Description:

While there is widespread espousal that social inclusion is important in the lives of people with disabilities, significant progress is yet to occur. This article identifies five challenges for those in leadership roles: developing a deep sense of what the concept ‘social inclusion’ really means; confronting the values questions; developing consciousness of what the community is taught through the actions of services; transforming the role of services and workers; and the use of theory-based knowledge. The article also explores the attributes of those in leadership roles, so that they are more equipped to respond to these challenges: ethical and moral leadership; a combination of conceptual clarity, insight, knowledge and wisdom; authentic relationships with people with disabilities and family members; an appreciation of history; and a faith and efforts in things that are likely to bring dividends.

Description:

This article serves as an introduction to Theory U, a process that shows how individuals, teams, organizations and large systems can build the essential leadership capacities needed to address the root causes of today’s social, environmental, and spiritual challenges. 

Description:

At the age of thirty, supported employment has given rise to significant accomplishments, but much of its promise remains unfulfilled. Wolfensberger's Social Role Valorization (SRV) theory offers a substantive method for analyzing and strengthening supported employment practices while describing principles for addressing patterns of social devaluation imposed on people with disabilities. Using formal SRV theory, this paper will explore the power of the employee role. Improved clarity about the role of employee, when it exists and when it does not (i.e., “my employee” versus “your client”) represents one way to bolster supported employment and increase positive possibilities in life for people with disabilities.

Description:

It is not always the case that what ordinary people may think of as a ‘real’ home agrees with what agencies and systems may think of as a ‘real’ home. This is because everyday people exist in the world of normative culture in which a home can mean much more than simply a place to live. A ‘real’ home is not solely one’s dwelling place, but rather a key crucible in life that helps sustain and uphold much that is deeply personal, private and intimate about us. It reflects our deep identity, values and preferences for a good life.

 

Agencies and systems are not impervious to such concerns about home, but they may often come under the sway of other intentions and preoccupations that can distort how ‘home’ becomes interpreted in practice. What follows are some initial guidelines as to how supportive persons, agencies and systems can define their role in such a way that they can become a help rather than a hindrance to achievement in the lives of those who may require support in order to obtain a home of their own.

Description:

Residential services play a dominant role in overall control of the lives of clients. The well-being of residents can he dramatically helped or hurt by the character of the services and those who work in them. The range of ethical issues that may he faced is substantial since virtually all aspects of life are affected by one's home life. What has been selected here for discussion are merely some of these issues.

Description:

This article is an edited and expanded transcript of a presentation first given at a Citizen Advocacy workshop in Adelaide, Australia, in September 1992. This material can be understood freestanding, as presented here, but the majority of the Australian audience had just attended a 5 day workshop on Social Advocacies in which there was a one-hour presentation on the nature and role of assumptions in advocacy, and another half-hour review of those assumptions that we believe to be valid and adaptive for all kinds of advocacy. Thus, most of the audience was already familiar with these basic concepts, and the material presented here was meant to elaborate these concepts more specifically as they apply to Citizen Advocacy.