Lisa Ballien is a Subject Matter Expert/Trainer and has worked with people with developmental disabilities for nearly 25 years

Do you want to work but are afraid of losing your benefits? The Ticket To Work explains all the details.

If you would like to take some on-line courses, the Minnesota Developmental Disabilities Council has put together a series of trainings called “Partners in Policymaking”, take a look.

TASH is an international leader in disability advocacy. Learn more about inclusion and equal rights by clicking the link.

The disability rights movement has never been monolithic, but it has experienced an increasing consensus about the importance of limiting the legal authority granted to guardians, especially in life and death health care decision-making. Twenty-six national disability rights groups asked the courts not to allow Terri Schiavo’s guardian to bring on her death. But the arguments advanced by the disability rights perspective were long dismissed by a burgeoning and now fully developed movement.

When professionals and other people who are part of support systems are faced with questions about an individual's decision-making capacity, they are often led to the concept of incompetence and the promotion of legal guardianship. This is a process that everyone would prefer to avoid and that unfortunately can result in total lack of control and power of the individual over his or her own life. Fundamental rights of individuals which all citizens of our country expect and enjoy can be limited under guardianship. These rights may include marriage, voting, the right to procreate, and privacy. In addition, the power to make simple day-to-day decisions is often given to a surrogate decision-maker, further negating the meaning of the self-determination process for the individual.

The timing is right to change the current pervasiveness of guardianship. We have moved away from parents and professionals making decisions about placements for people with disabilities in homes, facilities, and day programs. The principles and practices of person-centered planning and self-determination give us the tools to support individuals with disabilities to have the lives they want in the community. This change bodes well for rethinking our reliance and benign attitude towards guardianship. There is clearly a dichotomy between guardianship and self-determination or person-centered planning. As Kathy Harris points out in her article, Making Guardianship Unnecessary, “The imposition of guardianship is the total antithesis of self-determination principles.”

Annette Downey has nearly 30 years of experience working with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Full inclusion for people with disabilities means paid employment and equality in the workplace. Take a look at this resource.

People with disabilities, parents, advocates, allies, friends, family, siblings and others, the national ARC will help you with advocacy issues and much more