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I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
John Cage
People with disabilities want and need to live Real Lives in the Real World—normal, ordinary lives, included as valuable members of their homes, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and communities. Unfortunately, however, most seem to be stuck in Disability World: a world of special places and services, and ultimately, a world of segregation.
We spend too much time and energy focused on what a person cannot do, instead of what she can! Children and adults with disabilities have many strengths and abilities. And we haven't spent enough time thinking about what's really important to the person, and what assistive technology, supports, accommodations, and/or environmental changes are needed so the person can live the life he or she wants. The articles in this section can get us moving in a new direction! (Strategies specific to children, like education and therapies, are in the Children-Families section.)
Explore the articles below . . .
Enjoy these new ways of thinking!
Labor Day
What does Labor Day mean to people who have never had the opportunity to work at a real job for real pay? And shouldn't we care?
Question Yourself!
What if everything we knew was wrong? What if we didn't believe everything we thought? What if we recognized thinking errors? Imagine the possibilities for change when we question ourselves!
Dream Without Limits!
Dreams are the stuff of life. But dreams are often missing from the lives of many people with disabilities. Let's ensure children and adults with disabilities can dream without limits!
Whose Job Is It?
We spend enormous energies trying to "get jobs" for people with disabilities. But shouldn't people with disabilities be in charge of getting their own jobs?
Marketing 101
It seems just about everyone understands the value of marketing. Advertisers tout their products, job applicants present the best image, and so on. Marketing works, so let's showcase the strengths of children and adults with disabilities!
Memories: Testimonies About the Living, Not Just the Dead
When someone we care about dies, we etch positive memories in our minds, ignoring the "negatives." What if we followed this practice with the children and adults with disabilities in our lives who are alive today?
Our Actions — Their Futures
The futures of children and adults with disabilities are influenced by the actions we take today! Are we opening the doors to opportunity or leaving people mired in the quicksand of segregation and dependence?
New Agreements Create New Lives
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz is a life-changing book. This article details the four agreements from a disability angle, and it can help you enjoy a new freedom!
Developmental Age vs. Chronological Age
An examination of this common—and harmful—practice will lead us to question its validity. I don't always act my age, do you?
Joe Schiappacasse on (Everyone's) Behavior
The extraordinary wisdom of Joe Schiappacasse takes us beyond the traditional solutions, explores the "Us/Them" mentality, and helps us see (everyone's) behavior in a new light!
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I am blown away by your website and so happy to have found it. I began my journey as a special educator in 1973 and am now a college professor developing an inclusion program to train special educators and regular educators to work with children with diversities in the general education class. I am also the grandmother of a grandson who, as he describes it, "works with his Asperger's every day." While I struggle to convince my peers that disability is a natural part of life, I never give up. I know that I am right and your website gave me the emotional and professional boost I needed to keep going. Thank you so much.
Betty from Georgia |
Assistive Technology Can...
Assistive technology can ensure kids and adults with disabilities live real lives—self-determined lives—included at home, in school, at work, and in the community!
Great Expectations
The "Low Expectation Syndrome" (LES) attached to people with disabilities can be a greater barrier to success than the person's actual diagnosis. It's time to move on to great expectations!
Best Hopes, Worst Fears
The Best Hopes-Worst Fears exercise can help parents, teachers, service providers, and others, in our efforts to ensure real lives for children and adults with disabilities. Try it, you'll like it!
"HOW?" Is the Question
We may feel there are many barriers when assisting children and adults with disabilities to live better lives. But asking "how" can eliminate these barriers—opening our minds to a world of possibilities—for we begin seeing things in a whole new way!
Trading Places
No, this is not about a new TV show! Instead, it takes a look at who we would trade places with, who we wouldn't, and why. Be prepared for an insightful and mind-tingling paradigm shift!
What's Happening Today? What's Really Important?
Enormous efforts are expended on behalf of people with disabilities. We have the very best of intentions, but do our efforts help children and adults live the lives they want today, and are we focused on what's really important to them? Shouldn't these fundamental questions guide everything we do?
The Voice of Authority (and Knee-Jerk Reactions)
The Voice of Authority comes in many forms, and it can erase our common sense, provoke knee-jerk reactions, cause us to cede power over our lives, and more. But when we pause and think, question, and wonder, we give our common sense time to kick in!
Take a Walk in Their Shoes
Perhaps most—if not all—of the problems in the world could be solved if we understood each other better. Imagine the possibilities when we try to walk in the shoes of the people with disabilities in our lives.
Ability to Choose + Helpful Tools = Success
When children and adults with disabilities have the tools they need, they're in a better position to make their own choices. Are we ensuring people have these opportunities for success?
No Responsibility? No Real Life.
Personal responsibility enables us to be in control of our lives. But what about children and adults with disabilities? Shouldn't they also enjoy the opportunities, benefits, and joys of personal responsibility?
In the Dance of Relationships: Who's Leading and Who's Following?
A relationship is like a slow dance: one person leads, the other follows. In our relationships with people with disabilities who should lead and who should follow? Whose life is it, anyway?
Everyone Needs to Be Needed
We all like to be needed by others. But people with disabilities are often seen only as "needy," and they're not given opportunities to help others. This can all change when we realize that everyone can contribute!
Environment, Environment, Environment
In real estate, the mantra regarding the most desirable home is, "Location, location, location." To ensure the most desirable outcomes for individuals with disabilities, let's adopt a similar mantra: "Environment, environment, environment." Where and how a person spends his time can make a whale of a difference in the life he leads!
When the Table is Turned
A special ed teacher felt she was a great advocate for her students-until she sat through the first IFSP meeting for her baby son. Amazing new insights are possible when the table is turned!
Look Before You Leap!
"Buyer beware" and "Look before you leap" are tried-and-true sayings that can protect us in many ways. Let's put them to work in the world of disability services, too!
Why Choose Separation?
We often complain that we don't feel we belong, but it's possible we've chosen to be separate through our actions, attitudes, and language. Let's choose to belong!
Living Natural Lives
The "special" environments of the service system causes people with disabilities to live unnatural lives. We can change this dismal situation when we embrace new ways of thinking and new actions!
Ten Commandments for Community Inclusion
It's all about our attitudes and actions, and it's easier than you think! When we adopt these ten commandments, inclusion in the community can become a reality for all.
Beliefs Necessary to Achieve Community Inclusion
What does it take to ensure children and adults are included in their communities? Commonsense beliefs! Inclusion in the community will happen when we believe it can happen!
Community Leadership for Inclusion
We want children and adults with disabilities to have better lives. But the solution isn't in the system, it's in our communities-and we can provide the leadership for positive change!
Beware the Retarding Environment
What do the true experts say about "retarding environments"? And where do such environments exist? Only in institutions . . . or in our homes, schools, and other typical settings? Beware . . .
Advocate or Diplomat?
Explore the definitions of these two words, ponder the outcomes of different ways of doing things, and then decide if you would be more successful as an advocate or a diplomat.
When Less is More
We may work hard to help children and adults with disabilities, but are we also encouraging them to "learn helplessness"? Less help really can be more beneficial!
Ask . . . and You Shall Receive
Wondrous things can happen when children and adults with disabilities learn to ask for the help they need from a variety of different people. Good-bye, Dependence; Hello, Interdependence!
Mining Our Natural Resources
Our communities are a treasure trove of natural supports and generic services which can meet the needs of children and adults with disabilities (and ensure their inclusion)! Why go to the system when what you need is in your own backyard?
Natural Supports and Generic Services: More Important Than Ever!
With the financial crisis, many disability services are being cut, and there's no end in sight. Under these circumstances, using natural supports and generic services are more important than ever. We don't have to go without!
Inclusive Recreation: A Passport to Real Life!
Mark Ohrenberg, an inclusive recreation specialist, shares real-life stories and strategies to ensure children and adults are successful in ordinary, inclusive recreational activities in their communities!
New and Improved IEP Meetings (and Any Other Kind of "I" Meetings)
The words, "IEP meeting," (or any other kind of "I" meeting) can generate apprehension, dread, and a variety of other emotions. But the strategies in this article can lead to better meetings and better outcomes!
No Child (or Adult) Needs an Aide
A teacher or a classroom might need an aide, but no child (or adult) needs an aide. There are many negative consequences to "one-on-one aides," and there are also many ways to provide the assistance to a child or adult with a disability. Both issues are explored in this article.
If It's Written, Is It Done?
We write IFSPs, IEPs, IHPs, IPPs, and lots of other "PP" plans-but just because they're written, does that mean they really get done?
Goals: Meaningful and Relevant or Garbage?
Goals, goals, goals-we're fanatics about goals! But are we writing goals that are truly relevant and meaningful to the child (or adult) with a disability? Whose goals are they, anyway? Expand your thinking about goals with the suggestions in this article.
Go Beyond Goals: Think Outcomes!
We write goals galore, because the government says we must. A goal is what we hope will happen; but an outcome is what really happens. So let's go beyond goals, and think about outcomes!
Activity-Based Goals = Success
Many "special ed" goals may be inappropriate, meaningless, and irrelevant. (Ditto the goals written for adults.) So is it any wonder when the goals are not achieved? Activity-based goals are the solution!
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): Physical Access
Children or adults with disabilities may experience significant environmental barriers, which can lead to helplessness, dependence, and lack of opportunities. Let's change this and create welcoming environments for all!
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): Behavior Supports
Environmental changes-in the form of behavioral supports-can generate positive, life-changing outcomes for children and adults with behavioral disabilities.
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): In the Kitchen
Gadgets and doo-dads can be invaluable assets in making a kitchen more accessible and welcoming for children and adults with disabilities, as well as for everyone in the home!
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): "Regular" Stores
Specialty stores offer many helpful products for people with disabilities, but many useful items can also be found in the ordinary stores in our neighborhoods!
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): Vision Supports
Need some visual supports or accommodations? There are lots of great products on the market today, and others you can make at home!
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): In the Bedroom
If a person's home is her castle, then surely the bedroom should be the most welcoming room in the house. Check out these handy tips to make it so.
Home, Sweet Home (and Other Environments): Self-Sufficiency
Many people with disabilities are described as being unable to take care of themselves because they "can't cook." Let's explore ways to help kids and adults become self-sufficient in this area!
Going for the Gold: Self-Employment
Yes, the American Dream of being your own boss is a real option for people with disabilities. Dreams can become the reality!
On Becoming a Business Owner
Employment guru Cary Griffin details extraordinary experiences and effective strategies in this interview on how people with disabilities can become self-employed business owners.
Spotlight on Diversity
Why is "disability" often omitted from "diversity" celebrations? We can effect change in this arena, and can also improve our efforts to highlight the strengths of people with disabilities.
More articles will be added on a regular basis, so check back often!
©2009-10 Kathie Snow, www.disabilityisnatural.com |
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