Full participation and inclusion does not happen overnight. We need to consider how we promote and support people with disabilities and their families when providing quality services. We need to promote social capital so everyone understands the benefit of any person, including persons with a disability, contributing to our society.
At Ability Works, we need to create more opportunities for people with disabilities to become part of the workforce in competitive employment. We need to feel comfortable with the choices of the people we support, share their vision, and be innovative in fulfilling it. To support people with disabilities to lead everyday lives, it’s going to require our new initiative “documentation with me, not without me” campaign.
“Documentation with me, not without me” is for people with IDD and Direct Support Professionals to reach decisions about services together, with a shared understanding of the support, options available, and the risk and benefits of each of those.
“Documentation with me, not without me,” clarifies what skills and resources are required to implement it and it outlines what actions are needed to make this vision a reality.
“Documentation with me, not without me” should:
Support people with IDD to articulate their understanding of the services and supports they want or hope to achieve
Continue to inform and educate each person served about how they are progressing towards their person-centered outcomes, other support options available, and about the benefits and risks of each.
Ensure that people with IDD and DSP’s arrive at a decision based on mutual understanding of this information
Record and implement each support decision reached.
All documentation required and completed for every person served at Ability Works is to be implemented under the “Documentation with me, not without me,” quality principle.