Far North Parent-Professional Partnerships
Building Partnerships • Understanding Basic Systems • Best Outcomes

Best Outcomes: Person-centered and Self-directed

Self-Determination

Parent Talk

Ever since my son was diagnosed, I had assumed that he would always live at home with his Dad and me. Then, one day, it hit me that his Dad and I weren’t getting any younger and that some day our son, ready or not, was going to have to be able to speak up for himself. He would have to be able to understand his disability sufficiently that he could explain it to people who didn’t know him and ask for the supports that he needed in order to live an independent and productive life. If he weren’t able to do that, he wouldn’t have any real control over his life. He would be at the mercy of whoever was hired to care for him. It was then that I understood why helping my son develop self-determination skills so that he was able to take care of himself was the best thing I could do to take care of him.

In this section of the manual we are going to talk about the Idea of self-determination as it relates to the disability community. There are four key questions we will be addressing:

What is “self-determination”?
What are the steps involved in helping someone achieve
self-determination?
How can families help people with disabilities achieve
self-determination?
What resources are available for families to access?

What is Self-Determination?

Self-determination is a national movement that supports the idea that people who experience disabilities should have the same right to speak think and act for themselves as non-disabled people. Self-determination for people with disabilities means making your own decisions about such things as where to live, what work to do and how to spend their money. Self-determination means that people with disabilities get to make choices, take risks, make mistakes and take responsibility for their actions, just like everyone else.

There are some key ideas behind self-determination:

Freedom
Authority
Support
Responsibility
Respect
Self-Advocacy

Each of these Ideas captures an important value that underlies the philosophy of self-determination. Let’s look at each Idea and see what it stands for. Think about what each Idea means to you and reflect on the fact that these are values Americans take for granted, but that they are not always accessible to Americans with disabilities.

Freedom

All people should have the right to choose how they will live their lives:

Where they will live
Whom they will live with
When they need support
Who will support them
What they will do to support themselves

Authority

All people should have control over their resources:

Examples include making choices involving:

Budgeting money
Making health care choices
Hiring paid support staff
Determining the types of services received from schools or agencies

Support

All people deserve to have the support of their families and communities as they work to live their lives as independently as possible

Examples include:

Going to a job
Renting or owning a place of their own
Traveling around the community as independently as possible

Responsibility

All people deserve to be allowed to take responsibility for the decisions that they make. If a person makes a poor decision, it is important that they are able to “own” that choice and its repercussions. Examples might include choices related to:

Spending money
Choosing a job
Making friends
Attending a place of worship

Respect

All people deserve to be treated with dignity and to be valued for the unique gifts that they possess. All people deserve to be the leader when it is their life that is involved

We show respect when we:

Don't talk about people in front of them as if they are not there
Don't assume that we “just know” what another person wants to do or eat or buy
Listen to the ideas of another person without prejudging them
Let another person express his or her feelings without criticizing them for feeling differently than we would like them to feel

Self-Advocacy

All persons deserve to be supported in their efforts to advocate for the things that matter to them. People who experience disabilities deserve to be able to tell others:

What their disability is and how the disability impacts them
What values are important to them
What dreams they have for themselves
What helps them be successful at home, at school, at work or in the community
What can make it hard for them to be successful