With the transition to adulthood for my son, I felt more and more the lack of good models.
Sure, the education that was offered when he was school-age didn’t fit his needs well (it didn’t even fit his needs badly). My feeling about my experiences with the public school board was that “the system” blamed us for not bringing them a child who fit into the way(s) they wanted to provide education. And this (25 years ago) wasn’t even trying to implement inclusive options – it was “special” education). But compared to adult life, I still felt then that there were reference models (no matter how badly they fit), and people who were supposed to be working with us (even if it sometimes felt combative).
Typical adulthood comes with more choice and options for the adult and fewer prescribed models. And it comes with the assumption that adults will mostly be able to enact their own choices. For those with developmental and other disabilities, the models of adulthood can be much farther away from the models of childhood – at least they are for our family.
For families that want to support a meaningful adult life for their family members with high support needs, figuring out and then implementing a vision is daunting. One of the things that helps me is to see a range of solutions and choices other families are making, in order to help me figure out what will work for us.
Recently I got introduced to an initiative from the Australian Government Department of Social Services – the National Alliance for Capacity Building. Here’s what they say about their My Home My Way site, podcast and videos:
“It is often believed that the only option for people with developmental disabilities is to live in a group home once they leave their family home. Over many decades, people with disabilities and families have challenged this belief. They have shown that people, even with complex needs, can live in their own home.
This website contains many resources, often written or produced by people with a disability and their supporters. These resources will assist in holding a vision for each person, no matter what their needs, to live in their own home with a range of personally tailored supports.”
I’m going to highlight some of the resources I find useful on our website and social media. I hope you find them useful too.
I’d like to hear what you think and whether you have other resources you want us to share. If so, please contact us at contact@inclusionactionontario.ca.
