Empowering Ability Podcast

Here is the secret.... it is to start with developing valued roles. What is a valued role? A valued roles is the answer you give to the question 'What do you do?' when you meet someone new. [more on valued roles below] Guest Genia Sthphen also shares her story as a sibling, a mother to two sons, and how she has helped to create the good life for her son Will.

Professionally, Genia is a midwife to many, and an activist with a mission to band together with families to joyfully pursue the good things in life. She recently launched the Good Things in Life, which is an online community for young families who share a vision of the good life for their kids with disabilities. 

You can listen to this conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below, OR by clicking one of the following links to listen on your favourite podcast player; iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

Growing Up With a Sibling that has a Developmental Disability (DD)

Genia is the 3rd of 4 daughters, and her younger sister Kate has a DD. Genia’s two older sisters are a fair amount older, and it was really just the two of them (Kate & Genia) when they were growing up.

Genia remembers going to appointments with Kate where they had Kate do silly things, like hold onto the pencil, and they would pull on it until she let it go. Kate didn’t care much for holding onto the pencil and as a result, was diagnosed with having poor muscle tone. But, Genia and Kate thought it was funny because Kate would drag Genia around the house on her back by her toes. 

Genia recalls, “At 5 mom sat me down on her lap and told me that Kate had a disability. Mom was serious, it was an occasion, She explained Kate would learn more slowly than other kids. I responded by crying. I was trying to figure out what was expected in this situation, and it was clear to her that the appropriate response was to be sad.”

It was a big deal for Genia’s mom. She had never experienced someone with a disability, Her mom was terrified, intimidated, and overwhelmed. It was something worth crying about for her.

Genia’s mom reached out and started to connect with other parents and other people that knew more than she did. She surrounded herself with this community and exploded into a powerful advocate. She stopped delivering the information in a way that elicited sadness and started having really high expectations. She had connected with some people that had worked with Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger, who developed the social theory of Social Role Valorization (SRV).

Genia attended her first SRV workshop at 15. It taught her language, and how the world works for people that are devalued.

Key Insight: Connecting with other families is important. Not just getting connected, but who you get connected with. What are their beliefs and mindsets? How you deal with grief and fear is guided by your mindsets and fear for a person with a disability.

When Genia’s second son Will was born he was very very sick. Genia recalls, "we weren’t sure he was going to make it. They were telling the family that he would have significant disabilities." Genia’s response was “Well yeah yeah yeah, but is he going to make it, let's focus on what matters here. And he did [make it!].”

What is Social Role Valorization (SRV)?

GS: “SRV is the universal ways that people are devalued in society. Devalued people are not able to access the good things in life the way that valued people are. For example, devalued people do not have the same opportunities for personal growth, education, meaningful work, freely given relationships, pursuing their interests. People access the good things in life through the roles we play in society. It is also how we connect and understand each other. One of the first questions we ask someone is “what do you do?”. It helps us understand and relate to each other through roles.”

There is No Risk-Free Path

GS: “If your major fear is that someone is going to be hurt or rejected, and the way that you prevent that is by keeping people protected and isolated from the people that might hurt them, then that leads you down a vision that likely includes a lot of services and people paid to keep the person safe.

Alternatively, if your mindsets and beliefs are that safety for vulnerable people comes through relationships, this leads you down a path of life in the community.

There is no risk-free path.”

What Does The Good Life Look Like for Will?

Listen to the podcast to hear how Genia’s family has thought about the role of student for Will. Genia and her family thought through the things that were likely to increase people’s high expectation and positive image of Will in the role of student, starting from the age of 2!

GS: “Will is now 12, and we think about for his peer group what are the typical valued social roles that a person holds? And, what are the kinds of opportunities that those roles bring? Then we pursue those things.”

Want proof!?! Watch the video below.

Video: Will Enjoying The Good Things In Life

Key Insight: Look to what is typical for people that don’t have a disability at that stage of life and focus on the roles the individual could hold to create your vision. Additionally, the person supporting needs to understand the social role and also have the social currency to help them get there.

In this podcast, Genia and I also cover topics including raising the consciousness of devaluation in our society, the experience of being a mother with a child that has a disability, and what the experience of having a sibling with a disability. 

Tweet-able Moments from the conversation with Genia Stephen:

"Devalued people are not able to access the good things in life the way that valued people are. For example, devalued people do not have the same opportunities for personal growth, education, meaningful work, freely given relationships, pursuing their interests."

"...if your mindsets and beliefs are that safety for vulnerable people comes through relationships, this leads you down a path of life in the community."

"Look to what is typical for people that don’t have a disability at that stage of life and focus on the roles the individual could hold to create your vision."

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

The Empowering Ability Podcast and Blog are made possible entirely by you, the support of listeners and readers. Thank you for considering a contribution to this work with a subscription!

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

Will Social Media: Theadventuresofwill.ca  

The Good Things in Life --> For Parents of young children with IDDs. Goodthingsinlife.org.

Contact Genia by email: [email protected]

Creating Valued Roles with Janet Klees: Click Here

Too Busy to listen to the podcast now? Listen on the GO!

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and all other major podcast apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Yvonne defines grief, how to support others that are grieving, and shares her 7 takeaways to navigate through life, grief, and end of life.

In this episode of the Empowering Ability podcast, we have an in-depth conversation on grief with nurse and author, Yvonne Health. In this conversation, Yvonne defines grief, how to support others that are grieving, the difference between quality and quantity of life, and her 7 takeaways to navigate through life, grief, and end of life.  Yvonne is an inspirational Speaker, author of the book ‘Love Your Life to Death’, and a TV and Radio host.

(Note: 25% of 'Love Your Life to Death' book sales purchased through this link go directly to Community Living Ontario)

You can listen to this conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below, OR by clicking one of the following links to listen on your favourite podcast player; iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

Why Are We Talking About Grief?

YH: “I didn’t choose this, it chose me. Looking back at a 27-year nursing career we don’t talk about grief, we don’t talk about death and dying until it arrives. Then we try and navigate through it. This causes excessive suffering. Grief is a part of our journey, but by avoiding it we are creating excessive suffering.”

Seeing this suffering as a nurse Yvonne had to do something about it, so she took a leap of faith wrote a book about it, and here we are.

As as a nurse, Yvonne became attached to people and she suffered tremendously. She realized this and she became aware of how she was suffering and became curious about it. This led her to have more conversations with other carers.

YH: “I asked fellow caregivers, are we well prepared for grief death and dying? And they said, no. Then I’d have conversations with two people with the same diagnosis of terminal cancer and their families and see drastically different experiences. One family was acknowledging and allowing all feelings - laughing and crying and being open, and being truthful about what was happening. That person died more peacefully and the family navigated through their grief and was able to get through and find happiness again. Then there were other families who were angry and bitter, and demanding more treatments and there weren’t conversations being had. There was no eye contact, I could feel the suffering. I could see this over and over, and I had this inner voice telling me we had to see something different.”

What is Grief?

YH: "Grief is whatever makes your heartache. Often it is death, but it can be divorce, a diagnosis, complications at birth, job loss, not making the team. Grief is a part of our life. Anger is often a very big part of grief, and it can come out."

How Do We Support Someone Experiencing Grief?

YH: “I [we often] don’t know what to do, I [we often] don’t know what to say. We are more comfortable avoiding people when they are grieving. But the most important thing is that we need people to just show up. A hug, a text, an email, sit in silence. Just sit with someone and acknowledge and allow their feelings and not try and fix it. You can’t fix grief, you just have to allow it. We have to get back to allowing our humanness. You are qualified to just show up.”

Quality of Life vs. Quantity of Life.

YH: “What is enough quality of life is enough for one person isn’t acceptable for another person. There is always a treatment that we can do, but the question is should we? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we have the conversation before something happens? The time to have these conversations is not when you are facing life or death situations.”

EG: “We can create a thought experiment for ourselves and think - okay if I got cancer and I was given a prognosis of 2 years to live with intensive treatment that is going to reduce my quality of life for that time, or I could have 6 months to live with a high quality of life. Which would I choose? And, you can do this now from a rational place now, rather than a fear-based place when actually faced with the decision. This decision will likely also change over time as we age, or our life situation changes.”

YH: “These types of situations being made when things happen can fracture families, and create divides that are difficult to repair. Let’s normalize creating an end of life plan. Imagine the suffering that we can alleviate.”

EG: “Only 50% of people have a will. Get your will in order. This is especially important for a family where there is a person with a disability because any transfer of your estate to a person with a disability can drastically impact their social assistance benefits.”

Yvonne’s 7 takeaways to navigate through life, grief, and end of life

1. The Next Best Time is Now! The best time to talk about, plan and prepare for grief is when we are young and healthy. 

2. It Takes a Village to support: the ill, the caregiver, the dying, the bereaved and each other.

3. When someone is grieving, Just Show Up!

4. To be empowered, resilient and compassionate, Show Up For Yourself First!

5. Structure Your Life in such a way that you are self-reliant.

6. Find your Post, and hold onto it.

7. What will Your Legacy be?

To get the summary description of Yvonne’s 7 takeaways go to http://the7takeaways.ca/ to learn more, or you can listen to us discuss these 7 takeaways on the podcast by clicking below.

Tweet-able Moments from the conversation with Yvonne:

“Love & gratitude are the answer, no matter the question.” - Yvonne's mother, Waves of healing

“Our legacy is what we create in every moment of every day. It is how we make people feel.” -Yvonne Heath

“It [life] isn’t joy or sorrow, it Is is a rollercoaster, and when we take care of each other we can get through it [life] with greater joy.” -Yvonne Heath

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

The Empowering Ability Podcast and Blog are made possible entirely by you, the support of listeners and readers. Thank you for considering a contribution to this work with a subscription!

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

Yvonne's Blog/ vlog

Yvonne Heath's 7 takeaways

Book: Love Your Life to Death

(Note: 25% of 'Love Your Life to Death' book sales purchased through this link go directly to Community Living Ontario)

Listen on the GO!

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and all other major podcast apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Learn about the Open Future Learning training resource for supporters of people that have an IDD, & how Ben Drew is fighting the oppression of people with IDDs.

In this podcast/ blog I had a pleasure of speaking with Ben Drew, Founder of Open Future Learning. Ben has over 20 years of experience working with people with an intellectual or developmental disability starting as learning disability nurse, then going on to create an individualized housing and support service, and he is now the Founder of Open Future Learning. Ben is also an incredible storyteller and even though this podcast is lengthy, it is a pleasure to listen to.

Due to the length of the podcast, the blog is broken down into Part 1, and Part 2. In Part 1 of the blog, you will learn about the Open Future Learning training resource for supporters of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs), and Ben's life journey to fight oppression and create ordinary incredible lives for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. In Part 2 of the blog, you will learn about 3 foundational support principals for exceptional support. As always, all of these insights can be heard by clicking play on the podcast player below.

You can listen to this conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below, OR by clicking one of the following links to listen on your favourite podcast player; iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

What is Open Future Learning?

Open Future Learning is an Online learning resource 100% dedicated to the field of intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs). The platform is developed for support staff, but anyone that touches the lives of people with IDD can benefit from the resource. The platform has a wide range of learning modules (for example: abuse prevention to social valued roles) which are delivered as interactive multimedia books. Open Future Learning is known for their short films and they have an on-demand video library with just over 700 short films featuring the leading global thinkers on IDD. They have also created a new product called Side-By-Side learning. 

Ben explains, “ We have the saying from self-advocates, ‘Nothing about us, without us’, but we don’t live up to this. Training is one of those things. So we developed ‘side-by’side’ learning. The person that receives the support and provides the support do the learning together. They are short 30-minute interactive learning modules."

Ben continues, "Much of the content is created in collaboration with many of the leading minds in the developmental disability community. It is a really financially efficient way to get people to access these leading minds, compared to only the select few that were able to go to a conference."

The platform is designed for support organizations and priced accordingly, however, if you are an individual learner or a family and you want access to this resource you can email Ben and he will help you to access this resource. Email [email protected]

Ben Drew’s Mission To Fight Oppression and Create Ordinary Lives for People with IDDs:

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Ben shares his story:

“I grew up in the UK in a small town called Devon. On the outskirts of the town, there was a small community for people with IDDs. It was kind of like Camphill without the farm. My best friend from school lived in that community, his parents managed the community. He lived in this cluster of houses where people with IDDs lived. It was great because we played football (soccer) on demand, it was mostly guys, and I got to know all of these people in the best way. When these guys came into the town the way that other people interacted with them was different. They teased them, they spoke behind their backs about them. This always sat with me and it was the starting point to wanting to work with people with disabilities. Went I was 18 years old I went to a summer camp for people with IDDs in the US, and really enjoyed it. Then came back to the UK and got a job with a guy named Gary Kent. He lived in a large residential home with 20 people with IDDs. It was a hospital that had been converted for people with IDDs to live after the institutions closed. Gary lived there as well but decided he wanted his own home. He left and purchased his own home in a nearby village. When Gary came back to the residential home he said he had to close down the residential home. He had seen the other side of life. He was learning how to cook, he was in his own community, he had control over his life and his environment - and he wanted everyone else to have that.

There was a guy that lived there [in the residential home] that was physically abusive, and there was a guy that was a runner. When the runner chose where he wanted to live, he never ran away again. The guy who was a hitter moved into a home of his own and he stopped hitting people. You can be getting really good support and if the environment isn’t right and the location isn’t right - you can only so so much.”

Insight: This was a huge lesson for Ben when he saw the change in people when they got control of their lives. These oppressive environments occur in residential homes, but they can also happen within our family homes. Speaking from personal experience, my parents home became an oppressive environment for my sister Sarah (who has an IDD) due to a lack of choice, social isolation, and lack of transportation. Most of Sarah’s decisions were made for her and most things were done for her. Of course, these things were done with the best of intentions, but this caused more stress and anxiety on everyone in the household, everyone entering the household, and suppressed opportunities for Sarah to grow. Sarah has moved out of her parents home and into a home shared with me where she now has choice and control of her life.

Ben continues with a leadership insight:

“Vulnerability of leaders is important. Gary was always incredibly transparent. He would always share his mistakes and things he had messed up. The residential home was just another thing. In order to empower everyone else underneath him, he had to be that way. The people underneath him could also make mistakes, they could also mess-up. I see cultures in organizations coming down on people. If you make a mistake it is a warning, if you make 3 mistakes you aren’t allowed to do things anymore. That culture just doesn’t work.”

Ben then when on to set up service to help 100 people with IDDs over 6 years to buy or rent their own home, manage their own supports with their own budgets, in Bristol UK, using the formula Gary gave him. Ben then moved to New York, and that is where he started Open Future Learning.

Part 2 of this blog is coming on December 18th, with insights on 3 fundamental support principals that are foundational to great support. If you want to learn about these core support principals now, you can do so by listening to the podcast.

Ben is also the creator of memes that help to nudge people in the direction of being more accepting, more inclusive, and to develop the understanding of what it is like to live with an intellectual or developmental disability. Here are a couple of my favourites:

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

You can also support this work by subscribing. This podcast and blog is supported completely by listeners and readers like you. Thank you to those that have supported by subscribing!

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

http://www.openfuturelearning.org/

https://www.youtube.com/user/OpenFutureLearning

Email: [email protected]

If you received value from this content please leave me a review on iTunes. By leaving a 5 star review on iTunes you make the Empowering Ability Podcast more discoverable, and more families will benefit. Click Here To Leave a Review on iTunes

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and various other apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Click Here To Listen on iTunes

In this episode, you will learn all about Personal Support Networks! You might have heard of support circles, circles, microboards, or aroha's (there are probably names I'm missing), but theses are all forms of Personal Support Networks. Rebecca Pauls, Director of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), shares with us with us what a Personal Support Network is, how they can benefit you, and how to go about building one.

Rebecca is the Director of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), a Vancouver-based social enterprise that partners with families and people facing social isolation to secure their future by mobilizing relationships and leveraging community assets. Since joining PLAN three years ago, Rebecca has led a complete re-design of programming to integrate principles of person-centred planning, ABCD, narrative therapy, and independent facilitation. After demonstrating the strength and flexibility of this community approach, Rebecca is regularly invited to consult with organizations about how it can be scaled and applied to population groups across North America.

You can listen to this conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below, OR by clicking one of the following links to listen on your favourite podcast player; iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

How did PLAN Originate?

Rebecca shares:

“PLAN is an advocacy group in BC, which started with a group of parents that came together and founded PLAN 30 years ago. These parents believed their sons and daughters could contribute and be included in the community. The work of PLAN is charting a new path that is full of opportunity for people with disabilities. They are thinking about the present, but also the future. What happens when we are gone? This is when the idea of personal support networks really began to mobilize.”

One of PLAN’s ultimate aims is to create a Good life for families, which includes; Friends and relationships, making a contribution, being empowered to make choices, a place to call home, financial stability, parents have peace of mind. The basis of all of these things is to have people and relationships to do life together with. One of the main tools used at PLAN to accomplish this is personal support networks.

What is a Personal Support Network?

We all have a network – a group of people we depend on for companionship, support and decision making. This typically includes our family, friends, and neighbors, but also professionals like counselors or financial advisors. This group can be considered your “Personal Support Network”, and it reflects your personal interests, abilities, and needs. The specific individuals will vary by person and may change over time. Some networks will include many, while others just a few people. (Reference: PLAN website)  

What is the Purpose of a Personal Support Network?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Rebecca Shares:

To ensure that no one is alone or so no one is stuck in isolation. Sometimes we hear the saying that loneliness is the only debilitating disability. A personal support network is to ensure that everyone can live in an inclusive community. There are all sorts of things people in the network can do together and accomplish. At the heart of it is recognizing that we have the support that we need to live the life that we want and dream of for ourselves.

What are you seeing for people with Disabilities that have an intentional personal support network, vs those who do not?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Rebecca Shares:

“I think the difference comes in when the unpaid relational support is involved. When there isn’t a personal support network they might live a life where they don’t have friends. When a personal support network is involved and parents aren’t able to be involved, there are people that are there to play important and specific roles. At PLAN we have mentors to support families with building and maintaining these Personal Support Networks.

In different times in a person’s life, they might depend on a person’s personal support network in different ways. When they are a young person or things are going well they might do more fun and social things. At different points in life when challenging situations come up, or there is a need for planning and advocacy it might be more formal. You can often hear these networks being called natural supports, or circle of support, or microboard (which is the most formal way of setting up a personal support network). The most important thing is not what you call it, but in the way that people are working together. It is important not only for people with disabilities, but it is more like a way of being, and a way of living our lives. It is sometimes difficult to build or maintain those personal networks. PLAN has a community connector or mentors to help keep everyone connected.

How does someone build a personal support network?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Rebecca Shares:

“We start by getting to know who the person is, their gifts, what they think about, what they like to do, and the things that they care about. We build relationships based on common interests. When we build the network we focus on gifts and the uniqueness of each person. Then we think of who are all of the people in your life and build a relationship map. If there aren’t a lot of people in your life we think about if you did have people in your life, what roles would they play?

Then we look to the community. We believe that our communities are full of welcoming places and other people with gifts. When we look to build the connections we look for groups that are already in place. The role of the community connector is to create opportunities for the person to get connected.

Turning those relationships into a network is a matter of talking about what is important. We encourage people to share what is important in their life right now. The community connector can help to create the opportunities for people together.

As we reach a time where a generational shift is happening, the parents that created inclusion across the country are reaching their 70’s the rubber is hitting the road in terms of these networks and transition.

Building networks is a little bit counter-cultural, we are getting busier, and we are living more isolated lives, we don’t know our neighbors as much as we used to. ”

You can access the resources on building personal support networks (e-books and online courses) mentioned on the podcast in the resource section at the bottom of this blog).

Who plays the community connector role?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Rebecca Shares:

“Sometimes there is a natural connector in a person’s life. In other situations, the family might hire someone to play that role (Like the service PLAN offers). Some organizations train their personal support workers to take a network approach. The supporter will ask the question, who else can we involve?

Personal support networks usually come together every month or every other month to do some planning and to talk about what the priorities are for that month, and how they can support each other.”

What do personal support network meetings look like?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Rebecca Shares:

“Some are very structured and some are very natural. We plan based on what that person is comfortable with, what the current needs and priorities are. At PLAN every 6 months we create work plans. For the next 6 months, what do we want to accomplish? Do we plan events and celebrations, look for job opportunities, or find a new apartment. Each month the community connector will send a monthly update on the progress that is made.”

On the podcast, Rebecca gives examples of what support networks and roles people play in a support network can look like.

What are you currently learning at PLAN?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Rebecca Shares:

“PLAN has done a good job helping families build networks which have resulted in friendships and community contribution, but we are starting to really work toward helping people put those networks to work. Passing the baton from mom and dad to other people in the network, before we reach a crisis point and being proactive. Identifying the key roles, and what is the succession plan. Inviting network members and transferring the knowledge to the next generation. It is succession planning, what do we need to know and how do we start to pass this along. Roles like trustee, guardian or power of attorney, or more practical things like who is going to help this person go to the bank or transportation.”

PLAN has also developed a new planning tool that works to answer the question, do families have peace of mind? This is an interesting question because peace of mind is dynamic and it changes. This new planning tool helps families to understand if they have peace of mind in the different areas of life, and it helps families to think about what they need to do to get there. Listen to the podcast to learn more about this thinking that Rebecca shares.

A final message from Rebecca, “Personal support networks are about relationships. They are about living intentionally together and supporting each other and sharing what is important to us. For me personally, because of all of the changes we see happening in families and people sadly passing away, there is a real urgency for us to begin asking the question, ‘What does this {personal support networks] really look like?’, and, ‘Are we intentionally supporting each other?’. Do we know people that don’t have any relationships?, and asking ourselves, 'what we can do?'. There are all kinds of possibilities to connect and we just need to go after them."

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

You can also support this work by subscribing. This podcast and blog is supported completely by listeners and readers like you. Thank you to those that have supported by subscribing!

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

Safe and secure, by Al Etmanski 

Online 6-week course called Personal Support Network Facilitation

Planinstitute.ca has several online resources in their learning center

If you received value from this content please leave me a review on iTunes. By leaving a 5 star review on iTunes you make the Empowering Ability Podcast more discoverable, and more families will benefit. Click Here To Leave a Review on iTunes

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and various other apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Click Here To Listen on iTunes

Joe Dale and I explore the untapped labour pool of people with disabilities, uncover the benefits of employing people with disabilities, and discuss approaches people with disabilities can take to gain employment.

Today businesses are asking, ‘Where do we find good people?’, and people with disabilities are asking ‘Where do I get a job?’. This podcast/ blog with Joe Dale, Executive Director of the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN), explores these questions.

Joe has worked in the field of disability for over 35 years and spent much of that time addressing issues related to employment for people with disabilities. He is an internationally renowned speaker, speaking to business, governments, and not-for-profits on the issue of strategic engagement of people with disabilities in the workforce.

The Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN)

ODEN is a professional body of employment service providers united to increase employment opportunities for people who have a disability. They have over 110-member agencies, all in the business of helping people with a disability get into the workforce.

ODEN focuses on 4 core areas:

Engaging and educating businesses on hiring people with a disability. They also support businesses to develop successful hiring practices.

Supporting disability employment agencies with training that builds their capacities and skills.

Advocating on employment for people with a disability to the provincial and federal governments.

Engaging and educating other stakeholders that prepare people with disabilities for the workforce, including school boards and family groups.

The Employment Landscape

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Joe shares:

“There are a lot of barriers for people with disability to enter the workforce. However, there has been a drastic change in the last couple of years. Businesses are now moving from awareness of the benefits people with a disability can provide to their business, to how do we employ people with disabilities. And, thinking about what does it look like in our workplace?

We have done a lot of awareness over the last 10 years and this is starting to pay off. Businesses are also challenged with the labour shortages, so businesses are now looking at what was once considered non-traditional labour sources.”

Currently the unemployment rate is 5.5% in Canada, but what does that look like for people with disabilities?

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Joe shares:

“Statistics Canada reported that 49% of people with disability are not in labour market. This doesn’t include people who have never had a job or have given up on trying to find a job. For the 51% of people in the labour market, we are seeing anywhere between 16 – 25% employment rate. From this, we can assume people with a disability that are not working in Canada is around 70%.

In the US, they do their research differently, they show about 18% of people with a disability are working.”

What Do Businesses Need to Know About Disability?

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Joe shares:

“Businesses don’t know what they don’t know. Businesses aren’t fully aware of disability as a demographic. We try to illustrate what disability looks like in their community.

16% of Canadians identify that they have a disability across Canada. This is a very large demographic. If you add family and loved ones of those people, 53% of Canadian’s are impacted by disability. These people have a very strong connection to disability.

We are shifting mindsets away from charity and pity, a mindset of contribution. This is what businesses need to see to get them to buy in and employ people with a disability in a sustainable way."

Learn can learn more about the Myths to employing people with a disability in this podcast/ blog with Laura McKeen. 

What is the business case to employ people with a disability?

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Joe Shares the following case studies:

Case Study 1: Walgreens

Walgreens is a large pharmacy retailer in the United States that has inclusive hiring practices. In 2006, they opened a new distribution center in South Carolina. When staffing this distribution centre they started with the goal of staffing 1/3 of this workforce with people that have a disability. In the end, they hired 40% of their workforce with people that have a disability. At the end of the first year, this distribution centre was the most productive centre for all of Walgreens in the US.

A year later they opened a distribution centre in Connecticut and they went in with the same mindset and hired 45% of people with disability. It opened in 2007 and has had the highest production of all Walgreens distribution centers every year since it opened. They have a 63% reduction in employee costs! Lower absenteeism, lower turnover, and fewer workplace accidents. What they are seeing is higher productivity at lower cost. This equates to profits.

More on the Walgreens Case Study. Click Here

Case Study 2: Mark Wafer, Tim Hortons

Mark Wafer owed 6 Tim Horton’s coffee shops in the Greater Toronto Area, in Ontario Canada. 15% -20% of their staff was people who had a disability. Employees with disabilities had an 87% higher attendance rating, and no work injury claims. Mark’s coffee shops had a turnover of 38% in an industry where the average was 110%. At $4,000 per new hire, there was a significant reduction in costs. His employees with a disability had almost 0% turn over, and employees without disabilities had a 55% turn over, which was still half of the industry average. He put it down for employees being engaged because he is an inclusive employer.

These costs savings are often offsetting the costs of a little bit slower production or the cost of accommodations.

Additionally, prior to Mark selling his business, his coffee shops ranked #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6 in key sales/ profitability indicators among 500 Tim Hortons coffee shops in Central Ontario.

More on Tim Hortons Case Study. Click Here

Additionally, Joe shares:

“Many businesses are contacting ODEN today to learn about how to employ people with disabilities. We would like to get to 16 -20% of employees in a workplace be people with a disability.

We also see the growth rate for people with a disability that get into the workplace their growth rate is phenomenal. Within 2 or 3 weeks they can become a different person and can exceed expectations. This is due to the opportunity, environment, and role modelling.”

How can families and agencies help people with disabilities to gain employment?

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Joe shares:

“It’s really about raising expectations. Overall our expectations of people with a disability are too low. We need to identify the goal that we have for people that have a disability. If the goal is for the person with the disability to have a job, we need to create a different path. We need to change the educational system to support this goal.

For families, if employment is a goal what happens at home has to change. We need to ask questions like, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ and we need to ask ‘Do we give them chores?’. We need to raise expectations, have high goals, and change the path to support these goals.”

I agree with Joe, we need to think bigger and get out of the disability box. This requires a switch from deficits thinking to contribution thinking, and we need to be a champion for that individual. Once you have people holding low expectations of you, you live up to those low expectations. We live up to expectations, so hold high expectations and be a champion for people with disabilities by upholding their dreams and influencing others to do the same.

Joe shares:

“There is research out of the US that shows the indicators of labour market attachment for people with severe disabilities are:

A single paid job while in high school

Family members and others around that have high expectations

This leads to asking the question, ‘How do we mirror the experiences for people with disabilities the same as those around them?’ Peers and siblings. This includes responsibilities, chores, and part-time jobs. This helps the person to also learn what they like, what they don’t like.”

Learned Helplessness

What I have observed in my work is that parents and supporters are trying to be helpful by doing things for the person with a disability, but by doing this it creates dependencies. It teaches the person with the disability that they can’t do things. Now when that person with a disability is asked to do something they have learned that they ‘can’t’ do the task, even when they are in a new environment. In positive psychology, this behavior is called Learned Helplessness. However, this can be changed with learned optimism. By the way, my family has been caught in the learned helplessness trap. I am not judging here, simply pointing out my observations.

Work or Activities?

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Joe shares:

“It is a challenge when activities, like bowling or swimming, get in the way of the work opportunity. Generally, we don’t do these things instead of work. This is a values proposition that needs to be considered by families. The more conditions we place on work, the more difficult engaging in work becomes.”

Insight: Put the job first, remove the conditions on the employment.

What suggestions do you have for people with disabilities that are 25 to 45 years old, and have never been in the job market?

Joe shares:

“It might mean backing up a bit and starting with a part-time job that many of us would have had while in school. Such as at McDonald's. But don’t let the progress start there. We need to start creating that path.

The more experiences a person has had the better their decision making becomes on what they would like to do 1 to 2 years from now or even tomorrow.”

Fair Pay for People with Disabilities

Joe shares:

“Working for free, or saying the person doesn’t need equal pay is a very bad attitude. Society values people that work, pay taxes and contribute, and much more so than people that live off the tax system. To see someone contributing to the tax system in your community brings value to that person.

It is important for peers and supervisors to see that person as valuable. If two people are working side by side and one person is getting paid full wage, and the other person is receiving less than full wage, it tells the rest of the world that that person is not as valuable as the person making full wage beside them. That is a real damaging long-term scenario. The perception is that the person with a disability as being seen as valued is critical. I fight against anything that looks like less than a fair wage. If the perception is that the person is less valuable, who is the person that is going to be let go in an economic downturn? The person that is seen as less valued.

Also, It is a myth that by working the person will earn less money with the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). No matter what the person earns they will always have more money in their pocket at the end of the day. They never lose never money by working. It is a fallacy that people will have less money if they work."

I agree with Joe’s perspective on fair wage. Additionally, consider the person with a disability that is receiving less than an equal wage. If that person is perceived by others as not valued, then they will not feel valued themselves. If I am not feeling valued I am not going to be excited about going to work.

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

You can also support this work by subscribing. This podcast and blog is supported completely by listeners and readers like you. Thank you to those that have supported by subscribing!

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

ODEN Website: Odenetwork.com

Tim Hortons Case Study: Click Here

Walgreens Case Study: Click Here

If you received value from this content please leave me a review on iTunes. By leaving a 5 star review on iTunes you make the Empowering Ability Podcast more discoverable, and more families will benefit. Click Here To Leave a Review on iTunes

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Learn from world class experts on housing for people with developmental disability.

I’m excited to bring you this podcast/ blog episode on the best of creating a home for people with intellectual/ developmental disabilities (IDD). In this episode, I have compiled audio clips that provide insights from 9 interviews I’ve completed with guests on creating a home for people with disabilities, along with my insights as a family coach. My desire to share this with you also comes from the experience of supporting my sister (Sarah) to create a home of her own over the last year. On July 4th 2018, Sarah moved out of our parent’s home and became roommates with me. This is Sarah’s first time living in a home of her own. There has been many events along the way that have come with incredible growth for everyone in our family, and support network. 

9 Insights to Creating a Home Episode (I.e. Best of Home Episode)

This episode is a collection of insights shared by 9 guests who I consider as experts in the area of creating a home. Each guest has either directly been involved in creating a home for people with disabilities and/ or has evaluated housing services for people with disabilities. I’ve constructed this episode in a way that shares what I believe will lead to the best outcomes for people with disabilities and their families. You may agree or disagree with the perspectives shared in this episode, however, I invite you to consider these perspectives to determine what is true for you. 

You will notice that I am using the language creating a home vs housing. I do this because housing refers to the physical building, and the physical building is only one component of what must be considered when creating a home for a person with a disability. When creating a home we must also consider the person’s other needs; their supports, their relationships, and what they will be doing once they are living in the space, etc..

Creating Your Home Workbook (Free)

Additionally, I have updated the ‘Creating Your Home Workbook’, to include these insights and perspectives. The original workbook was downloaded over 100 times, and I’ve sent the updated version to those of you who have already downloaded the original workbook. This workbook is designed to guide your thinking to create the best home for an individual with a disability, and to encourage you to take the first steps to make this home a reality!

Claim your FREE 'Creating Your Home Workbook!

The 'Housing' Problem:

If you are reading this blog you intuitively know that there are many additional considerations for a person with an intellectual/ developmental disability (IDD) when creating a home. Supports that exist to help vary by jurisdiction globally. Where I live, in Ontario Canada there is what many would call a housing crisis. As of 2016, the Ontario Government Ministry of Community and Social Services was supporting approximately 18,000 people with a developmental disability in group homes and other supported living, and an additional 9,700 people were on a waiting list for residential supports. So, the reported demand for residential housing support is over 50% greater than the supply. The demand is likely higher than reported because it obviously doesn’t include people who have not registered for the list. Reference: (The Toronto Star, 2016)

In many areas around the world there are long waiting list for people with a developmental disability in search of government supported housing. As you continue to read, I am going to outline that government supported housing is actually not the optimal solution for an individual with an intellectual/ developmental disability (IDD) in the majority of cases. You are better off designing and creating an individualized home that meets the desires and needs of the individual, which provides them control over their life.

9 Insights on Creating a Home for a Person with a Disability

1) The individualized one person at a time option is the best option for people.

(Michael Kendrick (PhD) is a well-known international consultant in Human Services. Michael is involved in consulting, education and evaluative work with many governments, private agencies, advocacy groups, community organizations, universities and colleges across the globe.)

In episode #047 I ask guest Michael Kendrick, “Why is investment in group homes an outdated idea?”

In Summary Michael Answers:

Group Homes are based on the assumption that people with disabilities should live together. We [everyone else] chose to live with people we are compatible with.

Group homes are forced shared living, and this often creates a stressful living situation.

Investment in group homes creates the idea that it is the only option for people.

Individualized one person at a time is much better because it gives you much more choice.

The group home option is no longer at the leading edge. It is a dying service model.

 Many jurisdictions have a freeze on the growth of segregated living across the globe.

2) The people living in group homes want a home of their own.

(Lynne Seagle, CEO of Hope House Foundation, a not-for-profit organization started in 1964 by family members, whom had sons and daughters with developmental disabilities, in Virginia, USA.)

Paraphrasing from podcast episode #045 Lynne Seagle shares,

“…finding out people didn’t want to live in group homes started with a survey. The survey asked the question, ‘Does everyone like where they are living?’ Everyone said yes. It was odd to ask 120 some folks a personal question and get the same answer. We then re-worded the question to, ‘How do you want to live?’. And, the flood gates opened. People answered 1 of 3 ways, from most dominant to least; 1) I want a home of my own, 2) people wanted a job (most people were in day programs or workshops), and 3) friendship and romance.

Lynne continues, “We [Hope House] had defined excellence as meeting all the rules – [our] paperwork was clean, [we had] no employee grievances, well-kept homes, and low staff turnover. We were looked at as the model in Virginia, USA. BUT, when we gathered these themes [truths] we reviewed our program plans and not one program plan addressed these needs of people. This was a daunting realization for our organization.”

As I reflected on my conversations with Lynne Seagle and Michael Kendrick, I thought about what it would look and feel like to live in a group home. I would be forced to live with people that I don’t know, and many of my freedoms that I enjoy would be taken away. I wouldn't always be able to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I’d lose control of who is entering my home. This sounds terrible, and it is. Now to help you think about this further, there are similarities between group home living and living in a nursing home, or retirement home. When you think about living in a nursing home or retirement home do you get excited about the experience?

An important point to make here is that it is the model and system of group living that is oppressing people, not the people working in these models. The people are typically some of the most kind and caring people in the world. It is the model and system we need to think differently about. 

3) Creating a home is about building a life, the house is only part of the picture.

(Ron Pruessen, is a father to Caroline, who has a developmental disability, is a member of Opportunities Mississauga, and he is the Chair of the Ontario Developmental Services Housing Task Force.  The Ontario Developmental Services Housing Task Force was given $3MM in annualized funding, which has funded 18 pilot projects from the 200 proposals submitted.)

In episode #016 I ask Ron Pruessen, “As father, someone that is involved with a family group, and the housing task force what have you learned along the journey about housing?”

Ron shares, “There has been a lot of learning and frustration. The Government [of Ontario] is not doing enough and has a limited menu of things that they are doing [in housing]. There are many great ideas at the grass roots level. The variety of ideas is enormous, people have been extremely creative in imaging their futures. Individuals have been doing the visioning, and they see the possibilities out there.”

[In my opinion, this highlights the importance of individual options.]

Ron shares, the most significant example of creativity he has seen is building partnerships. The community can provide the best solutions. Not just because you can mobilize financial resources, but also because you can develop a wealth of opportunities (educational, social, employment), and this is incredibly important. The house is an important part of the picture, but it isn't the whole solution. Community connections improve quality of life, but the government can't do this, we have to do this.

Ron shares important insights in episode #016, which I have summarized above. However, there is one point that we discussed in that I do not completely agree with, and I failed to address this point previously. Ron shares, “I think the assumption for many years is that this [housing for people with a disability] is a government responsibility. It is the equivalent saying people need health care, which is provincially funded in the province of Ontario…. It is the equivalent of what we do for senior citizens in providing pensions and support for housing opportunities. It is a government responsibility, there is no question about it, I would argue. And, I don’t think the government isn’t doing enough. But, it is also a community responsibility…. What the community can do will provide better solutions to the problems.”

I agree with Ron’s comments that many people do hold the assumption that ‘Housing’ for people with disabilities is a government responsibility. This is the mindset that many of us continue to hold and it is perpetuating the ‘crisis’ state many families find themselves in. I disagree that creating a home is fully a government responsibility. Here is the reason why... When we [families] hold the assumption that the government is responsible for housing for our loved one with an IDD we give away the power that we have. We can put ourselves in a helpless state, or victim state. When we have hold this mindset that the government is responsible we accept the menu of sub-optimal options that the government provides us, and this puts us at the mercy of long waitlists, in many jurisdictions. And, this is a waitlist for sub-optimal options! If we hold the mindset that the government is responsible for creating a home for our loved one we are at the mercy of the government, and we give up our control. The good news is that we can take our power back. If families are feeling like a victim of a ‘housing crisis’ [i.e. you are waiting for government solutions], I invite you to consider making a choice to become a creator and to take your power back. In other words, the idea here is an invitation to take an active role in creating a home, vs a passive role waiting for a sub-optimal government solution.

On the flip side of this point, I agree with Ron in that we need to keep advocating to the government that more funding is needed to support our families in implementing/ funding our one person at a time solutions to creating a home. I believe Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a possible solution to the poverty situation that many people with a disability face. A realization that I have come to is that, the government isn’t going to solve our problems, but they can be a part of the solution.

[If you want to learn more about UBI I recommend listing to Sam Harris’s interview with Andrew Yang on the Waking up Podcast.]

4) Give people their own front door, and separate housing and supports.

(Chris Woodhead is the Group Director of Housing and Business Development for Dimensions UK. Dimensions UK supports 5,000 with learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).)

In my interview with Chris, In episode #025, he shares, “Dimensions UK’s aspiration is for people to have their own front door. Not all of Dimensions UK’s accommodation is in line with this aspiration at this time. For example, some housing is larger scale accommodation with 10 people living in one large accommodation, but over time Dimensions UK looking to remodel for a smaller scale more personalized approach. Housing and support are generally separate. Dimensions holds a core value that where you live is important to quality of life (health and wellbeing), but people should be able to choose who supports them. You shouldn’t have to move if you are unhappy with your support. There is a delineation between the tenancy agreement and the support contract. We operate around choice and control. If we get their housing right, and we get their support right then we hope they will continue to choose us.”

Chris also shares the Activate Model they have been piloting, which considers 8 different domains in each person’s life; 1) Physical health and wellbeing, 2) Communication and social interaction, 3) The physical environment, 4) Skills, 5) Relationships, 6) Service Staff, 7) Service Management, 8) Wider organizations. [Again, the physical environment (the house) is just a component of the solution.] The early results of this model in practice resulted in a 60% reduction in challenging behaviour, and an increase in satisfaction for support staff. If you would like to learn more about the research visit the Dimensions UK website. 

5) Housing is a Community Issue.

(Janet Klees has been involved in the lives of people with disabilities, their families, and allies in community for over 30 years. Currently, Janet is the Executive Director Durham Region Family Resources and Supports. Janet is the author of three books which are directly rooted in her experience with families, (We Come Bearing Gifts; Our Presence has Roots; Deohaeko Decades).

In episode #022, Janet shares, "Housing is a community issue, not a disability issue. In our most recent housing project, we partnered with Brockville and District Association for Community Involvement on a housing project called, ‘Housing is a Community Issue’. We asked families who were interested in housing to join us in discovering housing solutions together and 35 families showed up. This is incredible because we told the families up front that we don’t have any money to give. It shows how understanding families are that they are going to be part of the solution. Even in this housing crisis, people are still finding housing. With our project, we are thinking about what are the ways that people are finding to build, buy, rent, and to figure out housing. Then asking, ‘why can't these ways fit families that are looking for housing.'

This is an affordability issue, not a disability issue. If people need renovations it is a cost issue. We need to ally ourselves with all the people that are struggling for housing. There are organizations like Habitat for Humanity, and Options for Homes that we can ally with. If the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) is involved in housing they build a service, not a home. Families only have to think about their own son or daughter and think about works best.”

An important observation from Janet, “The change comes when the family realizes that this is their issue to work on.”

7 recommendations from Durham Region Families for for all of us (Government, organizations, and families) to think about as we work toward creating a good life for people with disabilities.

1. Home, housing and support are 3 different things and must be thought of separately.

2. Most housing challenges are affordability, not disability.

3. People with disability contribute to their communities, they are not a burden.

4.Getting good housing and support doesn't mean taking away the individual’s control of their life.

5.Providing renovation dollars allows families to be creative with their current home today (stabilize current situation) and allows for flexible housing in the future.

6. Stop funding congregated mega projects for people with disabilities, and disabilities / seniors. Commit to typical housing options and neighbourhoods.

7. Where there are families that are willing to create a home in community the government needs to support with resources. These are cheapest, most effective models, and they are currently the least funded [in Ontario, Canada].

6) A coach or independent facilitator can support you to create and implement your vision for creating a home (and a life).

(Jessica Cave, Creative Housing Supports Coordinator at Bridges to Belonging in Kitchener, Ontario. Jessica supports people with developmental disabilities and their families who are looking to make the next move in their life.)

In episode #031, Jessica shares that she supports families by helping to figure out what is best for the individual. Her organization starts with the belief that people can live in the community, and that they have the resources and readiness to make it happen. In other words, they start from a place of capability and abundance, which fuels us as creators!

Jessica takes a person directed approach and works directly with families in the Waterloo Region helping them to take this new mindset, and she facilitates the family through creating their vision for housing. Once the vision is created Jessica helps the family to think about what resources the family already has, such as, friends, community, support, and financial. Then they will think about and take the next steps are to bring the plan to life!

7) Creating a Vision: The Best Home for the Individual

(Marg McLean, Executive Director of Community Living St. Marys, and her team have been helping people with disabilities create their home, and support solutions since the 1980's when people were leaving institutions.)

In episode #013, I ask Marg “When thinking about creating a home, what should families be considering?”

Marg shares that people are going on the waitlist [for housing in Ontario, Canada] without thinking, talking, and planning what an ideal home looks like for them. (Note: This is exactly what my family did at the start of our housing search for my sister. Your family is not alone if this is the situation you are in currently.) What works well is for families to come up with a vision of what would be a good home in community.

Marg provides 4 guiding questions to begin your thinking on creating a vision for home:

Where do you want to live?

What kind of building do you want to live in?

Who do you want to live with?

What supports will be needed for your home?

[Note: the free ‘Creating Your Home Workbook’ includes these questions along with other questions and exercises to guide you in creating your vision for your home.]

Also, in Episode #013 Marg shares the story of 3 individuals that her organization supported to create their home. I also share my previous experience of living with my friend, who has a disability. These stories might just give you some ideas and I recommend you listen to this episode!

8) No one can tell you the right answer. You have to figure it out for yourself!

(Keenan Wellar is the Co-leader of LiveWorkPlay, a developmental service agency that works to facilitate community connections and relationships in Ottawa, ON.)

In episode #017 Keenan shares his reply to families that ask him, “What should we do in housing?”

Keenan shares that this is a question is deeply personal, and it isn’t a question that he can directly answer for a question. So, when asked this question, Keenan takes a coach approach by asking a lot of questions in order to draw out the best answer for that family. A couple of questions that Keenan will ask are;

Where do most citizens tend to live in your community?  

What are the barriers the barriers to living in 'ordinary' housing? Are they actually barriers?

Keenan also shares that he will guide families through a 'thought experiment' by considering what it would look and feel like to move in to an apartment, which is a typical first home for many of us moving out of our family home for the first time.

[This is included as an exercise in the free ‘Creating Your Home Workbook’]

9)  Be a creator: Start conversations, build relationships, and uncover community resources.

(Alice Mainland is the mother to Michael Mainland, who has a developmental disability. Michael is 39 years old, has a home of his own, a job, and a life in community)

In episode #023 Alice Mainland shares the story of her family’s journey to create an ordinary life with her son Michael. What I am highlighting from my conversation with Alice, is the creator mindset that she brought to the challenges that her family faced.

In summary from my conversation with Alice, 2 months before her son with an intellectual/ developmental disability (IDD), Michael, graduated from high school, Alice realized they had a problem; there would be nothing for Michael once school ended, and one of his parents would have to stay home to support Michael. As a result, the family would drop down to a single income. Alice started making phone calls to various support agencies, local government, and basically anyone with a phone number that might be able to help. The people she called were willing to help! With the support of a few agencies the family was able to piece together support for Michael, which allowed the family to stay a two-income family. It was a patchwork, but it was a patchwork that worked because people wanted to help.”

Later in the podcast episode Alice shares, “At 29, Michael had the opportunity to move out of [his parents] home because of a conversation 4 -5 years earlier when I was searching for support for Michael.”

Alice shares, “You don’t know what resources are available to you until you ask. “

Resources:

Author and speaker, Donna Thomson, takes us on the journey of a caregiver.

In Episode #050, I had the pleasure of interviewing Donna Thomson and we dove into the topic of caregiving. Donna is an author and speaker on issues relating to family caregiving, disability and aging. She is a patient and family advisor on health research and policy. Donna teaches family caregivers how to advocate for care in hospital and in the community.

If you find this read interesting you can listen to the conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below or searching ‘Empowering Ability’ on your podcast player, such as, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play.

Before my interview with Donna I took the opportunity to read Donna’s first book, ‘The 4 Walls of my Freedom’, which really helped me to gain perspective on what it is be like to be a mother with a child that has medical needs. It gave me perspective on what it must have been like for my own mother, when faced with the medical challenges my sister experienced at a young age. Quoting Donna from her book, “Mothering a child with medical needs is a very public, but lonely endeavor.”

On the podcast I ask Donna, “Can you share your experience so that others listening can also understand your perspective? And, so other mothers maybe don’t feel so alone?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Donna shares, “My son, [Nicholas], has CP [cerebral palsy] and a complex disability. At 4 months [old] he was diagnosed, and it was like he became the property of health care and social care systems. We began to be assessed and I felt as though I was under a microscope. [I was] Grateful for the assistance because you feel like it is the key to the future success of your child, and you want to present as a competent parent. Then you learn when you present as a competent parent that’s reason for people to abandon you. If you seem to be doing well then people aren’t going to help you. In order to access the help you need at home you have to demonstrate failure as a parent. What do these assessments and scores about my baby say about me? Am I a success or failure as a parent? All of this brought the bond between my son and I closer and we would have very intimate moments when alone at home.”

I ask, “Do you feel that this pushed you into being a victim?”

In summary Donna replied, “Not exactly. We had to demonstrate to the system what our needs where, and to do that they had to show them that they were struggling.”

Finding Pleasure in Peeling the Potatoes:

In a previous conversation with Donna it came up that she had to find pleasure in peeling the potatoes and this connects directly to her book title ‘The Four Walls of My Freedom.’ On the podcast, I ask Donna, “Why do we need to find pleasure in peeling the potatoes? And, how do we do that?”

Paraphrasing from the podcast Donna shares, “I can’t leave my house, so how can I make a rich life of this? Watching the lady peeling the avocados next door through the window, [I admired] the way she was able to peel the avocado without breaking the skin was beautiful. I started thinking I can do that. Then I started thinking about how well I am peeling vegetables. It was sensual, secondly, I was feeding my children. I linked what I was doing with the purpose of what I was doing.  

I started thinking about the tiniest things that I was doing as forms of meditation, and it made me happy. I wasn’t doing anything differently, I was simply looking at myself doing the jobs of feeding the kids, doing the laundry, and making the bed.

Locating the extraordinary in the ordinary. We have the benefit of the slow movement lived loud in our families. We do things more slowly, we are more contemplative, we do things more purposefully. There is opportunity in finding meaning and joy in the way we live.”

Everyone is a Caregiver.

Donna shares, “The word caregiver applies to everybody. At the end of the day we are talking about dependency needs met by someone else. A pet, a friend, we all look after each other even when we are perfectly healthy in the prime of our lives. You are not feeling good I will bring you over some soup. We don’t have anything in our society to say that caring for someone is okay. The pendulum has swung so far away from providing care [being accepted in our society].

In my first conversation with Donna, she helped me to realize that I am a caregiver. When I was honest with myself it was the truth, and it felt weird. My ego didn’t want to accept this language because of the societal stigmas that are attached to caregiving. At first, it made me feel weak. Upon reflection, and acceptance that I am a caregiver there is a strength that comes with being a caregiver. Caregiving is one of the most connected and real human experiences that we can have, it has been wired into our biology as we have evolved as an advanced species. As Donna shares, “Everyone is a caregiver.” 

So I ask you, how are you a caregiver? I invite you to celebrate that you are a caregiver, and not to fight it or deny it. What are the benefits that caregiving brings into your life?

Donna's Life as an Activist:

Paraphrasing from the podcast Donna Shares, “My idea was do to a post mortem on our family experience and the support that we received, or did not receive, and to determine what was helpful and what was not helpful. I thought this would be useful for other families and policy makers. I became involved in inclusion. I became active in the family movement, and I became involved with the Ottawa affiliate for PLAN, which is all about citizenship.

I became aware of and met Indian economist, Amartya Sen, who developed ‘The Capability Approach’. The Capability Approach looks at how people can be supported by the community and the State so that they can have a life that they value. It is about individual choice and being supported to have a life that you value within circumstances of adversity. Sen was looking at extreme poverty in India, but I used this approach to look at my family.”

Donna used this approach in her book 'The 4 Walls of my Freedom’  looking at how people can make personal choices, express their personal values, and live in the community to do this. Donna and I further discuss inclusion, and I recommend you listen to this episode to hear these perspectives.

Donna's New Book:

I’m co-writing a new book with Dr Zackery White, a professor at Queens University in Charlotte North Carolina.

Donna shares, “Dr. Zackery White is writing about Caregiver identity and how it is so difficult to express the transformations that happen when giving high levels of care to someone. Lots of things grow and lots of things die when you become immersed in giving care to someone.

Giving people language to create the narrative to understand your life in the now.

My part of the book is the what’s next. What can you do to be an advocate and take action; personal support networks, what are the assets in your community [asset based community development], and online tools including support groups. These are actions you can take to thrive in situations of adversity. It will be titled something like ‘Transformations in Caregiving’ ”.

I thank Donna for coming on the podcast and sharing her deeply personal experiences, and her insights on caregiving. Thank you for doing the work you do Donna!

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

Donna's Blog: The Caregivers' Living Room  www.donnathomson.com

Book  ‘The 4 Walls of my Freedom’– Available at any major book seller.

Facebook Group - The caregivers living room

If you received value from this content please leave me a review on iTunes. By leaving a 5 star review on iTunes you make the Empowering Ability Podcast more discoverable, and more families will benefit. Click Here To Leave a Review on iTunes

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and various other apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Click Here To Listen on iTunes

Tags:

#Caregiving

#Donna Thompson

#WeAreAllCaregivers

Dr. Yona Lunsky discusses state of mental health and developmental disability, how to notice mental health challenges, and different treatments.

In this episode, I welcome Dr. Yona Lunsky on to the podcast to talk about developmental disability (DD) and Mental Health. Dr. Yona Lunsky is Director of the Azriei Centre for Adult Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Mental Health, and Director of the Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities (H-CARDD) Program at CAMH. She is Professor and Developmental Disabilities Lead in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). In this episode we discuss Dr. Lunsky’s journey into the field of mental health and developmental disability (DD), the state of mental health in the developmental disability community, how to notice mental health challenges, and the different treatment options available.  

Below is a summary of some of the highlights from my conversation with Dr. Yona Lunsky. If you find this read interesting you can listen to the conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below, or searching ‘Empowering Ability’ on your podcast player, such as, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play.

On the podcast, Yona shares that she has an older sister who has a DD, and she tells us about her family experience. She also shares what led her down her career path to support people with developmental disabilities experiencing mental health challenges. Take a listen to the podcast to hear more of Yona’s Journey.

Why should we be talking about health in the Developmental Disability (DD) community?

Paraphrasing from the podcast, Yona shares, “When we are healthy we get to enjoy our lives. When we are unhealthy it restricts us; work, where we can live, how much money it costs day-to-day [living expenses], and the activities we can do. We know people with DDs are less healthy, and have more health problems than people that don’t have DDs. There are lots of reasons why they [People with a DD] are less healthy. It isn’t necessarily the disability, the disability itself is not a sickness, but how they manage their health, and the barriers that come up for people with DDs can impact their health.”

Mental Health in the DD community.

Yona shares, “The likelihood of having a mental illness is much greater for a person with a DD than without. In the general population 1 in 5 people experience mental health challenges. Through H-CARDD we looked at the number of people under 65 [years of age] with a DD that were given a psychiatric diagnosis over a two year period, and found it was 2 in 5 people. These problems are more common for people with DD, and they are less likely to get the help that they need. People with a DD are less likely to understand their emotions, and [are less likely] to be able to put language to it. This puts them at a disadvantage.”

What Does Dual Diagnosis Mean?

Having a DD and also having a mental health problem at the same time.

Diagnostic Overshaddowing

Yona explains, “If someone with a DD presents with symptoms of depression, the clinician might but look at the person and say oh that is your disability, and miss that the depression is actually there, and it may go untreated.”

Why might mental health be a larger challenge for people with a DD?

Yona explains, “What makes us feel healthy? Are we engaged in meaningful activities?, Do we have strong friendships?, Are we included?, Do we have opportunities to contribute?. People with DD are at a disadvantage here and this all impacts mental health. If the person themself can’t recognize there is a problem, then it becomes up to others to recognize there is a problem and we are worse at recognizing there is a problem when someone has a DD. By the time we do notice, it can be pretty late in the game, and this makes it even more difficult to help them.”

I ask, so what are the antidotes to poor mental health?

Yona shares first there are things we can do to prevent mental health challenges:

Things like bullying are clearly related to mental health, and we can give people skills so they know that to do in these situations.

Building positive social relationships. These are reciprocal relationships and they are not stressful or demanding too much of you.  

Doing things that are meaningful and important for you.

Yona explains the importance of taking action on these prevention steps for young adults with a DD, “There are many people who have mental health issues who are hospitalized in young adulthood. I don’t think this is a coincidence that this happens since when you finish school your activities, your friends and the people who know you really change. Not having anything to do during the day, and watching tv in the basement, losing friends, failing because there isn’t the right supports, all of this impacts your mental health.”

How do we help someone that might be experiencing a mental health challenge?

Yona shares, “Be a detective and notice what has changed. What is different now than before and be able to provide examples in daily life. It is important to notice the change, and it is easier to treat when there is a small mental health issue emerging.”

Yona promotes using the ‘HELP’ model when examining an individual’s mental health.

Yona explains the model on the podcast:

H - Health. First we need to look at what is going on in terms of health that could have changed. Is there a physical change? One thing that looks like depression is hypothyroidism, but this has nothing to do with depression. Constipation is one of the biggest issues leading to aggregation and discomfort for people with DD. And, this is often missed because the person might not be able to put the language to it.

E - Environment. What is going on in the environment? What are the supports and expectations right now? Are things stressful? Too demanding?  Are people expecting too little? Is there a good match between her situation, and what she feels she is able to do? If the match is poor than address it.

L - Life Events. What has happened in the past that might be contributing to this issue? Bullying, ostracized, loss (experiencing grief), etc..

P - Psychiatric. Once health, environment, and life events are examined - could it be depression or anxiety? Treatment for these mental illnesses could include engaging in activity, seeing a counselor, medication, etc.

Families can use this model in order before going to get help from a medical provider, and families can use this model with their mental health professional.

Treatment with Medication:

Paraphrasing from the podcast Yona shares:

“The research shows that the likelihood of being prescribed several medications at the same time is not small [for people with a DD]. These medications interact with each other, and cause other problems. These medications can help, but they can also harm.

In Ontario Canada, medications are paid for (antidepressants, etc) under the disability program. But, other services such as psychotherapy are not covered. The likelihood of fulfilling prescriptions are high, and the most commonly prescribed drug to people with DD are not for cholesterol, diabetes, or asthma, they are for psychiatric issues. The most commonly prescribed drug are antipsychotics. These are pretty heavy duty drugs which require a lot of monitoring.

If doctor prescribed medication to me, I would go on the computer and look at it, get a print out from the pharmacy, I would look at the side effects, and tell the doctor right away if I was noticing any of them. [However,] people with DD aren’t always able to notice the side effects, or to understand why they are taking the medication.”

** Disclaimer: Do not just stop taking any medication that your doctor may have prescribed to you. Let this be a prompt to you to have a conversation with your doctor about your experience using your medication(s).

Let’s Talk About Mental Health

Yona’s final message is, “It is important to talk about it [mental health]. If we don’t talk about it we don’t solve anything by avoiding the problems. Mental health is just as important as any physical aspect of our health.”

On the podcast we discuss some practical ways on how to start the conversation on mental health. Take a listen!

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode, consider sharing it with someone else you feel would benefit. Coming soon there will be a way for you, or your organization, to contribute to this work. Stay tuned for the details.

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

- Talk to Dr. Yona Lunsky on Twitter @yonalunsky

- Books beyond words

- H-CARDD Health Tools for people with disabilities and caregivers

- More on The HELP model

- Dual diagnosis resources from CAMH

- A Family guide to dual diagnosis 

- Video of Dr. Yona Lunsky discussing the HELP ideas

If you received value from this content please leave me a review on iTunes. By leaving a 5 star review on iTunes you make the Empowering Ability Podcast more discoverable, and more families will benefit. Click Here To Leave a Review on iTunes

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and various other apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Click Here To Listen on iTunes

Ted Kuntz shares his journey of personal transformation as he realized the who he wanted to be in the world with his son Joshua and with others.

Ted Kuntz is a gifted psychotherapist and the author of the best-selling books, Peace Begins With Me and 8 Weeks to A Better Relationship. Ted has a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology and more than 25 years experience as a clinician and a consultant. Much of Ted’s wisdom has come from his personal journey as the father of a child with severe disabilities. Ted's journey with his son Joshua taught him how to make peace with life and to take full advantage of the gifts and opportunities life offers.

 Below is a summary of some of the highlights from my conversation with Ted. If you find this read interesting you can listen to the conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below, or searching ‘Empowering Ability’ on your podcast player, such as, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play.

I was fortunate to meet Ted at Partner’s for Planning’s Art of Resilience event this year, where I told Ted that I saw his talk the previous year at the Art of Belonging. It was one of the most inspiring talks that I’ve experienced, and Ted’s stories went straight to my heart. When I met Ted I shared my gratitude for his talk and vulnerability. I also shared that I had purchased his Book “Peace Begins with Me.” But embarrassingly, I hadn’t read it yet. I invited Ted to join me on the podcast, and I promised myself that I was going to read his book. We both kept our promise, and I am happy to bring you insights from Ted Kuntz!

Ted’s Journey (so far):

I’ve paraphrased Ted’s story from the podcast episode below and quoted some important conversations Ted shares.

“It has been a very challenging journey, but very rich journey. It took me while to embrace the rich journey. At 5 months of age my son Joshua was damaged by a vaccine shot and developed an uncontrollable seizing disorder resulting in a neurological injury. This injury resulted in 24-hour care for the rest of his life and significant disabilities. In February 2017, Joshua passed away.”

Josh transformed Ted as a father and human being in ways that Ted could have never imagined. I ask Ted on the podcast, “Are there moments or experiences of transformation that you can share with us?”

Ted shares that there are two experiences that he has identified as the most transformative, the first was when Ted went to see a Physic:

Ted asked the physic: “Will my son live?”  

Physic: “Have no fear the son will outlive the father.”

Ted: “If my son will live, what will he be when he grows up?”

Physic “Your son will be what he already is, and that is a teacher.”

Ted didn’t understand how his son would be a teacher at first, but the words sat with him. What he came to realize is that Joshua was here to teach him about being a human being. He was here to teach acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and working through human challenges.

The second transformative experience that Ted shares on the podcast is his daily ritual with Joshua. When Ted pulled into the driveway after work he would see Joshua at the window saying, “Hi Dad”. When Joshua wasn’t at the window to greet Ted, Ted knew that Joshua wasn’t having a good day. On this day, Ted pulled into the driveway and he stood there looking at his son in joy, and a voice inside of Ted's head asked him this question, “When your son looks through the glass at you what does he see?”

Ted reflected on this powerful question, and Ted found the truth; Joshua sees a father who is angry, afraid, and a father who is rejecting his son. Ted committed that day to make peace with his situation, to accept it, to claim his joy, and to fall in love with the son he had. That was the day Ted’s life began to change.

Insights:

Eric shares, “For us to have these transformations we need to embrace these moments and let ourselves bring these questions and experiences into our consciousness to find our truth.”

Ted shares, “The transformation came out of an intense amount of suffering. Suffering can be one of the gateways to wisdom.”

I ask, “How do you shift out of suffering state to a state of joy?”

Ted replies, “Take responsibility for emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual state of being. We often give away our power – something else is responsible for our happiness, peace and joy. [For example,] I’ll be happy when Josh stops seizing. If I hold the story that my happiness is dependent on Joshua’s seizing stopping, then I couldn’t be happy. We need to claim ownership of our way of being in the world. I make me happy, I make me sad, I make me angry. Why would I make myself angry? It doesn’t serve me and the rest of humanity by staying in that [angry] state for a long period of time. I can release it any point.”

“I believe when we are operating at our highest potential as human beings that we are living life as creative beings. That we are creating the next moment. Unfortunately, I spent the first 45 years of my life as a reactive being.”

The Hidden Gifts of Disability

Ted Shares, “It [disability] challenges us in a way that we are forced to respond. At first it moved me to those darker places, but I’ve since learned there is a healing that comes about when there is an acceptance. I’ve chosen to live in peace and joy, because my son deserved that. It changed me as a father, a husband, a brother, a son. It made me a better person.”

Ted shares the story of Joshua’s grade 7 teacher:

Paraphrasing from the podcast Ted shares, “When Joshua was entering grade 7 there were 2 male teachers, who were athletes, selecting students for classes for the upcoming year. They decided to do a coin toss for who would pick first. The teacher who won the coin toss looked at the list of students and selected Joshua as the first pick. The other teacher asked, ‘Why Josh? He requires a wheel chair, has an uncontrolled seizure disorder, he has many other needs.’ The other teacher replies that he notices how the kids excitedly greeted Joshua in the morning, how they gently took off his coat, how the other kids altered the rules of the game so Joshua could play at recess, how the children where there laying on the mat with Joshua as he recovers from seizure. If Joshua is in my class it will make it a kinder and gentler place for everyone.”

This teacher helped Ted see Josh’s gifts. Ted was now able to look at Josh with a different set of eyes.

Ted shares, “Is the glass half full or half empty? It is both. Do I look at the full parts, or do I look at the empty parts? We have been socialized to believe that success looks a particular way. What people like Sarah [my sister] and Joshua do is that they remind us that there are other qualities to aspire to. There are things that I wasn’t going to learn from a book, I needed to be in relationship with a person more vulnerable that myself. This is a challenging journey. Let’s not just look at the parts that are difficult, lets also look at the gifts that can be realized out of this journey. Let’s not lose that opportunity to experience some significant transformation as a result of this life experience.”

To embrace this mindset that everybody is a gift to us, Ted plays a game with himself. He asks himself, ‘Who is going to show up today?’, and ‘What gift do they have for me?’, ‘What gift do I have for them?’.  It forces him to appreciate everyone he interacts with.

In this episode, Ted also shares the native story of two wolves - the negative and positive wolves fighting our hearts, a tool to find more joy in our lives, and we discuss David Hawkings map of consciousness. Listen to the podcast for more on this!

Ted leaves us with this message to consider:

“Your way of being is actually more important than what you do. We would be better off if we made 'To Be:' lists every day, rather than 'To Do:' lists. Be gentle and kind to ourselves. We are on a journey of development. One of the things that I believe is that we don’t make mistakes, we actually make the best decision available to us at that moment with the information, skills, and knowledge that we have.”

I am grateful for the stories, insights and rich conversation Ted gave us.

If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode, consider sharing it with someone else you feel would benefit. Coming soon there will be a way for you, or your organization, to contribute to this work. Stay tuned for the details.

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

Book: Peace Begins With Me

If you received value from this content please leave me a review on iTunes. By leaving a 5 star review on iTunes you make the Empowering Ability Podcast more discoverable, and more families will benefit. Click Here To Leave a Review on iTunes

The Empowering Ability Podcast is available on iTunes and various other apps so that you can listen while on the go from your smartphone!

Click Here To Listen on iTunes

Learn how people with disabilities have lived, how they are living, and what we have learned from renowned consultant Michael Kendrick.

[4-minute read, 65-minute listen]         

It is my pleasure to bring to you episode #047 with well-known international consultant in Human Services, Michael Kendrick PhD. Michael is involved in consulting, education and evaluative work with many governments, private agencies, advocacy groups, community organizations, universities and colleges across the globe. His work has involved training, evaluations, strategic planning, critical problem solving and confidential advice in the areas of mental health, disability and aging with an emphasis on persons requiring long term support. Michael has also developed and delivered the Optimal Individual Service Design (OISD) course that is the most in-depth leadership level educational program available internationally at present. [I’ve taken Michael’s OISD course, and I personally recommend it.]

In this episode of the Empowering Ability podcast Michael Kendrick answers the questions of; How have people with disabilities lived?, How are they living today?, and, What have we learned? Michael also shares how we need to have a Mindshift to higher expectations and normalization for people disabilities, and also how we need to have enlightened attentiveness when with people. 

This blog paraphrases segments of my conversation with Michael, if you find this read interesting you can listen to the conversation in its entirety by clicking play on the player below or searching ‘Empowering Ability’ on your podcast player, such as, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, etc..

How have people with disabilities lived? and, How are they living today?

Paraphrasing from the podcast Michael shares:

 People [with disabilities] have lived under different circumstances depending on what point in history, and in what culture. It is clear that people with disabilities have been treated as inferior or of less value. They have less capacity than their brothers or sisters and so on, and large numbers of people see people with disabilities as negative. This has led to people with disabilities being treated as less human. [For example] When getting medical procedures people [with disabilities] didn’t get the same anesthetic because they were different than everyone else. Also, there are people aborting people with disabilities – this is a very strong statement that they are unwanted and seen as a burden.

They [people with disabilities] live in a world of assumptions created by other people, which has big impacts on what kind of life they get to live. Everyone is subject to assumptions about them. There are two kinds assumptions; assumptions that liberate them and assumptions that hold them back. There was a time when it was believed people with disabilities couldn’t have regular jobs in the community, and now there are jurisdictions where 3 out of 4 people with disabilities have jobs in community. There was a time it was thought people with disabilities couldn’t be in regular classrooms. We see this now. In these examples a 'mindshift' has taken place. When we change our mind, we change our world. These mindsets have shifted in the last 2.5 generations, mostly in western societies, but this is moving into other societies.

This shift started in Sweden and Denmark with the Normalization principal; simply [the idea] where devalued people should be treated like everyone else. This was later translated into the theory of social role valorization. Life will get better for people with disabilities when we pay attention to what is going on in our minds and we shift our perceptions.

There is a belief that people would be better off segregated. If they are not with us, then they are somewhere else. They would be happier with their own kind, their own kind is other disabled people. Segregated sport, housing, schooling, work – there is segregated everything. We all need support to be successful, especially in new environments and social contexts.

It is a myth that people with disabilities can’t succeed in inclusive settings.

What have we learned?

We have been too conservative and cautious about the true potentials for people with disabilities. The pessimism [of others] is the problem, not the people with disabilities.

“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”  

- JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

How do we hold higher expectations for people with disabilities?

If something benefits the rest of the world, it will benefit people with disabilities as well.

The application of this is called Culturally Valued Analogue (CVA). Simply, provide the same options that the rest of us have available to us. We should always do the normal thing and make it available to people with disabilities; the same activities and pastimes.

Include people with disabilities in new experiences and see what they might enjoy. Each should have the opportunity to build an interesting life for themselves. This is why the individualized option makes sense for people. This is why it is regressive to give people the same options [for example, group homes].

If people haven’t had opportunities, create new opportunities for that person. It is never too late. If people have become deprived, it is ‘overcomable’. The caution is to do it at the pace of the individual. An exploratory journey of life tasting. Even if you have been held back, you can make up for it.

Capacity for Decision Making

Some people think disability means they have no capacity at all. A truer appraisal of all of us is that we all lack capacities of one kind or another to some degree. People with disabilities certainly have capacity. They can make decisions on their own behalf, and is it better that they do that, because they will learn how to make good decisions and they will experience the consequences of the decisions that didn’t turn out to be so good - like everyone else. That is how you learn about decision making, is making decisions and practicing decision making. You can safeguard people and their vulnerabilities with decision making. They can pick their own supporters to help them with decisions in areas they feel they need support in making decisions.

People with disabilities rebel against not being able to be decision makers because they feel things are being done to them or on them, rather than with them. People are also easier to get along with when people [they] are decision makers because they don’t feel threatened, and that people [others] are there in a supportive way. Often behaviors will disappear.

There might be times were people with disabilities might not make good decisions. It would be neglectful not to support people, even when they don’t ask for it. The person might be unwilling to take support, but there are times where people can intervene, but it must be done respectfully. If people are concerned about us, they ought to be able to share their concerns about our decisions. You are not giving up the ability to influence, but you are giving up the control of the individual.

On the podcast, Michael discusses his views on circles of support, and how they can benefit an individual. 

Why is investment in group homes an outdated idea?

In summary:

It is based on the assumption that people with disabilities should live together. We [everyone else] chose to live with people we are compatible with.

It is forced shared living.

It creates the idea that it is the only option for people.

There are much better options. Individualized one person at a time is much better because it gives you much more choice.

Many jurisdictions have a freeze on the growth of segregated living.

Michael’s Challenge To Everyone:

Give people with disabilities quality attention when you are with them. If you pay attention to people a lot of things about people and their lives will become more clear to you. Pay attention. Let us get instructed by them, simply by knowing the person and getting to know them better. Be really attentive to learning who they are and what their life is like. We don’t know where this will take us, but this will raise our consciousness and change us for the better. One great shortcoming we all have is that we don’t take people with disabilities seriously enough. I think the antidote to that is ‘enlightened attentiveness’ to the person and let it go where it goes. It is the most deeply respectful thing we can do, is to pay attention to a human being.

On the podcast, I give my perspective on how we can practice enlightened attentiveness and I share a story of my sister (Sarah) which is a good example of my 'mindshift' of doing WITH Sarah, instead of FOR Sarah. If you are interested in my insights take a listen to the podcast.

A big thank you to Michael Kendrick for coming on the podcast and sharing his wisdom. If you received value from reading this blog or listening to this podcast episode I encourage you to share it with someone else you feel would benefit.

Love & Respect,

Eric Goll

Resources:

Video Insights from Michael Kendrick: Click here for youtube videos