It's so exciting to introduce this new feature on our website. We have several goals we hope to achieve with our Blogs. Our most exciting goal is to provide you with resources, information and suggestions to assist with self-advocacy or assisting people who have differing abilities with advocacy efforts. We will be providing a variety of perspectives, tools, videos and other ideas we have found helpful in assuring a person-first and a person-centered approach to supports and services.
This is Rebecca, and I am the founder of Beyond Compliance. I have worked with people who have differing and unique abilities since 1981 and have found that many of the barriers experienced by professionals supporting these individuals as well as the individuals themselves, remain the same. Although, much progress has been made, much more is needed. Person-Centered supports have been recognized as a best-practice philosophy and process since the early 1970's and I often find myself surprised by agencies and professionals who believe this is a new concept.
Our hope with our blogs is to stop re-inventing the wheel and offer ideas, thoughts and a dialogue that is inclusive and original. So where to start? If an agency, start with your infrastructure. Do your policies, processes, programs, personnel forms (e.g. job descriptions), service forms, etc. promote a person-first language and a person-centered philosophy? Do they use outdated terminology and concepts? Have they been updated? What does your orientation feel like? Is the expectation of equality, autonomy, and choice front and center? Would I know these are your grounding principles if I was a new employee?
If you receive services from an agency or are a family member of a person who receives services, start with the knowledge and process you have been provided by the service agency. Do you make daily choices about your life, the job you have, the people you live with, the food you eat and the visitors you have? Do you understand what is expected of you? Are you happy? Do you understand the way to ask for help or additional supports?
In providing and receiving quality supports, we need to start at the beginning. What do we believe, what do we need and how do we achieve our goals. To move forward without revisiting the infrastructure or the basics of the services received is unrealistic.
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