John O’Brien and Connie Lyle-O’Brien have spent a lifetime moving our thinking about how people with developmental disabilities can be supported, shifting from institution and program centered life, to the person centered life of citizens contributing to the communities where people live. This video explores a framework for thinking that John and Connie began to […]
Read moreBy Gary Bunch The track record of Canadian society over time is that persons with disability routinely have not been accepted by that society. Lack of belonging for this group of students is an international challenge. The education system has been the vehicle developed to embed young people in our communities. School is where the […]
Read moreBy Gary Bunch 2017 A snapshot introduction to Inclusive Education: Inclusive Education for students with disability remains a poorly understood concept and practice. It is confused by many who associate it with the traditional Special Education Model (Winzer, 1999). However, Inclusive Education is radically different from Special Education. Vaughn and Forest describe the genesis of […]
Read moreby Judith A. Snow DOWNLOAD this article A Summary: Judith Snow is still a gifted and visionary thinker – and so this writing about Dreaming, Giftedness is ultimately about relearning now to listen – so we can Dream the new Communities we so desperately want and need. Judith always began with a story – and […]
Read moreMany people who want to be MAPS and PATH facilitators get stuck when we insist that the process be co-facilitated i.e. uses two people, a graphic recorder and a process facilitator. They are concerned about costs, or finding a team-mate. This is where we need to be creative. Budget is hardly ever an excuse, especially […]
Read moreSummary Shafik Asante was a remarkable Afrikan American leader. This short piece outlines his thinking about leadership. As a mail carrier is known as being a person who carries mail, a leader must be seen as a person who carries “leading ideas.” Leading ideas are not the same as good ideas. I want to concentrate […]
Read moreby John O’Brien, Marsha Forest, Jack Pearpoint, Shafik Asante & Judith Snow The Ethics of Inclusion: Three Common Delusions by John O’Brien, Marsha Forest, Jack Pearpoint, Shafik Asante & Judith Snow We want to begin a dialogue on the expectations about personal behavior that go along with a commitment to Inclusion. Unattainable expectations confuse good […]
Read moreInclusion: It’s About Change! by Jack Pearpoint & Marsha Forest Inclusion means change!! We believe both inclusion and change are inevitable. Whether we choose to grow with and from these changes is a choice. It has been instructive to be a participant in hundreds of emotional meetings about “inclusion”, when it is crystal clear after […]
Read moreby Shafik Asante Inclusion is about ALL of us Inclusion is about living full lives — about learning to live together.Inclusion makes the world our classroom for a full life. Inclusion treasures diversity and builds community. Inclusion is about our ‘abilities’ — our gifts and how to share them. Inclusion is NOT just a ‘disability’ […]
Read moreThe streets are exploding. People are getting hurt. There is poverty, racism, violence. Single parents, kids, gangs, drugs, booze — families — all are part of the explosion of life on the street — life in urban war zones.
Modern medicine — like most other institutions — is ill equipped to deal with this new reality. But it is here. There is no choice. Next week it will be more intense. Crack babies and multiple addictions will haunt all our corridors.
Read moreby Nicola Schaefer(This article is a “teaser” for Yes, She Knows She’s There) In a plane heading for Toronto, where I was to be part of a conference to do with the inclusion of people with disabilities in their own homes within typical neighbourhoods, I found myself talking, as one does on planes, with a fellow […]
Read moreDOWNLOAD – Personal Assistance: What it is and What it is Not by Judith Snow, MA Abstract: In her typical forthright way, Judith peels back the layers of misunderstanding about the nature of Personal Assistance – and reminds us of the very simple truth – is a form of support for people who are labeled […]
Read moreby Jack Pearpoint & Marsha Forest (circa 1994) Partnership as a concept is a much discussed term these days. Parents & educators talk of “partners” in learning. Consumers of services and professionals talk about “partnering” in service delivery. States and provinces talk of “partnership” in political federations. However, many parents, consumers, citizens feel that these […]
Read moreby Jack Pearpoint My personal monster is control. I love it. But I know I have to ‘give it up’ in order to grow. I learn by experience. I need to create learning situations where I “give up control” and experience ‘interdependence’. By taking myself ‘to the edge’ where I have to give up control […]
Read moreDownload – Kick Em Out Or Keep Em In – here by Jack Pearpoint & Marsha Forest Synopsis: Students who display severe behaviour difficulties, like all children, can and should be included in the mainstream of our schools and communities. The key to making it possible is relationships. It should be no great mystery that […]
Read moreLink to pdfnowtheyneed2 And Now They Need A Life A Formative Evaluation of Wisconsin’s Money Follows The Person Grant as It Influenced Services for People with Developmental Disabilities Restructuring has gone well for almost everybody, but we’re not finished yet. The next phase has to focus on people having more fulfillment in their lives. They have […]
Read moreDownload Here A Reflective Piece – on the complexity of our systematic exclusion people with disabilities. John describes it as a “A disgrace to the nation”. He outlines the challenge ahead as we struggle to replace institutions. John O’Brien & Connie Lyle O’Brien: Books, Articles, Videos “A disgrace to the nation” A Turning Point in […]
Read moreDownload: An Ethics of Possibility Direct Support Workers and an Ethic of Possibility make good lives for all possible. This article explores that possibility. Direct support workers who are guided by an ethics of possibility build a relationship worthy of the trust of the people they assist and the people who love or have loved […]
Read moreDownload: Great Questions & the Art of Portraiture ABSTRACT: Great Questions are a challenge to possibilities. A practitioner of person-centered planning who wanted to add the skills and roles of the portraitist to her repertoire would need to build relationships with people and their families and allies based on commitment to a common project that […]
Read moreDownload: Communitas: the Community Place Communitas is a prototype of possibility – a real life example of how a group of citizens could build inclusive relationships in a community – and reach out and share with the whole town. They used a post office as a hub.. COMMUNITASThe Community Place Manchester, CT 06040phone: 860-645-3177email (Bev […]
Read moreDownload: Quality Education: It’s Not a Choice! Marsha Forest – Books, Articles and Videos Jack Pearpoint – Books, Articles and Videos REVERSING REJECTION – FULL INCLUSION FOR ALLLT his little article proposes to reverse the rejection of the Beckys, Katherines, Judiths, Suneels, Sunitas, etc. There are strategies to help systems and individuals reverse the terrible […]
Read moreMAPs and PATHsA Family Perspective by Bryn and Clark Fortune As often happens, unexpected blessings occur when we step out and try new things. As a result of a professionally motivated educational experience, our family wound up with a fresh look at ourselves in an affirming, revealing process called a MAP.Bryn is the director of […]
Read moreHope Restored with PATH Glenn CochraneGang Prevention CoordinatorWinnipeg, Manitoba I decided I wanted to do something that truly might be in the area of prevention, not wait until kids were in trouble but get to them early. I phoned the principal of a downtown Winnipeg core area school (Dufferin School) where I knew the principal, […]
Read moreDownload: Inclusion! the Bigger Picture Marsha Forest – Books, Articles and Videos Jack Pearpoint – Books, Articles and Videos Inclusion! The Bigger Picture by Marsha Forest & Jack Pearpoint Our key question as we initiate a new millennium is “How do we live with one another?” Inclusion is about learning to live WITH one another. […]
Read moreDownload: A Diamond in the Rough ABSTRACT:In the early 90’s, Marsha Forest, Te Ripowai Higgins (a Maori elder) and I were invited to join a meeting about ‘immersion schools on Six Nations Reserve. It was a battle zone. Indian Affairs had a powerful delegation armed with arguments and money – to have the community reject […]
Read moreDownload: MAPS: Action Planning ABSTRACT:This sort article appeared in our book “Inclusion Papers” outlining the steps of a MAP as we understood them at that time (2001). We have evolved based our experience – and although this makes good reading (historically), we would recommend using the more current version of MAPS in the book…The PATH […]
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DOWNLOADCommon Sense Tools Marsha ForestBooks, Articles and Videos Jack PearpointBooks, Articles and Videos This article went viral in the early 90s because families were starving for new options for their children, teachers could feel possibility but were trapped… So simple, down-to-earth stories of using the concepts and models of Circles and MAPS were ‘revolutionary’ to […]
Read moreSynopsis: A short, punchy article about exclusion and Inclusion. Exclusion is unethical, politically unacceptable and repugnant to write off marginalized people in our society. The cost of welfare maintenance is unbearable, either socially or economically. In short, exclusion does not work. Inclusion works. Marsha Forest – Books, Articles and Videos Jack Pearpoint – Books, Articles […]
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