Essential Service Accomplishments

Essential Service Accomplishments       – O’Brien

This insightful document explores how to enhance the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities through five essential service accomplishments: Community Presence, Making Choices, Developing Competence, Improving Status, and Developing Relationships. It highlights the current challenges faced by people with disabilities, such as isolation, limited opportunities for decision-making, and societal misconceptions, while offering practical strategies to foster inclusion, independence, and personal growth. ​

Readers will discover actionable ways to support individuals in sharing community spaces, making everyday and long-term choices, building meaningful skills, improving their social status, and forming genuine relationships. ​ From teaching public transportation use to encouraging self-expression and promoting positive self-image, the document emphasizes the importance of creating environments that value and empower people with disabilities.

Adapted from the Blackstone Valley Residential Staff Training Manual, this guide introduces the “Improving Service Quality” approach, developed by John O’Brien and Connie Lyle, which shifts the focus from service delivery to achieving meaningful outcomes. It underscores the interconnectedness of the five accomplishments, showing how progress in one area can positively impact others. ​

Whether you’re a caregiver, community member, or advocate, this document provides practical tips and thought-provoking questions to inspire change and foster a more inclusive society. Dive in to learn how small actions can make a big difference in creating opportunities, building relationships, and promoting dignity for all. ​