A FULL, MEANINGFUL AND INCLUSIVE LIFE

ENGAGING YOUR VISION

A four-part series for families who have a family member with a disability.

PART 1

A Vision for Families: Social Value and Inclusion for People With Disabilities (1 afternoon and 2 days)

In this session we will cover the concept of social devaluation, e.g., how people with disabilities are marginalized and oppressed by society. We will also cover strategies, which can be used to deal with devaluation to help family members with a devalued societal status to have a full and meaningful life.

Time will be given to work on writing down individual visions.

PART 2

Developing the Vision of Social Value and Inclusion

(1 day)

In this session participants will continue developing the vision they came up with in the previous workshop. Important dimensions of Social Value and Inclusion will be introduced and participants will use these dimensions to more fully develop their vision.

PART 3

Determining Quality Of Services And Supports

(2 1/2 days)

In this session participants will visit a human service as a team, learn about the service, and then analyze it from the perspective of people who use the service. Lessons concerning what is good/helpful and what is not good/helpful will be drawn from these discussions. This session will be entirely small group work led by an experienced group leader. The team will use an evaluation instrument called Dimensions of Social Value and Inclusion, which is drawn from a human service evaluation instrument called PASSING. The evaluation instrument outlines and describes some key issues that service and support arrangements need to employ if social value and inclusion is to be achieved.

Please note that parts 1 and 2 are required in order to attend part 3.

PART 4

Sharing and Celebrating Our Vision

(1 day)

In this session participants will share how they have been workingtoward their vision of Social Value and Inclusion and the ways in which their vision and work has positively impacted on the society, the community, the family, etc. As well, local resource persons who can assist with various ways to bring about or further our work on Social Value and Inclusion will be introduced and will be available to answer questions.Format: Participants and their family members share their experiences and enjoy a meal together.

Goals For This Series
:

1. Strengthen families in their advocacy for their family members with a disability

2. Assist families to develop a vision with their family member of "the good life" and what kinds of supports will be needed to achieve this

3. Assist families to learn indicators of quality that can be used to design and evaluate human services and support arrangements from the perspective of the person with a disability and with a view to social value and inclusion

4. Strengthen family networks

5. Develop values based leadership among families e.g., siblings, parents, extended family

NOTE: The series is designed for entire families including persons with disabilities, young adult and adult brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents, extended family. As well, families can invite anyone who is working with them to bring about social value and inclusion for their family member with a disability (e.g., advocates, workers, etc.) to attend the workshop with them. We have found that family members really enjoy attending this course together and encourage participants to try to do this whenever possible.

TRUE HOME SERIES

Four one half-day sessions offered over 2 days – Each session is a stand-alone session. Participants can attend whichever sessions are of interest.

1. True Home: The Place Of One’s Heart

What are the key elements of a true home? What are some of the human service practices that get in the way of creating home and what can we do about those practices? 

2. Valued Social Roles In and Around Home

What are some of the valued roles that people have in and around home? How can we assist people to move into these roles or strengthen and expand the roles they already have at home?

3. Creating Home: The Art Of Homemaking

What is homemaking, why it is important, and how we can assist people we serve to create a home that reflects personal identity?

4. Whose Home Is It Anyway?

What kinds of autonomy and authority do typical citizens want to have in their homes? How does this compare with the kinds of autonomy and authority that the people we serve have in their homes? If there is a power imbalance between staff and the people served what can be done to shift the imbalance? How can we assist the people we serve to gain competencies to run their own home as much as possible?