sw 644: issues in developmental disabilities best practice: moving beyond the service system and...
TRANSCRIPT
SW 644: Issues in Developmental Disabilities
Best Practice: Moving Beyond the Service System and Expanding Normalization in and with Community
Lecture Presenter: Connie Lyle O’Brien, MSW
Call Fo
rth th
e Lig
ht in
C
om
mun
ity Life
ways to embody their contribution
Capacity Thinking
The art of discovering
what people can contribute to
community life
Contributing
Being Respected
Sharing Ordinary Places
Belonging
Choosing
Dimensions of Self-Determination
Ability & willingness to…
Power over
Power with
Power from within
…make decisions for others & enforce compliance
…listen to & be influenced by others’ perceptions & suggestions & offer perceptions & suggestions in return
…discover & creatively express abilities & concerns which are spiritually meaningful
3 kinds of Power
JUSTICE
Beyond individualism, toward community
• Focus on person
• Freedom from interference
• Abstracted from social circumstances
• Supports our common humanity
(sameness)
• Mutual responsibility to self & others
• Obligations arising from personal ties and connections
• Embedded in particular social circumstances
• Supports our unique individuality
(difference)
RELATIONSHIPS & CARINGINDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
Individual Rights
• Get people out of institutions, sheltered workshops, day hab
• Individual rights for those whose rights have been denied
• Demand for autonomy & self determination
• Seeing the necessity of asking people, “What do you want?”
• Result: Community services, mostly agency controlled & operated “home-like” placements or “job placements”
Relationships & Caring
• What are we getting people into?
• Responsibility to & for each other
• Search for interdependence
• Work toward shared visions of desirable futures held together by mutual, personal knowledge, love, commitment, celebration & grieving.
• Aiming for support to live in my own home & have a job suited to my gifts where I can make a contribution & earn a decent wage.
The Service System Community
The Language of…
• us
•citizen/member
•friend
•neighbor
•care
•love
•personal
•capacity (1/2 full)
•interest
•experience
•stories/gossip
•acting/doing
•common
•variety/surprise
•social/collective
•voluntary
•dreams
•consent
•capacity/abundance
•them
•client/consumer
•volunteer
•staff/provider
•service/programs
•treatment/training
•professional
•deficiency (1/2 empty)
•needs/problems
•curriculum/education
•studies
•planning
•reports
•specialization
•standardization
•individual
•paid for
•I_P’s/plans
•compliance/control
•scarcity
ENERGY used to develop & organize structures, agencies, organizations (which tend over time to conformity, uniformity, & discipline
Thrives on:
Principles, laws, procedures, due process, courts, contracts, rules & regulations, I__P’s, reports, plans, deadlines, justifications
POWER OVER
Connections, webs, circles, friends
ENERGY used to find, call forth, support, regenerate, create community (which relies on diversity, pluralism, self governance, and self direction
Thrives on:
Trust, promises, dreams, experiences, personal knowledge, negotiation, time, stories, obligations
POWER WITH
RELATIONSHIPS & CARING Service System
RELATIONSHIPS TURN MY RIGHTS INTO REALITIES
A Variety of Resources
Individual
Relationship
Network
Association
Service
• qualities •abilities •possessions • knowledge • concerns * habits
Individuals people can count on as friends: for fellowship, support & to get things done
Informal groups: support one another and get
things done together
Identified group that confers membership, defines roles, takes positions, gets things done
Bureaucratic structure to get things done for eligible people: formalized relationship.
Can’t ride on own
Riding Stable
No, insurance
Saturday riders
Only expressed interest
?
Better Listening
Interest in
Horses
reveals
Disabled Riding Group
search
Discovering Capacity
Creating Vision
Sharing Resources
Building Community
Developing Supports
Themes of Person-Centered Work
Discovering Capacity
Creating Vision
Sharing Resources
Building Community
Developing Supports
Contributing
Being Respected
Sharing Ordinary Places
Belonging
Choosing