competence, continuity and commitment to positive values in the developmental disabilities services workforce involves building a deeper understanding of the ways direct service workers make their jobs meaningful and satisfying. This paper is based on discussions with direct support workers from the South Central Division of Creative Community Living Services, an agency that provides residential services in Wisconsin.
14,000 Islands: Navigating the Boundary with Community, David and Faye Wetherow
The vast majority of organized groups of parents, self-advocates, and citizen advocates have focused on developing skills and connections for dealing with the ‘system’ boundary. How had we all become so powerfully conditioned?
www.communityworks.info/articles/14000.htm
Microboards and Microboard Association Design, Development and Implementation, David and Faye Wetherow
This article reflects on traditional residential supports and also some of the vulnerabilities inherent in any ‘agency’ structure (including consumer cooperatives)