Community Living Assistant

Advocacy, Empowerment and Self-Determination

As a Community Living Assistant, it will be important for you to support people with disabilities to make their own choices and decisions.

Often it seems easier to get through the daily routine if you do things for people and make all of the decisions. Instead of doing this, Community Living Assistants need to learn how to offer choices in daily routines, activities and all aspects of life.

Supporting people to learn about their abilities, to take control of their lives and to speak up and speak out about their preferences and strengths is an essential part of your job.

SELF-DETERMINATION...

On the first day of working with Andre he tells Bennett, his Community Living Assistant, that he needs to buy a pair of dress socks. Bennett drives him to the store and Andre buys the socks he wants.

When they return to Andre’s house Bennett goes with him to put the socks away and finds that he has a dresser drawer filled with dress socks. Bennett finds out later that one of Andre’s challenges is spending money for things he does not need, leaving less money for the things that he does need, such as groceries.

The next time Andre says that he wants to buy something Bennett is careful not to say that he can’t buy it, as that would go against Andre’s right to make his own decisions. However, knowing that Andre has a habit of overspending money, Bennett asks more questions about why he wants to buy this particular item.

Bennett’s role here is also to help Andre to understand the consequences of his actions so that he can make an informed decision.

Each person has a reason for his or her actions. As a Community Living Assistant, it is important to do a thorough investigation with the person to understand their logic and reasoning. It is helpful for the person to understand their choices with the related consequences in order for them to make a good decision.

Sometimes you might teach people with developmental disabilities ways that they can take greater control over their own lives and look out for their own self-interest. This is called “self-advocacy.”

Teaching people to advocate on their own behalf is important to the main goal of EBI, which is to help people with developmental disabilities be as independent as possible.

You will also be in situations where you will need to advocate on behalf of the people you support. This may be to help them express an opinion about how they want to live when others do not agree with them. Over time you will learn the fine art of when to sit back and watch someone try to do something on their own and when to advocate on their behalf.

Community Inclusion and Relationships