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REVOLUTIONARY COMMON SENSE LIBRARY
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With the Budget Crisis...
Natural Supports
and Generic Services:
More Important
Than Ever
Revolutionary Common Sense by Kathie Snow
www.disabilityisnatural.com
According
to the news, 48 states are facing massive financial shortfalls. State legislatures
are cutting services and programs across the board to deal with their budget
crises. Many states already have waiting lists for services available to
people with disabilities and their families; today’s cuts are making an already bad situation
worse, and there’s no end in sight.
Under these circumstances, natural supports and generic services to meet the
needs of people with disabilities and family members are more important than
ever. We don’t have to go without!
What are natural supports and generic services? The abundant supply of
supports (from everyday people) and services (from ordinary organizations)
that already exist in our communities, and which are used by people
who don’t have
disabilities.
Consider all the possibilities in your neck of the woods—if you don’t
know what’s available, get in the car and drive around, scour the Yellow
Pages, and ask others. We often don’t know about the bounty in our communities
because we’ve depended on the service system for almost everything, and
we’ve never looked to see what’s in our own backyards! Parks and
Recreation departments, churches, hobby/interest clubs, service clubs, nonprofit
organizations, local businesses, libraries, museums, and other entities are
all potential sources of natural support and/or generic services.
Regarding employment, people with disabilities can be encouraged or helped
to find jobs the way people without disabilities find them: through networking,
newspaper ads, etc. Self-employment (as described by Cary Griffin in
the “Becoming
a Business Owner” article) is an exciting and viable option.
Every community boasts hobby and other clubs. When adults with disabilities
become connected with everyday people in their community, based on
shared interests, amazing outcomes are possible! For example, if Derek,
who has an interest in model trains, begins attending the Model Train
Club meetings in his community, he’ll meet new friends. With a wider circle of friends comes increased
opportunities for finding a real job, a real place to live with natural supports
(instead of a congregate living setting), and more. This is not pie-in-the-sky
thinking—it’s really happening in pockets here and there across
the country. It can happen in your community, too!
Instead of respite care services, family members can turn to friends,
neighbors, churches, and other sources. Many parents use respite because
they don’t
feel “nonprofessionals” are willing or able to care for a family
member with a disability. But that’s just not true! Across the country,
teenagers, neighbors, friends, relatives, and others are providing loving care
when family members need a night out. If you haven’t found someone to
do this important job in your life, keep looking! And if you don’t feel
you have the money to pay for this, barter the services. Someone helps you,
you help them in return: take care of their kids, pick up their groceries,
or do something else! Moreover, if you think someone can’t take care
of your child as well as a “professional” respite care provider
can, remember that you know how to take care of your child, and you probably
had to train the respite care worker. You can teach someone else, too!
Instead of physical, occupational, speech, or other traditional therapies,
we can find more natural ways to meet a person’s needs. My friend, Travis,
an extraordinarily wise man who happens to have spina bifida and uses a wheelchair,
once said, “When people without disabilities want to exercise or get
in shape, they go to a fitness club, use home exercise equipment, join a park
and rec team, take a karate class, or do something like that. But when people
with disabilities need to get their bodies in shape, they’re expected
to go to therapy! Why shouldn’t we do the same things as others?”
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So try some new things instead of therapy! Consider ballet, karate, swimming,
other sports, or simply playing games at home and doing other natural activities
that exercise muscles, stimulate vocalization, or whatever! We don’t
have to “therapize” kids lives!
Education is on the chopping block in many states, even though special
ed dollars are supposedly “untouchable.” In some cases, funds for paraeducators
are being cut. If so, we can find other means of ensuring students with disabilities
and their teachers receive additional help, such as PTA/PTO volunteers, “grandparent” programs,
college/high school interns, and/or natural peer support in the classroom.
If funds for assistive technology devices are cut, look to the community!
Service clubs (Lions, Rotary, etc.) exist to serve their communities,
and there are numerous organizations in your city or town. Each could
donate funds to your school (or your child!) to purchase assistive
technology devices. Simultaneously, why don’t parents get the PTA involved? That organization exists to serve
the teachers and students in your school, and fundraising is usually the #1
activity! Why shouldn’t some of those funds be used to improve education
for students with disabilities?
The needs of babies and very young children who receive early childhood
services can also be met through natural supports and generic services.
Many Park and Rec or other organizations have “Mom and Baby” classes/programs.
(Or you can recognize that since you’re the expert on your baby, you
know what he needs—and can provide that—better than anyone else
in the world! One mom who recently came to this conclusion proudly announced
her two-year-old is an “Early Intervention Drop-Out.”)
Preschool-aged kids with disabilities can stay home with mom and
learn the way their brothers and sisters did (from Mom the Expert).
If daycare is needed, an ordinary preschool or child care facility
is a more natural environment than a segregated special ed preschool,
where kids with disabilities can learn, have fun, and be treated
like a Real Kid. If parents don’t
have the money for this, they can look for scholarships or ask for reduced
rates.
Government-funded programs have never been able to meet all the
needs of individuals with disabilities, and budget cuts are making
a bad situation even worse. Waiting lists, limited services, people
going without what they need—there’s
no reason to put up with this, banging our heads against the wall and wailing
about the unfairness of it all. Should we advocate in our legislative halls?
Certainly. But we should not sit back and wait for the government or the
human service industry to meet every need.
Lives are at stake! People with disabilities and family members
can and should assume responsibility for their own lives and seek
whatever help they need from every available source in their communities.
We can ask for what we need (as described in the “Ask and You Shall Receive” article) from “non-professionals” who
are our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens.
Professionals can help by brainstorming ways to collaborate
with non-disability organizations, encouraging the people they
serve to look for natural supports and generic services to
meet their needs, and more. Think out of the box!
There will always be fluctuations in government funding, but natural
supports and generic services can provide a long-term solution
to the perpetual crises in human services. Equally important, using
natural supports and generic services promotes inclusion in the community,
which can enable each individual with disability to assume the
mantle of “citizen” instead of “client.”
What would we do if there was no system? Would we really go without
or would we work creatively and diligently to find what we need in
the community? The suggestions in this article have barely scratched
the surface of what’s
possible. Get out of the rut, put your thinking cap on, believe in yourself
and your fellow citizens, and a new world will be opened to you.
Budget cuts are not a signal that the sky is falling.
Instead, they represent a glorious opportunity for discovering
the abundant supply of natural supports and generic services
that have, until now, been invisible to many of us. There’s
a world beyond the service system: it’s the Real World where children
and adults with disabilities can live Real Lives, included in their communities.
©2002-07 Kathie Snow; all rights reserved. Permission is granted for non-commercial use of this article, as follows: you may download the PDF handout version of the article and photocopy to share with others and/or forward it as an Email attachment to others, for personal use as a handout. As a courtesy, please tell me (kathie@disabilityisnatural.com) how/when you use it. This is the intellectual property of Kathie Snow and is protected by Copyscape; permission is required before republishing in newsletters, on websites, etc. Clip art from Adobe InDesign.
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Our words reflect the way we think, so let's get rid of descriptors like "handicapped, physically disabled, mentally retarded, learning disabled" and other words that focus on the condition instead of the person. People First Language promotes dignity and respect for all!
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