The Choice Is Yours: The Power Of True Informed Choice

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The Choice Is Yours The Power Of True Informed
Choice

• Issues Forum 2006
• Susan Rocker

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Choice. Informed Choice. Hmmmm.what is that,
anyway?
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Informed Choice

• Informed choice is a process by which a person
  arrives at a decision based upon access to, and
  full understanding of, all necessary information
  from the persons perspective.

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Informed Choice

• Fostering Informed Choice
• Ask questions- Using person centered planning
  approaches, ask the person about their wants,
  desires, and interests
• Visit with the person about multiple options
• Explain options in an evidence based manner and
  provide unbiased information
• Outline the advantages and disadvantages of each
  option

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Informed Choice

• Fostering Informed Choice
• Assist person in gaining first hand knowledge
• Experience it for themselves
• Talk to others who have experienced it
• The person makes the decision CHOICE!
• Make a Plan B if necessary

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Informed ChoiceMisunderstood Misused

• He didnt want to work on this contract work, he
  decided to sit by the wall instead. Its his
  choice.
• She didnt want to go with the group home folks
  on Saturdays outing to the pumpkin farm. She
  stayed home. It was her choice.
• He didnt want to take a bath tonight. Its his
  choice.

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Are These Examples Of Informed Choice?

• Why / Why Not?

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Paradigm Adjustment Time

• Informed Choice Paradigm
• People are choice makers who are capable of
  directing their own lives
• Respect for people and their choices
• People and their supporters drive the process
• Professionals are facilitators and can contribute
  information and supports
• Resources are flexible
• Agencies embrace new values and invest in staff
  training to learn the skills of providing
  supports in a different manner

• Vulnerability Paradigm
• People are passive, fragile objects
• People need professionals to take care of them
• Professionals know best
• Professionals have the final say
• Resources are spent in rigid ways that reflect
  programs instead of individual choices and
  directions
• Pity is prejudice masked as sympathy -
  Hingsburger

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Saying It Doesnt Make It So

• This Is A Shifting Process
• Cultural Change Within An Organization
• This Is A DIFFERENT Way of Doing Business!
• The Values are Different.
• Staff Go About Their Work In An Entirely
  Different Manner.

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Embrace Self-DeterminationAs A Step Towards
Embracing Informed Choice

• Freedom to live a meaningful life in the
  community
• Authority over dollars needed for support
• Support to organize resources in ways that are
  life enhancing and meaningful
• Responsibility for the wise use of public dollars
• Confirmation of the important leadership role
  that self-advocates must hold in a newly designed
  system
• From the Center for Self Determination
  www.self-determination.com

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The Civil Rights Movement Of Our Time
Disability Rights
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Mouthmag.com
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• Voice of the Retarded is a group of parents who
  dumped their kids in institutions and now protest
  any measures which might free their sons and
  daughters. "Omigod! They might come knocking on
  OUR DOORS!!!" VOR is rumored to be bankrolled by
  the A H C A, the nursing home industry lobby, and
  by unions which represent workers at state
  institutions. But those are only rumors and may
  be totally without foundation. Please don't quote
  us as the source of such nasty rumors.

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We Dont Want All The Choices. We Just Want
Your Choices
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Informed Choice Activity

• YOURE MOVING TO A NEW CITY
• Make a list of at least five specific things you
  want to know about the city before you move

• YOURE MOVING TO A NEW JOB
• Make a list of at least five specific things you
  want to know about the job before you accept it

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Find a partner and share your lists with each
other.

• Whats the same?
• Whats different?

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The Point?

• Theres no way to pre-determine the exact
  information necessary for any particular choice
  in life.
• Its INDIVIDUAL, requiring an individualized
  approach.
• How Do You Find Out? ASK

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An Example Career Planning
Self Exploration Step 1
Reflecting Step 5
Career Planning Development
Job/Career Exploration Step 2
Career/Life Planning Step 5
Decision Making Step 3
Work Step 4
Employment Contacts Step 3
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Some Great Places To Start When Providing
Informed Choice

• Socially competent staff who have full,
  meaningful lives and are connected with their
  community.
• Staff training on facilitation. How to ask open
  ended questions to gather information and help
  people self-reflect. How to support, facilitate
  and follow rather than lead, direct and decide.
• Person centered planning tools like Person
  Centered Career Planning, MAPS, PATHS and
  Essential Life Style Planning.
• Agency commitment to community mapping to
  identify community resources. (employment,
  social opportunities, etc)

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Socially competent staff who have full,
meaningful lives and are connected with their
community.
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Staff training on facilitation. How to ask open
ended questions to gather information and help
people self-reflect. How to support, facilitate
and follow rather than lead, direct and decide.
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Person centered planning tools like Person
Centered Career Planning, MAPS, PATHS and
Essential Life Style Planning.
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Agency commitment to community mapping to
identify community resources.(employment, social
opportunities, etc)

• Building Communities From The Inside Out -
  John Kretzmann John McKnight
• Artistic organizations, business organizations,
  charitable organizations, churches, civic events,
  collectors groups, neighborhood associations,
  service clubs (just to name a few) an
  informational interview

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So You Have

• Staff with potential for the work of informed
  choice
• Training for the staff on how to provide informed
  choice
• Resources developed to provide informed choice
• Planning tools in place to help identify areas of
  interest for informed choice
• (And hopefully cultural shifting within the
  organization)
• Now what? Follow-Through!!!

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Obligations To People We Support(adapted from
work by John OBrien)

• We must earn your trust and the distinction of
  being your ally by.
• Treating you with respect and listening carefully
  to you so that we can keep getting to know you
  better
• Learning with you about your interests and
  preferences and identifying the kind of home and
  work that will offer you a safe, decent base for
  your participation in community life
• Learning with you about the kind, amount, and
  style of support you need to live and work
  successfully in your community

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Obligations To People We Support(adapted from
work by John OBrien)

• We must earn your trust and the distinction of
  being your ally by.
• Recognizing the social, financial, and personal
  barriers to the kind of home and work life you
  want and assisting you to work to overcome them
• Being flexible and creative with all the resource
  available to us to respond as your interests,
  preferences and needs change
• Minimizing our intrusion in your life by
  periodically checking to make sure we are not
  doing unnecessary things or doing necessary
  things in intrusive ways

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Obligations To People We Support(adapted from
work by John OBrien)

• We accept the responsibility to
• Provide you with information
• Invite and encourage you to try new experiences
• Stretch our own awareness of possibilities by
  actively seeking contacts with people involved in
  building up our communities and with people who
  are developing more effective and practical ways
  to support people with disabilities

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Obligations To People We Support(adapted from
work by John OBrien)

• We know that you could find yourself in conflict
  with others as you make your choices. In these
  conflicts we recognize our responsibility to
• Be on your side, in the sense that we will assist
  you to achieve the best possible resolution of
  the conflict in the circumstances

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Obligations To Peoples Friends Family (adapted
from work by John OBrien)

• We acknowledge your importance to the person we
  support. We accept the responsibility to
• Respond to your concerns about the persons
  safety and well-being
• Negotiate openly with you in search of mutually
  satisfying outcomes
• If a conflict cannot be resolved, we will
  maintain respectful contact with all parties, but
  honor the choice of the person we assist.

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The New Paradigm Of Informed Choice
Self-Determination Can BringIncreased Risk
Concerns About Safety
Person Centered Plan
Identifies Potential Risk
Person Is Educated On Potential Risks
Support Team Makes Plan To Avoid Risks
Team Makes Plan To Address Risks If They Arise
Continuously Re-Visit / Revise
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A Few Favorite Quotes

• You can resist an invading army, but you cannot
  resist an idea whose time has come. - Victor
  Hugo
• The important thing is this To be able at any
  moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could
  become. - Charles Du Bois

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Direction A Poem Of Self-Determination by Tim
Kolb

• A place to go, somewhere to be
• I choose the way thats right for me.
• Others help, their hands are good,
• But they cant help more than they should.
• If others say who I should be,
• Then where is my identity?
• God teaches me each step to take.
• Dont block my path, my lifes at stake.

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Thanks For Your Time!Enjoy The Rest Of Issues
Forum

• Susan Rocker
• Doane College
• 303 North 52 Street
• Lincoln, NE 68504
• 402-466-4774
• susan.rocker_at_doane.edu