Brockville & District

Association for

Community Involvement

Statements of Values and Principles

The following statements are drawn from the Brockville & District Association for Community Involvement’s (BDACI) documents, policies and procedures, role descriptions and public information.

Purpose of BDACI

People who have an intellectual disability are often denied opportunity and excluded from the mainstream of community life. These practices have, consciously and unconsciously, shaped the attitudes and values of community members. As a result we must now "bend over backwards" to reverse these negative and uncertain responses by ensuring that all citizens with developmental handicaps are provided with opportunities for challenge and meaningful involvement in the day to day life of their community.

Goal of BDACI

The goal of BDACI is that communities offer all people equal opportunity, full participation, respect,and recognize their value as fully contributing members of their communities.

Objectives of BDACI

The objectives of BDACI are:

  • To promote and to protect the rights of persons.
  • To encourage and support parent to parent involvement.
  • To support and to provide opportunities for community involvement.
  • To promote and to stand with people and families in obtaining appropriate services and supports.
  • To encourage and support community awareness, through public education of the issues facing people who have been devalued.

Philosophy of BDACI

BDACI believes that:

  • All human life has equal value and should therefore be accorded equal treatment.
  • All people, regardless of degree of handicap, should live in and be part of their community.
  • People are capable of growth, development, and meaningful participation in their community.
  • People should have a wide range of life choices.
  • People should be supported according to their specific needs.
  • Control over the lives of people should rest largely with themselves.
  • People should be supported and served in the most integrative and least restrictive environment.
  • People who have been devalued in society should be accorded a valued standard of living.
  • Communities must share in the responsibility of including and supporting all their citizens.

Social Role Valorization (SRV)

Staff of BDACI will work directly with an individual with an intellectual disability to maintain and enhance their presence and participation in community life by applying the principle of Social Role Valorization*.

*Social Role Valorization (SRV) is a social science theory developed by Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger, Syracuse University. It aims to address social devaluation by promoting the acquisition and/or maintenance of valued social roles, which will allow devalued people access to the “good things of life”. BDACI uses SRV as a framework for its efforts on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Policy 5.0 Inclusive Education:

BDACI’s policy regarding education is as follows:

Statement of Belief and Intention on Inclusive Education

BDACl's advocacy for inclusive education will be more effective when we hereby declare our determination to oppose segregation and ensure that families receive our unmitigated support to resist it.

We believe that all people should have access to the good things in life such as growing up within a loving family; going to theirneighbourhood school with siblings and friends, being known and involved in community life, having a real home and having a real job with real pay.

We believe that inclusion happens when a community decides that it will do its best to ensure that every one of its members feels welcome, valued and respected.

We believe that inclusive education involves the clear and unconditional acceptance of all the children in all their diversity, so that they learn together, with and from each other. Willing teachers receive whatever support they need so that all of their students reach the highest possible individualized academic and social learning goals. Each child is unique and personal differences are welcomed, accommodated, and celebrated.

Inclusive education means better outcomes:

An inclusive school system ensures that each student can participate in the classroom and in the community in positive and contributing ways.

Inclusive education means no more segregation:

BDACI knows that segregation of people with disabilities causes harm and we believe that it cannot be tolerated. We pledge to provide information, support, planning, and advocacy so that families resist segregation in area schools.

Inclusive education means all students benefit:

We know, and research supports the fact,that classroom instruction is enriched and more effective for everyone when it is designed to meet the needs of students of all abilities.

Inclusive education means defending human rights:

BDACI pledges to continue the years of advocacy by families across Ontario that has produced human rights and education policy changes. Our goal is to ensure that all schools respect the individual rights of all students and to ensure that all parents know and uphold their children's rights. By law parents are to be consulted as full partners in their children’s education. We pledge to ensure that this happens for all families that partner with us as an association.

Inclusive Education means helping families to envision inclusive education for their children and help them to make it a reality:

We pledge to assist families to have high hopes for their children's futures by developing clear values so that they are able to decide what actions are most important and to find allies who work towards the same goals.

Inclusive Education means working together as networks with our allies:

Collectively, families need to demand system change so that inclusive education is a reality.

We know how essential networks can be and we pledge to help students with disabilities and their families find allies who are involved now in improving our community schools.

Policy B 1.0 Service Purpose and Principles

BDACI believes that each person and family is unique and shall be treated as such, has the right to live in and participate in an inclusive community, and must have the right to play asignificant role in determining how he or she shall live in that community.

The overarching purpose of BDACI‘s programs and services is to provide assistance that will meet the self-identified needs of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. These services are based upon the following principles:

  • That family is essential to individual and social wellbeing
  • That each family is unique and therefore supports must be flexible
  • That social devaluation of people with disabilities affects the family as well as the disabled person therefore it must be understood and considered in the support process
  • That valued roles are essential for gaining access to the good things in life therefore the maintenanceand creation of valued roles is an essential part of the support process

Definitions

Individualization

People needing assistance should be the unique focus in the planning, development, and delivery of their services and supports.

Inclusion

People should have access to the typical and valued life of their community and should receive the appropriate supports to ensure their effective participation in valued settings, with valued people, and in valued activities in their communities

All services and supports shall be carried out with the following in mind:

  • They will enhance and support the family’s natural relationships and networks wherever possible.
  • They will assist people to discover and move towards a more desirable future
  • They will be individualized to meet the wishes and needs of the person or family being supported.
  • They will strengthen the capacity of typical citizens and communities to include and support people
  • They will promote, protect, and actively support the following important life experiences for people who have been labelled:

-Having a growing physical presence in one’s community (being there).

-Having control over the big and little decisions that affect one.

-Being involved in the life of the community (a sense of belonging).

-Learning and developing new skills and abilities.

-Developing a growing number and range of personal relationships.

-Having valued roles within one’s community, being respected.

Policy 1.3 Individual Support Plans

BDACI believes that a support plan should be created and driven by the person, with the support of people who know, care about and love them. It belongs to the person on whom it focuses and, with consent, can be shared with friends, staff, agencies and government.

A plan should be guided by the following set of values and beliefs:

  • That all people are unique and have their own likes, dislikes, gifts, and needs. Consequently, support must be uniquely responsive and individualized.
  • That all people need to hold valued social roles, which allow them to become contributing members of their community.
  • That all people deserve to be treated with respect.
  • That self-respect is dependent on the influence people have over their own lives.
  • That people with intellectual disabilities develop relationships with other citizens when they are included in the life of the community.
  • That the need for a home is universal but the need for care and support is individual and must be designed for and tied to the person, not to the home.
  • That home is created by the person, from the heart, with the help of family and friends who know the person well.
  • That all people should have at least one person who loves them and is involved in their lives.
  • That safety and security does not develop from formal structures, but from the people who freely give their time to have a relationship with vulnerable people and from the commitment they have to the well-being of those people.
  • That planning for the future is an essential component of ensuring a good life.