KACL Service Delivery Principles
KACL Service Delivery Principles and
Corollaries
Executive
Director’s Commentary on KACL’s Service Delivery Principles
Capacity, Character
and Competence
The purpose of this manual is to provide introductory material to KACL management.
My the time you have read this manual you will,
1. Be aware of the KACL Use of Language Policy
2. Be aware of some of the history of KACL
3. Know what a mission statement is and the KACL Mission Statement
4. Know KACL Long-term Goals
5. Know what Service Delivery Principle is and Know KACL Service Delivery Principles
6. Know about KACL Policy Statements and how to locate current ones
KACL Use of Language Policy Paper.htm
The
Kenora Association for Community Living commenced providing services informally
probably in the fall in 1960. In April of 1961 it became a member of the
affiliate Association for Mentally Retarded Children. It incorporated in
KACL
The mission statement of KACL is to ensure
that all people with special needs have the opportunity to live a meaningful
and satisfying lifestyle and interact as an equal in their community by
providing continuing opportunities for personal growth through education,
training, support, advocacy and an informed public.
KACL Mission Statement Commentary
A mission statement of an organization is a broadly defined but enduring statement of purpose that distinguishes an organization from others of its type and identifies the scope of its operations in terms of clients and services. It should embody its members' philosophy, reveal the image that it wishes the association to seek, reflects the association's self-concept and indicates its primary client's needs that the association will attempt to satisfy. The current Mission statement which dates from approximate 1986 reads as follows:
The mission statement of KACL is to ensure that all people with special needs have the opportunity to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and interact as an equal in their community by providing continuing opportunities for personal growth through education, training, support, advocacy and an informed public.
In the session where a combined committee of Board members and senior staff created the mission statement, the term “people with special needs” was specifically chosen over alternatives including “persons with developmental handicaps and mental illnesses” that were currently in vogue. The committee was asked whether it wished to be clarified who was included in the category "people with special needs" as the Association already supported persons who were not designated with the medical tern "mental retardation". The meeting decided that they did not wish to clarify the term further and recognized that the category might expand with time.
The word “ensures” relates to opportunities for the goals of (a) to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and (b) interact as equals in their community as only the individual can determine what is a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and only the community will determine if equality is ever achieved. The word "opportunity" is a key word in the mission statement. The Association has not undertaken to ensure a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle to any one: merely the opportunities to have one.
What makes a lifestyle meaningful? A meaningful lifestyle means more than it is understood. It signifies “significance”, “value”, filled with meaning. What is a meaningful lifestyle? What is a satisfactory lifestyle? That the two are not one and the same can be quickly by reference to a menu analogy. A menu is meaningful if you understand the language. A person who does not understand English for example would not know that Bacon and Eggs correspond to on the plate. However, even if they understand the menu they may not be satisfied with it: too simple, lacking in variety, too expensive, items absent et cetera.
The terms “lifestyle”, “meaningful” and “satisfying” are ones that most are familiar with. We believe we understand the obvious or the self-evident until we attempt to define it. The first professional use I had of “lifestyle” was in the context of maintenance for wives and children under the 1968 Federal Divorce Act. In certain circumstances wives were entitle to maintenance according to the “lifestyle” to which they had become costumed. Lifestyle is more something that we tend to fall into as opposed to consciously design. Simple and frugal lifestyles in general are the rule for most of our consumers. Satisfactory does not necessarily mean that a person is happy. Mother Theresa was satisfied with her work among the poor of Calcutta. She was not happy that such conditions existed.
Only an individual can determine what a “meaningful and satisfying” lifestyle but a few generalities can be made. After basic food and shelter are secured four issues surface: uniqueness, belongingness, usefulness, and understanding. Everyone wants to feel special, distinctive, and unique. Everyone needs a sense of union with something greater than themselves. Everyone needs a sense of usefulness. And everyone needs a deep emotional understanding of his or her place in the world – in our families, in our communities, and in our journey through life.
Restated in the form of a means-ends statement, the mission statement directs the Association to provide continuous opportunities for personal growth through education, training, support, advocacy and an informed public to the end of ensuring that all persons with special needs have the opportunity (a) to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and (b) interact as equals in their community.
Vision Statement
A vision statement is an expansion of the mission into a: vision of success”. [1] KACL as yet does not have an explicit vision statement although its long-term goal may serve the sane purpose.
1.
Children nurtured in families
In 2010 the opportunity to be nurtured in a
family will be
available to all children.
2.
Children attend neighbourhood schools
In 2010,
segregated education will be the exception rather than the rule.
3. Real
Work for real pay
The option of REAL work for REAL pay will be available to all. Partial participation in work will be available for those who cannot work, Part-time for those who cannot get fulltime, fulltime for all others.
4.
Appropriate homes/Community Living Options
In 2010 the
option of living in the community in the home of one's choice will be available
to all.
5.
Participation in community/Community acceptance
By 2010
significant progress will be made towards participation and acceptance of all
in the community.
6.
Community Service
The option
of serving others will be available to all.
7.
Significant Relationships
A. The
option of forming significant intimate relations will be available to all.
B. The
option to be surrounded by a circle of friends will be available to all.
8. Continuous
Education
The option
for continuing education will be available for all.
9.
Intensity of living
The option
of living an intense, active and involved life will be available for all.
10.
Self-Esteem Goals
Every
individual served by KACL will have positive self-image.
A Service delivery Principle is an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct concerning the delivery of service. A clearly defined and coherent philosophy of service should include its theoretical orientation, its goals, and its model and methods of service delivery. Service delivery principles help staff to know what is expected of them. It provides a focus for the activities of the association. It provides principles of accountability.
KACL has four main principles and under each several corollary principles which elaborate on the main principles:
1. Respect of an individual requires recognition of his humanity before his or her handicap.
2. Everyone is deserving of respect as an individual.
3. All persons have the right to participate in all aspects of living, learning, working and playing in the community.
4. The manner and context within which support service is offered should affirm normal patterns of living, learning, working and playing in the community including normal needs, processes, relationships and rhythms of life.
1. Respect of an individual requires recognition of his humanity before his or her handicap.
2. Everyone is deserving of respect as an individual.
Corollary principles:
2(a) Principle of Individualization
The individual must be the focus in the planning, development and delivery of human services and supports...each person has the basic human right and the freedom to have his/her capabilities, interests and needs used as the basis for planning, development and delivery of services and work, play and worship in their community or neighbourhood.
2(b) Principle of Individual Case Management and Individual Program Planning
Individual case management and Individual program plans must be prepared in such a way as to ensure that the individual concerned has opportunities to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and to interact as an equal in their community with opportunities for personal growth through education and training.
2(c) Principle of Self-determination and Control
Every individual has the right to be as fully in control of their life as possible. To the degree that individuals have the ability to choose between alternatives they are responsible for their actions.
2(d) Principle of Promotion of Client Autonomy and Rights
A human service agency should extend and support appropriate autonomy for its clients to enable them to exercise their rights and autonomy responsibly and adaptively.
3. All persons have the right to participate in all aspects of living, learning, working and playing in the community.
Corollary principle(s):
3(a) Principle of Family and Community Involvement
Ensuring the right of all persons with special needs to participate in all aspects of living, learning, working and playing is a shared responsibility among parents, siblings, friends and the association (including its paid staff and volunteers). All must be encouraged to be actively involved in the life of such persons.
3(b). Principle of building personal and enduring relationships
Every person should have the necessary support to help him/her become involved in personal and enduring relationships with non-paid persons who love, respect and care for the person.
3(c) Principle of Partial Participation
Where a person cannot participate fully in all aspects of living, playing and working in the community because of a handicap he or she can and should be encouraged to participate as fully as possible.
Partial participation in chronological age appropriate environments and activities are educationally more advantageous than exclusion from such environments and activities.
Handicapped individuals, regardless of their degree of dependence or levels of functioning, should be permitted to participate in as wide range of environments and activities as possible.
The kinds and degrees of participation should be increased through direct and systematic instruction and reasonable adaptations.
The kinds and degrees of participation in various environments and activities should result in an individual being perceived by others as a more valuable, contributing, striving and productive member of society.
Systematic, coordinated and longitudinal efforts must be initiated at as young an age as possible in order to prepare for partial participation in as many environments and activities with non-handicapped chronological age peers and other persons.
3(d) Principle of the Dignity of Risk
Respect for the individual requires that the individual has opportunities to succeed with the inherent risks of failure.
4. The manner and context within which support service is offered should affirm normal patterns of living, learning, working and playing in the community including normal needs, processes, relationships and rhythms of life.
Corollary Principles:
4(a) Principle of Relevant and Prioritized Dreams, Desires and Aspirations
In addressing support services the association must clearly and consciously identify, (a) what dreams, desires or aspirations clients have, (b) which of those dreams, desires or aspirations are most pressing and deserve highest priority, and (c) which are within the mandate of the association.
4(b) Principle of Challenging Expectation and Intensive Use of Time
In order to promote client's competencies the association should provide programs and supports that are developmentally very challenging, and that move clients along a continuum of development as far and as fast as is possible for each individual.
4(c) Principle of Integration
Every person should have as much support as is appropriate, to help him/her become involved in day to day activities in the community.
4(d) The Least Restrictive Alternative
In all decisions affecting the placement, care, education and training of an individual, in choosing among alternatives that adequately serve the client, the least restrictive or intrusive alternative should be chosen.
4(e) Principle of Social Role Valorization
The uses of familiar valued techniques, tools, and methods ensure that people with intellectual handicaps live in conditions that are socially valued.
4(f) Conservative Corollary to Principle of Social Role Valorization
The more vulnerable a person is to being devalued by society, the more important it is to reduce/prevent any such vulnerabilities, and/or to balance off such vulnerabilities by building up the person's positively valued characteristics.
4(g) Principle of Positive Image-related Requirements of Physical Setting
Because there is such a strong association of a human service with the physical service in which it is located it is of the utmost importance that the physical setting project a positive image. Characteristics of a physical setting which carry messages about the social status, roles, and competencies of its users include:
1. The harmony of the service setting and service program with the neighbourhood in which it is located
2. The aesthetic appearance of the building (including state of repair and maintenance)
3. The congruence of the setting's appearance with the appearance of settings that house/conduct analogous programs for valued persons
4. The age image projected by the setting's appearance
5. The setting's proximity to other sites with their images
6. The history of the setting
4(h) Principle of Positive Image-related Service-structured Grouping & Relationships Among People
Positive image-related service-structured grouping & relationships reflect upon the client's image and must be consciously selected. These include:
1. The nearness of one human service program to another
2. The number of clients grouped together in one program, setting or neighbourhood
3. The composition of within-service client groupings and sub-groupings
4. The nature of the client's social involvements with members of the public, or with clients of other human services.
5. Identities of service workers and the degree of "match" between the identities of the staff, the nature of the program and the needs of the program.
4(i) Principle of Enhancing Program Activities and Timing
To enhance the client's social image, programs, activities, and related time use patterns, that are valued by the culture, must be utilized and clients encouraged to practice activities and observe schedules that reflect positively upon them.
4(j) Principle of Positive Language, Symbols and Imagery
To enhance the client's social image, attention must be addressed to matters that reflect on the clients including:
1. Personal appearances of clients
2. Client's personal possessions
3. The language used to and about the clients
4. The name of the Association and its buildings.
A service delivery principle is an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct concerning the delivery of service. A clearly defined and coherent philosophy of service should include its theoretical orientation, its goals, its core values and its model and methods of service delivery. Service delivery principles help staff to know what is expected of them. It provides a focus for the activities of an organization. It provides principles of accountability. In essence it provides the Association with a code of ethics or principles of morality. The principles must be applied and in their application difficulties arise when alternative principles provide competing solutions.
What is the relationship between the Association’s mission and its values? Mission and values are interrelated. Mission or purpose has to do with aims or goals. We aim our activities at goals that we value, whether extrinsically, because they lead on to other things, or intrinsically, because we view them as good in themselves. Our lives are purposeful if they are directed towards the pursuit important values. We can immerse ourselves in trivialities in this world, or we can seek to embody and achieve values of importance in what we do. KACL mixes it up. However those values that we consider near and dear ultimately we place in Service Delivery Principle to sort out the important from the not so important. When people ask whether their existence has any significance one of the things they are asking is whether they will be able to make a real difference for good before they depart this world. Those who have led over the years have wanted their own lives and the existence of KACL to have made a real difference in the grand enterprise of life.
The initial drafts of service delivery principles were prepared between 1986 and 1988. Certain principles were subsequently revised the bulk of which were accomplished by February 7 1991. An additional principle, the principle of personal and enduring relationships was added early in 2002. There are four main principles with some principles having corollary principles that elaborate a main principle.
1.
Respect of an individual
requires recognition of his humanity before his or her handicap.
This first draft of this principle read “People are People First” borrowed from a group of consumers called “People First”. It was revised to its current form in the belief that the current statement more clearly expressed the sentiments of the principles. There have been lively discussions over the years as to what recognition of humanity means and at an earlier period as to gender designations. From the very beginning discussions it is clear that “humanity” was meant to indicate more than the physical dimension of the being but differing views have been expressed as to what it means to be “human”.
Extensive discussions have emphasized the “spiritual dimension”. Some of the discussions relating to the spiritual dimension placed emphasis on the “theological” or “religious” aspect of spiritualism[2]. Other discussions have placed emphasis on the more existentialist aspect of spiritualism – i.e. all human beings have (or choose) a purpose. This dimension of spiritualism is well captured in a small book by Richard J. Leider entitled “The Power of Purpose”,
“As human beings we hunger for meaning and purpose in our lives. At the core of who we are we need to feel that our lives do make a difference. We all need a reason, a good reason, to get up in the morning. We need to feel a sense of purpose”.[3]
Other discussions have emphasized the social dimension. Since Aristotle writers have extolled that man is essentially a social animal. Later days- philosophers, social scientist and economist have emphasized the importance of such things as culture, language and paradigms in determining feeling, being, and doing – the things that make us human or “more human”. Reality is socially constructed[4]. The very concept of a handicap is historically and culturally determined.[5]
Other discussions have emphasized the mental dimension[6]. Humanity is more than what humanity does. Man is the only “being” who is self-aware. Everything has two creations: first in the mind and then physically.
Only once we see the humanity of an individual should we consider how he is affected by his handicap. A person is not his handicap. A person in a wheelchair is not a wheelchair. A person with Down syndrome is not a Down syndrome.
Corollary principles:
2(a). Principle of Individualization
The individual must be the focus in the planning, development and delivery of human services and supports...each person has the basic human right and the freedom to have his/her capabilities, interests and needs used as the basis for planning, development and delivery of services and work, play and worship in their community or neighbourhood.
2(b). Principle of Individual Case Management and Individual Program Planning
Individual case management and Individual program plans must be prepared in such a way as to ensure that the individual concerned has opportunities to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and to interact as an equal in their community with opportunities for personal growth through education and training.
The 2nd Service Delivery Principle indicates, Everyone is deserving of respect as an individual. 2(b) the second corollary principle under the 2nd principle speaks to two processes that are used by KACL staff to achieve the mission of the Association. Both the mission statement and service delivery principle 2(b) share the common words ‘opportunities to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and to interact as an equal in their community with opportunities for personal growth through education and training’. The Mission statement focuses on all persons with special needs while 2(b) focuses on one.
In legal jargon the word “case management” is used in two senses – (1) the “person”, “client” or patient who visits legal office, (2) an instances or existence of something. An example of a legal case is a set of facts giving rise to a legal claim or defence to a legal claim. Families at times get upset when they hear of their child referred to as a “case” as in “He’s not case. He’s John… or Suzy… or Betty etc.
Accordingly the term is replaced by other expressions such as “service co-ordinator” or “service planning”. Various terms have come to be used to describe the perspective from which the service is co-ordinated. The term “holistic” has often been applied to practices or services which attempted to remind the professional that the person served was more than a service recipient, that is, the person is multi-dimensional. In between a unidimentional approaches or perspectives such as psychopharmacological and behavioural and the other pole of holistic were and are terms and models such as psychosocial, bio-psycho-social, multisystemic therapy (MST) and possibly tomorrows bio-psycho-spiritual-social-communal. While all 5 perspectives are important it is probably well to remember John McKnight’s admonition that services should not be mistaken for care – the latter of which can seldom be provided by service providers.
Individual program plans is also a term that is a little out of date. The current terminology would probably be personal planning. The very term suggest a very left-brain approach of logical-linear-logistical or Deming cycle: PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Action). Later generation of planning started to improve when planning gurus started to include the “spiritual”, “symbolic”, “intuitive” or “right-brain” dimensions started to be incorporated. Life is not divided into a planning phase and an implementation stage. However, if one follows an individual for a certain period “themes” begin to appear. If the individual is verbal such themes may be discussed in terms of the meaning they have for the individual.
The current terminology would probably be personal planning. The very term suggest a very left-brain approach of logical-linear-logistical or Deming cycle: PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Action). Later generation of planning started to improve when planning gurus started to include the “spiritual”, “symbolic”, “intuitive” or “right-brain” dimensions started to be incorporated. Life is not divided into a planning phase and an implementation stage. However, if one follows an individual for a certain period “themes” begin to appear. If the individual is verbal such themes may be discussed in terms of the meaning they have for the individual.
A distinction is made between two sense of meaning which may be captured by “essence” and “significance” or between “real” and “relevant”. The essence refers to what a thing or item is its sensory properties or empirical perspective. Significance refers to its sociocultural determined status, or more accurately its motivational relevance, or its implications for behaviour. It is to this latter sense that the corollary principle refers. Thus to live a satisfactory and meaningful lifestyle, one lives a life that has significance to the individual – whatever that significance is. What has significance and the nature of that significance will be determined by the experiences which the individual under goes. Thus a meaningful and satisfactory lifestyle is both culturally and subjectively determined.
KACL uses a personal planning approach which recognizes social roles and personal goals.
2(c). Principle of Self-determination and Control
Every individual has the right to be as fully in control of their life as possible. To the degree that individuals have the ability to choose between alternatives they are responsible for their actions.
This service delivery principle is perhaps the one most dishonoured by staff, parents and community alike. It involves terms such as freedom, choice, responsibility and self-determination. Freedom is the capacity to choose between two or more alternatives. You are free if you are able to respond. That is, you are response-able. You can’t have one without the other two. Freedom, choice and responsibility are intricately interconnected. Self determination is the capacity of the person to choose between options in a broader context. Self determination is one of the distinctive characteristic of human beings-the ability to influence our evolution through our own awareness [3]
Capacity is potential power or the ability to accomplish some end. Character deals with integrity, maturity and what Roger Covey calls the abundance mentality. Competence includes knowledge and ability in a given area. One might have the capacity but never develop the integrity, maturity or acquire the knowledge or ability to accomplish some end. They could have – they simply haven’t yet.
There is a “presumption” in law that adults have capacity. All that is meant by this is that the onus of proof that an individual is incompetent or lacks capacity is on the person making the allegation: one does not have to prove his competency. While reliance is made on this presumption on an every day basis it is not safe to do so as the presumption can be rebutted with the admission of evidence. One can rely on a court order declaring an individual incompetent but the finding can at any time be challenged in a court application and the order rescinded. In day to day to day activities persons may have capacity in come areas and not in others. A colour blind person may not have the capacity to distinguish blue – yellow, red – green but may be able to count to 10.
People have legally competent if they have the capacity to understand the nature and consequences of a proposed course of action. Competence does not depend upon rationality or rational decision outcomes or the effects of an individual's decisions. Decision making capacity determined by ‘ability to thrive’, ‘good’ as apposed to ‘bad’ choices. Irrationality is legally relevant only if the irrationality indicates defects in cognitive functioning (lack of capacity to understand the information to be disclosed). “Good” or “Bad” are value judgements. If capacity were founded on functional outcomes alone people would be deemed incompetent unless they made better functional decisions. For example a Jehovah’s Witnesses refusal to receive blood transfusions, which weighs spiritual values above functional outcomes, are never the less held to be competently made decisions.
In law, competence is an all or nothing decision. Using this model people were considered competent or incompetent for all decisions. This paradigm does not work well for individuals who have partial or fluctuating impairment. In a domain – specific capacity paradigm individuals may be considered to have capacity in one domain e.g. health care but not in another e.g. financial management. Finally a decision specific capacity paradigm recognizes that there is a hierarchy of decisions - possibly within each domain – ranging from complex to simple decisions. This paradigm recognizes that a person may be able (competent) to make simple decisions in one domain and more complex decisions in another domain. KACL‘s service delivery principle recognizes this last paradigm and insists that consumers and survivors be permitted to make choices wherever possible.
Sometimes an individual who has capacity never develops the “character” or “competence” to accomplish some end. That is, because of the environment that he exists, he fails to grows and develop. Character deals with integrity, maturity and what covey calls the abundance mentality. Competence includes knowledge and ability in a given area. The moral responsibility which KACL has taken on is to assist individuals find the environment whereby the may grow and develop and reach their maximum potential or capacity to achieve ends which they freely choose.
2(d). Principle of Promotion of Client Autonomy and Rights
A human service agency should extend and support appropriate autonomy for its clients to enable them to exercise their rights and autonomy responsibly and adaptively.
A distinction must be made between self-determination, autonomy and Volantariness.
Self-determination – the right to have one’s decision concerning oneself respected - may not be synonymous with legal competence. The Association’s principle of self-determination and control indicates that where a person is self-determined, their decisions should be respected. If the person is self-determined in such an area they are able to respond i.e. they are response-able (responsible) even though a court order declares such an individual incompetent. The decision to over ride such a decision should only be done with justification.
The philosophical concept of autonomy involves more than simply having full and free capacity for cognitive functioning and even exercising it. It contemplates having full and free emotional and psychological functioning in the sense that decisions to be regarded as fully autonomous must be free of what might be classified, either by the people themselves or sometimes, by others as unacceptable influences – including intrinsic ones.
Decisions may be regarded as “good” or “bad” based on one’s value orientation. A mother may wish to place her child in a group home based on her placing more value on “safety” where the child may wish to live in their own home in the community based on valuing “freedom” over “safety”. Chapter 3 of Molloy et al (1999) sets out an excellent process to in 3 parts for making a determination of capacity involving information gathering, education and assessment. Information established the choices and establishes the foreseeable consequences of choices. Education ensures that people being assessed have every chance to understand their problems, choices, and the reasonably foreseeable consequences of these different choices. Finally the assessment of capacity is made based on knowledge of the facts, the context (especially the problems that “triggered” the assessment) understanding the choices and appreciation of reasonably foreseeable consequences.[7]
Volantariness concerns one’s willingness to choose a desired choice. A consumer whether competent or not may agree or submit to please or comply, out of fear (being left out in the street etc) or because of undue influence (from peers, siblings or even parents and strangers such as taxi drivers, door-to-door salesmen etc.). Assertiveness training is one area where the Association can and should play a role. Also under this principle consumers must be assisted in developing their own concepts of “truth”, “beauty” and “good” and other concepts such as what does it mean to be a “productive” or “good” citizen, what is their obligations to family, friends and even strangers and “what is a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle”.
3. All persons have the right to participate in all aspects of living, learning, working and playing in the community.
Corollary principle(s):
3(a). Principle of Family and Community Involvement
Ensuring the right of all persons with special needs to participate in all aspects of living, learning, working and playing is a shared responsibility among parents, siblings, friends and the association (including its paid staff and volunteers). All must be encouraged to be actively involved in the life of such persons.
In understanding individual corollary principles it is always wise to refresh ourselves with the mission of the Association, then the main principle and finally the corollary principle.
The mission statement of KACL is to ensure that all people with special needs have the opportunity to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and interact as an equal in their community by providing continuing opportunities for personal growth through education, training, support, advocacy and an informed public.
Even within the Association’s mission statement there is recognition that the Association through its paid staff could never accomplish its goals without an ‘informed public’. The Principle of Family and Community Involvement spells out in greater detail the order of primacy of the family, then friends and finally the Association in ensuring the right of participating. It then begins sketching out the nature of the ‘informed public’ required – “involvement”. It then takes them in as co-responsible parties.
A friend is not the same thing as a volunteer that is specifically referred to later in the principle as in “the association (including its paid staff and volunteers).” A volunteer in this sense is “a unpaid staff” A friend has a more intimate degree of propinquinity (nearness of relation; kinship) and in some sense a greater degree of mutuality.
Honourable Mr. Justice Charles D. Gonthier, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada spoke of fraternity and its involvement as a factor in the proper functioning of a democracy.[8] :
Liberty and equality are in
a way antithetical to fraternity.
Whereas liberty and equality emphasize the rights of the individual,
fraternity emphasizes the rights of the community. . Whereas liberty protects the right to live
free from interference, fraternity advances the goals of commitment and
responsibility, of making positive steps in the community. Greek philosophers
challenged notions of liberty because of this subversive effect on fraternity
and civic identity. However, at the same
time, fraternity is essential to the well-being of liberty and equality,
because only with shared trust and civic commitment can one advance these goals
of liberr6y and equality. Further the
goal of fraternity is to work together to achieve the highest quality of
individual existence. In short, liberty
and equality depend on fraternity to flourish.
At the same time, fraternity may be seen to be dependent upon liberty
and equality for the fullness of its expression…
The concept of community and
fraternity are interrelated. Communities are not simply the result of
individuals pursuing rational self-interest.
Nor are they just a means of providing collective goods. Communities exist, in no small part, because
of a desire to belong to a family.
Fraternity is an expression of brotherhood and sisterhood- of shared
interest and beliefs.
{Fraternity and community
have in common shared values, shared identities, a shared past]
The constituent elements of
fraternity are a number of values, which, like liberty and equality, are
fundamentally moral values, values to which we aspire but seldom attain. Each of the values interacts with liberty and
equality while also interacting with the other fraternal values. The result of this process, or the results to
which we aspire, is a better community...All of these values – inclusion,
fairness and trust, cooperation, empathy, commitment, and responsibility – can
be seen interacting with liberty and equality through out Canadian law.
3(b). Principle of building personal and enduring relationships
Every person should have the necessary support to help him/her become involved in personal and enduring relationships with non-paid persons who love, respect and care for the person.
It is sometimes difficult to identify all the streams involved in producing one service delivery principle. Such is the case with the principle of building personal and enduring relationships.
This principle was passed early in 2002. One stream was the Association’s work in integration of consumers in the main stream. Various springs contributed to this stream including the person of Marsha Forrest and the Institute for Inclusive Education. In the late 80s and early 90’s Marsha Forrest gave work shops in Kenora before heading out all over the world to preach the message: “The only disability one has is having no relationships.” Also deserving of mention from the Institute is the writings of John McKnight some of which have been collected in his book “The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits”.
Another stream is the work done by KACL in various evaluations done in the late 1980s and 1990s in determining the degree to which the Association was being successful in implementing the Association’s service delivery principles. After a number of evaluations the Association concluded intuitively that the quantity and quality of relationships had be a consumer was as good a predictor of the score a program would get as any other element. Thereafter KACL switched its efforts to design and attempted to consciously design programs that would foster quality relationships. After a certain period it concluded it was better in recognizing quality relationships than in designing the circumstances that produced them. Hence it directed its work in getting rid of the obstacles that stopped relationships once developed. This led to either getting rid of bureaucratic rules all together or approving exceptions to following rules in special circumstances. Life sharing evolved from this exercise.
A story told by Wolf Wolfensberger about an institution in Bosnia Herzegovina also contributed to the adoption of the principle by the Association. During the war in Bosnia all but four care workers in an institution for the mentally insane left their institution and escaped to look after their families or themselves. The four were subsequently helped by NATO armies who arrived on the scene sometime after. The four who stayed did not criticize their peers often citing the horrible choice of saving the lives of those they loved over those they served.
Finally a strike of educational assistants in the local school board emphasized how vulnerable students without relationships were.
This ethic suggested by this principle is the ethic of care that emphasizes intimacy, caring, and personal relationships over service and obligation.
The ethic of care can be contrasted with the ethic of reason and obligation:
Caring, empathy, feeling with others, being sensitive to each other’s feelings, all may be better guides to what morality requires in actual contexts than may abstract rules of reason, or rational calculation, or at least may be necessary component of an adequate morality”. (Virginia Held quoted from Rachels 1999 page, 166)
Traditional theories of obligation are notoriously ill suited to describing life among family and friends…A loving parent acts from motives other than duty. If you care for your children because you feel it is your duty, it will be disaster- your children will sense it and realize they are unloved… The ethic of care does not take “obligation” as fundamental; nor does it require that we impartially promote the interest of everyone alike. Instead it begins with a conception of moral life as a network of relationships with specific other people, and sees “living well” as caring for those people, attending to their needs, and keeping faith with them. (Rachels. 1999, 170)
Every Mum and Dad see in the palpitating little life-throbs of their bundle of joy the miracle of creation. Every Jack sees in his own particular Jill, charms and perfections lost to those who merely wait and serve. The ethic of care depends upon small-scale and personal relationships. If there is no such personal relationship,” caring” cannot take place. “Service” is not the same things as “care”. KACL provides service and should not fool its self that it can make up for the absence of care in the world. People who do not become involved in personal and enduring relationships with non-paid persons who love, respect and care for the person are and will continue to be vulnerable.
The principle of personal and enduring relationships is so beautifully conveyed symbolically by the fox in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince”:
“No” said the little prince, “I am looking for friends. What does that mean ‘tame’?”
“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox.
“It means to establish ties.”
“To establish ties’?”
“Just that,” said the fox “To me, you are nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…”
“I am beginning to understand,” said the little prince. “There is a flower…I think that she has tamed me…”
{Fox} But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…”
“One only understands the things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made in shops. But there is no shop anywhere one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me…”
The little prince went away, to look at the roses.
“You are not at all like my rose,” he said. “”As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world.”
“You are beautiful, but you are empty,” he went on. “One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passer-by would think that my rose looked just like you- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses; because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her That I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes said nothing. Because she is my rose.”
And he went back to meet the fax.
“Goodbye,” he said.
“Goodbye,” said the fox. “And no here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
“Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox.
“But you must never forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose”
3(c). Principle of Partial Participation
Where a person cannot participate fully in all aspects of living, playing and working in the community because of a handicap he or she can and should be encouraged to participate as fully as possible.
Partial participation in chronological age appropriate environments and activities are educationally more advantageous than exclusion from such environments and activities.
Handicapped individuals, regardless of their degree of dependence or levels of functioning, should be permitted to participate in as wide range of environments and activities as possible.
The kinds and degrees of participation should be increased through direct and systematic instruction and reasonable adaptations.
The kinds and degrees of participation in various environments and activities should result in an individual being perceived by others as a more valuable, contributing, striving and productive member of society.
Systematic, coordinated and longitudinal efforts must be initiated at as young an age as possible in order to prepare for partial participation in as many environments and activities with non-handicapped chronological age peers and other persons.
3(d). Principle of the Dignity of Risk
Respect for the individual requires that
the individual has opportunities to succeed with the inherent risks of failure.
Commentary:
The phrase "dignity of risk" is believed to have been used first by Robert Perske (Perske, R. The Dignity of Risk and the mentally retarded. Mental Retardation, 1972, 10 (1), 24-26) see also, Perske, R. The dignity of Risk in Wolfensberger, Wolf, The principle of normalization in human services, National Institute on Mental Retardation 1972
4. The manner and context within which support service is offered should affirm normal patterns of living, learning, working and playing in the community including normal needs, processes, relationships and rhythms of life.
Corollary Principles:
4(a). Principle of Relevant and Prioritized Dreams, Desires and Aspirations
In addressing support services the association must clearly and consciously identify, (a) what dreams, desires or aspirations clients have, (b) which of those dreams, desires or aspirations are most pressing and deserve highest priority, and (c) which are within the mandate of the association.
The original draft of this service delivery principle was drafted in the negative as the principle of relevant and prioritized needs. Staffs were directed not to a fully human being with all that entails but rather to needs. Staff responded by focusing on individuals with needs. It became obvious to various quality assurance teams that the principle as drafted conflicted with the earlier draft of the first principle and in time both were redrafted. The first principle was redrafted to more properly express its true intent. This principle was redrafted to reflect the values of the organizations with respect to individuals who had dreams, desires and aspirations. In line with other principles, recognition was paid to the principle that human beings are co-creators of their future and should be respected in their endeavours. Stephen covey emphasizes in his various books that one should distinguish between the important and the urgent. What is important is determined by one’s values and goals. Some values are more core or fundamental than others. Some goals are more dear and intense than others. The individual must be assisted in clarifying what is central or fundamental to his being and then in reaching fundamental goals that flow from such discovery.
4(b). Principle of Challenging Expectation and Intensive Use of Time
In order to promote client's competencies the association should provide programs and supports that are developmentally very challenging, and that move clients along a continuum of development as far and as fast as is possible for each individual.
If the principle 4(a), Principle of Relevant and Prioritized Dreams, Desires and Aspirations suggest that we must prioritize values and goals, 4(b). Principle of Challenging Expectation and Intensive Use of Time KACL should not waste the clients’ time in life wasting down time and exercises. In Stephen Covey’s language 4a provides the compass and 4b the clock.
4(c). Principle of Integration
Every person should have as much support as is appropriate, to help him/her become involved in day to day activities in the community.
In the early years of the drafting more time was spent on this principle than most others. At the time some families still desired segregated programs and services. There was some level of debate as to entitlement. There was some debate as to the desire to protect over providing opportunities for growth and development and there was much debate as to how much real protection was there to individuals who were segregated and protected away from the critical eye of the community. While in latter day policy development the Association clarified its position with respect to inclusion in schools and elsewhere this policy statement has never been redrafted.
4(d). The Least Restrictive Alternative
In all decisions affecting the placement, care, education and training of an individual, in choosing among alternatives that adequately serve the client, the least restrictive or intrusive alternative should be chosen.
4(e). Principle of Social Role Valorization
The uses of familiar valued techniques, tools, and methods ensure that people with intellectual handicaps live in conditions that are socially valued.
4(f). Conservative Corollary to Principle of Social Role Valorization
The more vulnerable a person is to being devalued by society, the more important it is to reduce/prevent any such vulnerabilities, and/or to balance off such vulnerabilities by building up the person's positively valued characteristics.
4(g). Principle of Positive Image-related Requirements of Physical Setting
Because there is such a strong association of a human service with the physical service in which it is located it is of the utmost importance that the physical settings project a positive image. Characteristics of a physical setting which carry messages about the social status, roles, and competencies of its users include:
1. The harmony of the service setting and service program with the neighbourhood in which it is located
2. The aesthetic appearance of the building (including state of repair and maintenance)
3. The congruence of the setting's appearance with the appearance of settings that house/conduct analogous programs for valued persons
4. The age image projected by the setting's appearance
5. The setting's proximity to other sites with their images
6. The history of the setting
4(h). Principle of Positive Image-related Service-structured Grouping & Relationships Among People
Positive image-related service-structured grouping & relationships reflect upon the client's image and must be consciously selected. These include:
1. The nearness of one human service program to another
2. The number of clients grouped together in one program, setting or neighbourhood
3. The composition of within-service client groupings and sub-groupings
4. The nature of the client's social involvements with members of the public, or with clients of other human services.
5. Identities of service workers and the degree of "match" between the identities of the staff, the nature of the program and the needs of the program.
4(i). Principle of Enhancing Program Activities and Timing
To enhance the client's social image, programs, activities, and related time use patterns, that are valued by the culture, must be utilized and clients encouraged to practice activities and observe schedules that reflect positively upon them.
4(j). Principle of Positive Language, Symbols and Imagery
To enhance the client's social image, attention must be addressed to matters that reflect on the clients including:
1. Personal appearance of clients
2. Client's personal possessions
3. The language used to and about the clients
4. The name of the Association and its buildings.
The logo
of Kacl dates from the late 1980s and was the brain child of former Board
member Diane Clark. It consists of a community of people including a person in
a wheelchair and a child in a background of a sun with flames, with radial
lines off the sun to three concentric semi circles.
The training logo also dates from the late 1980s and consists of a box containing 3 boxes and 4 circles. The three boxes contain the description of the training desired to be given by KACL: a competency based, experiential based, value driven education. The 4 circles contain the 4 elements to which the training is focussed on: attitude, knowledge, skill and spirit. Knowledge is understanding what to do; skill is knowing how to do it; attitude is motivation or desire to do it and spirit provides the why. Covey defines habit as the intersection of three of these items knowledge (covey includes why in knowledge), skill and desire (attitude). KACl has a separate circle for spirit emphasizing the incredible importance that meaning and satisfaction play in the mission statement of KACL.
Value Driven Education A Competency based Experiential based
Frankl,
Viktor E. (1939, 1963) Man's Search for Meaning,
Groce, Nora
Ellen (1985) Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language, hereditary Deafness on Martha’s
Vineyard, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press
Wolfensberger,
Wolf (1972) Normalization, The principle of normalization in human services,
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Training Manuals are manuals that KACL is developing to train staff of KACL Volume 2 Philosophical Foundations Volume 3 Anthropological & Sociological Foundations Volume 4 Reserved Volume 5 Psychological Foundations.htm Volume 6 & 7 Reserved Volume 8 Community and Relationship Building.htm Volumes 9 & 10 Reserved Volume 11 KACL Political Foundations Volume 12 Spiritual Foundations.htm |
KACL Policy Papers are papers prepared by the Executive Director. Only bold print (on Internet Highlighted ) portions are Board Policy. Some portions on commentary may not always kept up to date and may not represent the current thinking.
[1] Drucker Tasks,
Responsibilities, Practices New York: Harper & Row 1973
[2] Man is made in the image of God
[3] Richard J. Leider, The Power of Purpose, Fawcett Gold Medal, New
York, Page vii; Other excellent books on this topic include Muriel and John
[4] Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman, The Social Construction of
Reality,
[5] See Nora Ellen Groce, Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language,
[6] Man is the thinking thing (Descartes).
[7] Molloy, D. William, Peteris, Darzins, and David Strang, (1999) Capacity to decide, Troy, New Grange Press
[8] Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: The Forgotten Leg of the Trilogy, or Fraternity: The Unspoken Third Pillar of Democracy (2000) 45 McGill L.J. 567 et seq.
