Download - Standing at the Crossroads Adult Protection and Advocacy Conference August 1, 2013 Shirley Paceley
“It’s All of Us”
Differences in ability is ordinary, not special, and something most of us will experience at sometime.
The moment we judge, there can be
no understanding. I think “Alzheimer’s Disease” and certain thoughts come into my mind which limit my understanding of
that one person.
Beware of the Labels
Stolen Identities
• Labels have power and can steal a person of their identity.
• A diagnosis is not the most important or most interesting characteristic about a person.
• ‘Normal’ is a setting on a dryer.• Listen to the words you use….they
reflect your attitude.
Signs of Inequality
• Separate restrooms• Separate standards/rules• Withholding of information• Power over…• Behavior programs• “Non-compliant” and “Inappropriate"• Mass Dreamicide
What Do You See When You Look At Me?
• ‘Inappropriate’ behavior?• Someone to pity?• Someone with dreams, talents,
contributions?• Someone who has been hurt?• Someone who has equal value?• Someone who deserves freedom?
Consulting the Experts
Mary teaches us the value of seeing the whole person.
“I thought I wasn't good enough and was being punished.”
Consulting the experts
• A 20 minute lesson that changed my life
• One of my greatest teachers
• In 2011, the microphone phone call
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OFYEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OFYEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.
What People with Disabilities Taught Us About
Mandated ReportingBest practices:•Tell me if you are a mandated reported•Offer me the chance to report with you•Train mandated reporters how to support me•Keep me informed
Listening To Our Words Helps
Us To Identify Gaps• It’s not my job.• We don’t do that here.• We don’t know what’s going on.• We don’t have the power (resources,
authority, etc.) to do that.• But we’ve always done it that way.
Deep Question
Who or what do we blame?
When we blame someone or something for a situation, we give up the power
to make a change.
Deep Question
• Are we screening people out or screening people in?
• Who is helping the people we screen out?
Engaging Older Adults and People with Disabilities
in Our Work• Nothing about me without me.• It is imperative that the people who
work within the system hear from people who use the system.
• We need people to ask, “Does it have to be that way?”
• Engagement means taking certain actions, not just having the right attitude.
Engaging Older Adults and People with Disabilities
in Our Work• Focus groups• Seniors and Law Enforcement
Together (SALT) teams • Sexual Assault Collaborative Teams• Trauma-Informed Accessibility
Assessments• Disability Accessibility Assessments
To include me is to empower me, to exclude me is to devour me.
excerpt from a poem by Cathy Lynn Saunders
People are People are People
“I would talk to someone who saw me as strong, not as weak.”
“I would want to talk to someone who focused on my trauma, not my disability.”
Ordinary or Outstanding?
• Don’t settle for average.• Ordinary work is not what people with
disabilities and older adults need. They need us to be extraordinary.
• Do not leave yourself out of your work.• Is this person better off because of the
work I did today?
Standing at the Crossroads
• What steps can we take to engage older adults and people with disabilities in our work together?
• What gaps need to be filled?• What policies need changing?• What partnerships need to be
formed?• How will we stay committed?• Watch out for distractions
along the way.
Growing the Community
When we bring different passions, abilities, experiences, and attitudes together with one main focus, the possibilities to change the status quo are endless.
Blue Tower Training (BTT) is a division of Macon
Resources, Inc. (MRI) which provides training, consultation, training materials and
resources on a national as well as international basis.
Shirley Paceley217-875-8890
Learn more about BTT by logging on to www.bluetowertraining.com