Forum Activity for @sd-network

2023 Self-Determination Conference

Open Discussion

Join the Conversation: The 2023 Self-Determination Conference

It was a great Conference again this year!  It was hybrid meaning people could join in-person or virtually. Did you join in-person or virtually? How did you like it? There were a ton of great sessions and events. The theme was “Be Curious: Explore the Possibilities.”  What possibilities did you learn about? Are you going to explore any of them? What was your favorite part? What were some things that you learned? What resources did you find particularly helpful? Did something really inspire you?

Let's keep the conversation going! Share your comments, questions, and ideas here.

 

updated by @sd-network: 10/26/23 07:00:48PM

2023 Disability Advocacy Day

Open Discussion

It was great seeing so many of you at Disability Advocacy Day last week. If you weren’t able to attend In-person, we hope you were able to call your legislators.  We want to keep the conversation going.

• What was your favorite part of the day?
• What topics did you talk with your legislators about? How did it go?
• Was there a particular strategy that you found worked well when talking with your legislators? Were you able to share your story? 
• Do you plan to follow you with your legislators?
• If you weren’t able to attend in-person, did you participate virtually? How did your calls to your legislators go?

Share your experience below.  By sharing our tips about tricks, we can help one another be stronger advocates! 

Let's Talk About Solutions to the Caregiver Crisis

Hot Topics and Challenges for Self-Determination

Let's Talk About Solutions to the Caregiver Crisis

During the 2022 Self-Determination Conference, InControl Wisconsin led a session about the Wisconsin Direct Workforce Crisis.  We talked about “what if, what then” situations we all face as caregivers and people with disabilities that are brought on by no available paid workers.  Everyone’s situation is different. Everyone’s story is important.

We want to hear from more people about their  “what if, what then” scenarios. More importantly, we want you to feel open to share your ideas with each other about how to make things better.

Attached is a worksheet to help you develop your story. 

Together, we can advocate for change and learn from each other.

 

updated by @sd-network: 10/23/22 09:34:10AM

2022 Self-Determination Conference

Open Discussion

It was a great Conference again this year!  It was hybrid meaning people could join in-person or virtually. Did you join in-person or virtually? How did you like it? There were a ton of great sessions and events. The theme was “everybody has a story.”  Were you able to share your story or did you get some tips about how to? What was your favorite part? What were some things that you learned? What resources did you find particularly helpful? Did something really inspire you?

Let's keep the conversation going! Share your comments, questions, and ideas here.

 

Let's Talk: What are some Unique Solutions to Help Mitigate the Caregiver Crisis?

Hot Topics and Challenges for Self-Determination

The direct care workforce shortage has been an issue for years. The pandemic just elevated the crisis for all to see. According to a report done by the Wisconsin Health Care Association in 2020, 1 in 4 direct care worker positions in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are vacant.

The Wisconsin Survival Coalition did surveys and found that 95% of people with disabilities can’t find enough in home workers and 85% reported that they don’t have enough workers to fully cover open shifts. The report was published in May of 2021.

Wisconsin isn’t alone. By 2030, nationally, there is expected to be a 151,000 shortage of caregivers. By 2040, the number grows to 355,000 (source). As the baby boomers age, increase in need will increase and the number of working age people will decrease.

There are thousands of hours of needed care are going unmet. People are not receiving the care they need. Whether you work for an agency trying to find caregivers for clients or a person who is trying to hire workers yourself, finding caregivers is almost impossible.

Lots of advocacy groups are trying to come up with a solution to this. When you need to find direct care workers, individually or with an agency, what are some unique ways it can be done? Do you have an idea of how to help improve the current situation we are in? What are some ways we can start to mitigate this issue?

If you could ask for one thing right now to fix the problem, what would it be?

Let’s brainstorm ideas here!

2021 Self-Determination Conference

Open Discussion

It was a great Conference again this year! We understand many people missed being able to attend in-person, but we were glad so many people were able to join virtually. There were a ton of great sessions and events. What was your favorite part? What were some things that you learned? What resources did you find particularly helpful? Did something really inspire you?

Let's keep the conversation going! Share your comments, questions, and ideas here.

updated by @sd-network: 10/20/21 09:41:58PM

2020 Self-Determination Conference

Open Discussion

The Self-Determination Conference was a little different this year. We missed seeing everyone in-person, but we're glad so many people could join virtually.  There were a ton of great sessions and events again this year. What was your favorite part? What were some things that you learned? What resources did you find particularly helpful? Did something really inspire you?

Let's keep the conversation going! Share your comments, questions, and ideas here!

Self-Direction Hot Topics

Hot Topics and Challenges for Self-Determination

During a Hot Topics session at the Self-Determination Conference, InControl Wisconsin board members Lynn Breedlove, Patti Becker, and Kate Norby facilitated a great discussion about self-determination and self-direction.  People were asked to write down questions about self-direction.  We've compiled them and we encourage people to share their thoughts.  We can all learn by sharing our thoughts and ideas with each other.

1. How can I become a leader and not only be a follower?
2. How can we support IRIS participants and families to create their own IRIS plans and not be overly influenced by ICs or anyone else?
3. How can we ensure that self-determination is defined as something that allows participants to include family and friends in their decision-making?
4. Can we reduce the “strings” (i.e. the hassle) that get attached to self-determination?
5. How can I find reliable transportation?
6. Does anyone have any ideas for how to find good caregivers?
7. How can we reduce the barriers to employment?
8. Does anyone have any good ideas for finding community jobs in rural areas?
9. Is the state trying to make IRIS more like Family Care (FC), i.e. by imposing FC provider rates on IRIS? If so, how can we push back against this?

2019 Self-Determination Conference

Open Discussion

We were so excited to see so many of you at this year’s Self-Determination Conference. There were a ton of great sessions and events again this year. What was your favorite part? What were some things that you learned? What resources did you find particularly helpful?  Do you have a fun story from the conference? Did something really inspire you?

Let's keep the conversation going! Share your comments, questions, and ideas here!

Self-Direction Worldwide: Contrasting Beliefs and their Impact on Practice

Questions about Self-Directed Supports or Self-Determination

Self-Direction Worldwide: Contrasting Beliefs and their Impact on Practice

Lynn Breedlove

This paper reviews the evolution of self-direction over the last 25 years, and the variety of self-direction definitions, values, and practices around the world. Hopefully it will enable self-direction advocates to learn from each other and incorporate good ideas from other places in their own self-direction approach.

Many definitions of self-direction are cited, illustrating that in some places self-direction is viewed strictly as a way for people to control their paid services, while in other places it is seen as an element of citizenship which applies to a person’s entire life. Some definitions mention the involvement of family or friends in assisting the person to self-direct (if s/he wants or needs that), but some definitions do not. Some people see community integration as an essential part of self-direction; others don’t mention it.

In some places, there is no mention of the need or availability for paid support (beyond family and friends) to enable a person to successfully self-direct. In other places, such supports are considered essential and the paper identifies a variety of support models in place around the world.

A number of challenging questions emerge: Is self-direction a human service program or something bigger? Is community integration a self-direction goal for everyone? Do people who are self-directing have responsibilities to government or to the rest of us? Should people have access to support for self-direction beyond family and friends?

Read paper

Join the Discussion

1. Do you define self-direction as a way to control your services, or as something that relates to your whole life?
2. Do you think self-direction is something a person has to do on their own, or is it OK to get help from family or friends?
3. Are there any supports for self-direction described in pg. 10-13 of the paper which are not currently available in Wisconsin, but you wish they were?
4. Do you believe self-direction could be used to reinforce segregation? If so, how could we safeguard against that?