Are you feeling frustrated with the limited options available for your loved one with a developmental disability?
Do you feel like they’re just going through the motions at their day program without really growing or experiencing life to the fullest?
If so, I’m here to tell you that there are better options out there.
Why is a day program presented as the only option for adults with developmental disabilities?
The truth is, there are better ordinary options available for your loved one. We’re here to help you explore and discover the possibilities that exist to help your loved one live an Awesome Ordinary Life, with more independence, real friendships, and even paid employment.
To help you learn more about these options, I’ve created a short video that explains why there are better options than a day program and what those options look like.
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When children are asked ”What do you want to be when you grow up?” in elementary school and older students in high school are asked the question’s more mature versions like ”What career would you like after graduation?”, the answer will almost never be along the lines of ”I’d like to be a participant in a day program” or ”I want to flip burgers and fry at a fast food joint”. Yet if they’re neurologically disabled, those people often get told day programs or ”dead end” fast foodretail jobs are the only options and indeed, the current paradigm coupled with a lack of career support services means that often, these ARE essentially the only options! Heck, vocational rehabilitation agencies (especially government run ones) don’t exist to get people into good careers or help start businesses, they exist to funnel clients into dead end work!
Programs are pushed because “normal” people don’t believe learning is not a possibility. Also, the money these programs get is insane.
Support coordinators have reacted negatively to my refusal to have Chris in a day program. They look at me like I have 2 heads when I tell them that I am teaching Chris to read, that he goes to kung fu, music lessons and dates with girlfriend.
I hate the term “be with people like them”
NYS OPWDD, while not perfect, has a wide array of supports and services. I’m proud that the agency I work at offers a program without walls (PWW) and not a site-based program. The entire day is spent in the community, volunteering and learning life/work skills. We also offer Community Habilitation, where a person with ID/DD works one on one towards goals they have chosen as important to them whether at home or elsewhere. We also offer Supported Employment so a person with ID/DD gets the support they need at work. We also have Self-Direction which provides the person with ID/DD a budget equivalent to what the state would spend and determine what supports and services they want to receive. It also includes a housing subsidy for those wanting to live in an apartment.
They program where my son will be attending sounds much like yours. He had visited several times and refers to call the people as his friends. He lights up when he walls through the door!
My 25 year old son goes to a day program once a week, and it is his absolute favourite day. A lot of people were upset when ARC Industries closed. Day programs could be improved but the government does not want to spend the money. Instead they hire people to convince the vulnerable that they should be in the workplace rather than receiving disability benefits. This may be possible for some people, but by no means all of the disabled. You say that paid carers are not real friends, but employers are not either. They are in business to make money. I am so tired of the bashing of day programs. And don’t even get me started on the Passport program. I’m sure government employees get most of the money that should just be given to the entitled recipients.
Interesting in learning more my son is only 13
Awesome workshop