This document explores five essential tasks for service providers aiming to empower individuals with disabilities and foster their inclusion in community life. It emphasizes a person-centered approach, focusing on discovering gifts and interests, developing opportunities, making meaningful connections, providing tailored assistance, and safeguarding against challenges. These tasks are designed to help individuals move […]
Seeking Transformation: Building Inclusive Communities for People with Developmental Disabilities This insightful document by John O’Brien and Christopher Liuzzo explores the transformative journey of organizations serving people with developmental disabilities. It highlights the challenges these organizations face, including shifting societal expectations, funding constraints, and workforce shortages. The authors advocate for deep, meaningful change […]
=This document is a comprehensive summary of a retreat held in June 1999 by the North Carolina Self-Determination Leadership Network, focusing on empowering people with developmental disabilities to take control of their lives and resources. It explores two key aspects of self-determination: individual empowerment and systemic change in the developmental disabilities service system. […]
This insightful document by John O’Brien explores the critical role of community engagement in empowering people with disabilities and their families to live with dignity, security, and as active contributors to society. It highlights the urgent need for individualized funding, controlled by those directly impacted, as a counter to restrictive policies that perpetuate segregation […]
This document, “Reflections on In Control,” explores the transformative work of the In Control initiative, a UK-based movement focused on self-directed support and individualized funding in social care. Authored by John O’Brien and David Towell, it provides insights into how In Control aims to empower disabled individuals to live as full citizens by giving […]
This document, Self-Directed Support: Re-Framing Inter-agency Partnership Working by John O’Brien and Simon Duffy, explores a transformative approach to social care, focusing on empowering citizens with significant impairments to achieve independent living. Instead of prioritizing system-level integration between agencies, the authors advocate for personalized integration, where individuals actively shape their own support systems. Drawing […]
This document explores how Support Coordination can drive meaningful change for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) by embracing complexity rather than rigid, ordered systems. It advocates for inclusion, self-direction, and co-creation of supports, emphasizing the importance of personalized approaches that empower individuals and families to live fulfilling lives in their communities. […]
This document, Reflections on Common Threads: Changing Stories… Stories of Change, captures insights from a 2016 conference on Independent Facilitation, sponsored by the Ontario Independent Facilitation Network (OIFN). It explores how Independent Facilitators empower people with developmental disabilities and their families to lead meaningful, self-directed lives within their communities. Through storytelling, reflections, and […]
Paying Customers Are Not Enough: The Dynamics of Individualized Funding This insightful document, Paying Customers Are Not Enough: The Dynamics of Individualized Funding by John O’Brien, explores the transformative potential of individualized funding for people with developmental disabilities. It challenges the traditional “paying customer” model, emphasizing that true change requires individuals to shift from […]
This insightful document, Paying Customers Are Not Enough: The Dynamics of Individualized Funding by John O’Brien, explores the transformative potential of individualized funding for people with developmental disabilities. It challenges the traditional “paying customer” model, emphasizing that true change requires individuals to shift from passive consumers to active agents shaping their own support systems. […]