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One of the great things about providing services to people in Huron County is that the community has always supported their neighbors with DD-- both at the ballot and more importantly IRL. One positive change in services that I've personally seen over the past 30 years in the DD field is how much more commonplace it is for people with disabilities to be found in "normal" community spaces. We still have further to go in helping people be more naturally integrated into community life-- but at least we're all hanging around the right spaces.
Whether we like it our not, I think that people are watching all of us at HCBDD and every private provider and then conflating everyone under "Christie Lane". While it's not accurate, I do think it's useful because we are collectively all so visible helping our clients access community resources. . I believe that the vast majority of that public are grateful that people are being well cared for. I think this is helpful when it comes to DD levies-- or at least in Huron County.
However, I also believe that it's important that we don't just stop our progress here. CLI believes that the provider's job is to help individuals with DD build new valuable relationships with other people in them community, while still enablig them to maintain their friendships with others within the DD community. We all understand how valuable our networks are for our social lives and our working lives. Real change means that we have to broaden these networks for people with disabilities. This will take work on all sides. We're in a part of the pendulum swing where authenticity seems to be often interpreted that the world needs to form around you vs. where that pendulum was in the 1970's & 1980's when I was coming of age. The most productive reality is somewhere in the middle. The reality is that all of us can be better and I think providers and County Boards of DD need to be more ambitious and candid as we help individuals with disabilities plan for the life that they want. Often what is holding someone back has at least as much to do with social skills and work ethic as it does with a diagnosis. Day services should absolutely be fun, but I believe that they should also be constructive. Day care is not sufficient-- especially for young adults in their 20's & 30's. It's not enough to change rules and push people out of facilities. We make introductions and we support new opportunities. But I think that we also need to reclaim some of the tools we overvalued in the 1980's-- things like hygiene & social skills. Otherwise we're really not helping people build a richer life. We are forcing our clients and families to embrace change, but we haven't yet built a system of supports that matches our rhetoric.
That's my soapbox for this week. You'll see a few times in this newsletter that CLI is looking for drivers with a starting pay of $17.00 per hour. Nothing happens without people willing to do the work. There are so many great vocational and non-vocational opportunities right now, but insufficient staffing to make proper use of them.
If you know of anyone interested in joining our team, they can contact me directly by either email (john@CLIsupports.com) or by phone at 419-706-5137.
John
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