Celebrating the Ordinary

A way to think about supported living that collects stories, pictures, documents, and operational policies from Options’ work and reflects on their practical meaning in terms of these ideas:

• Learning from Options
• The idea of emergent order
• Limits of command and control
• From packages to people
• A guiding pattern emerges
• People with developmental disabilities lead
• Autonomy and support can lead to liberation
• Creating space as a guiding image
• Conflict clarifies beliefs
• Beliefs define the pattern
• Respect for autonomy
• Enacted beliefs
• Fruitful contradictions
• A strong culture
• High ideals grounded in daily demands
• What makes Options work for me
• Avoiding the growth trap
• Principle and political viability
• Dividing rather than growing
• Purposely increasing diversity
• Building relationships and agreements
• A charter for support
• The policy on quality of life
• Living space
• Ordinary connections
• Day-to-day assistance
• Usual difficulties
• Big troubles
• Stretching the ordinary
• The ‘how’ of agreements in a web of relationships
• Power differences and dependency
• Holding stress
• Acknowledging difficulty
• Signs of trouble
• Relationships as a resource
• Teamwork
• Renewal through ritual
• Authority and hierarchy
• Designing support
• A comfortable living place
• Effective personal assistance
• Conversational planning
• Getting to know the person
• Making funding flexible
• Embracing variety
• Temptations to standardize
• Generating flexibility
• Generalists and specialists
• How Options Learns
• New possibilities for a person
• Learning as a matter of the heart
• Cultivating expertise
• Chewing on intractable problems
• Progress on community building
• The position of Home Support Workers
• Co-evolution with the service system
• Nine enduring understandings