Photo by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Photo by Sammy Williams on Unsplash

Born from the desire of disability advocates and community members to create a more person-centered approach, self-determination programs are gaining traction in California. These programs offer a way for disabled community members to take back their agency and make their own choices with the support of their care team and families.

The Self-Determination Program (SDP) is an alternative option facilitated by the regional centers for people with disabilities to choose personalized support and care. Disabled individuals use their own voice, take back agency, and decide the direction of their life with support from a team. Being self-determined gives disabled people empowering choices that offer more joy in recreation, meets needs for personal safety, and adjusts accommodation on an individual basis.

Born from the desire of disability advocates to implement a more person-centered approach, Self-Determination Programs (SDP) have prospered in the United States. The Self-Determination Program offers a way for disabled individuals to take back their agency and make their own choices with the support of their care team and families.

What is Self-Determination?

The principles of self-determination are founded on universal human rights, the disability justice movement, and supported by regional centers. The principles of self-determination programs include:

California's Self-Determination Program (SDP) provides disabled individuals the opportunity to take agency and control over the services offered by implementing Person-Centered Planning (PCP). This program offers more freedom, more choices, and more control to people receiving disability support services.

"This is about your hopes and your dreams. Instead of others providing a cookie-cutter approach to helping you, you get to choose what's best for you," says Shannon Cherry, a mother of two daughters who participated in the pilot of SDP.

Welcome to Ability Central’s "Accessibility 101" on accommodation for in-person meetings. Ability Central’s mission is to make information and communication accessible to everyone. Ability Central regularly hosts meetings with participants who are Deaf, have sensory processing disabilities, are visually impaired, or have difficulty speaking.

Ability Central is on a mission is to expand information and communication access. The Ability Central team often hosts gatherings that include participants who are Deaf, have sensory processing disabilities, are blind or visually impaired, or have difficulty speaking. Video presentations are a part of many workplaces, but it’s important to know which elements to emphasize and which to leave behind when presenting to an audience or team that includes people with disabilities.

Ability Central’s core mission is to make information and communication accessible to everyone. Ability Central regularly hosts meetings with participants who are Deaf, have sensory processing issues, are visually impaired, or have difficulty speaking.

Because of the advances in technology and communication, it is easier to accommodate working from home—which means that workplace teams are trading the board room for Zoom meetings and remote work communications.