Independent Living Services Instructor

Advocacy, Empowerment and Self-Determination

As an ILS Instructor, 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, ILS Instructors 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.

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 helping them express an opinion about how they want to live when others do not agree with them. It may be to help them buy something in a store when a salesperson is not responding adequately.

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.

THE FINE ART OF
SELF-DETERMINATION...

Phil is a very social and outgoing person who lives alone in his own apartment. Phil uses ILS services to assist him with a variety of activities. Every week George, his ILS Instructor, helps him do his banking and shopping. George meets him at his apartment, drives him to a nearby office to pick up his weekly check, drives him to the bank to cash the check and drives him to the grocery store to buy food for the week.

The teller at the bank knows Phil because he comes in every week and is very social. The teller suggests opening an account, using direct deposit, and getting an ATM card so he will not have to go to the bank every week.

Phil is interested about this option and asks George if he should open an account. George begins a conversation with Phil about the pros and cons of opening an account. George expresses concern because Phil has a history of spending his weekly checks on things other than groceries. This has left him without sufficient food by the end of the week.

Phil states that he wants to open an account, explaining that he is older now and should be able to make this decision. In following the ILS philosophy of consumer choice and the right for people to make their decisions, George sits back and supports Phil’s decision to open a bank account.

George keeps the conversation open and shows his concern by occasionally asking Phil whether or not he wants to talk about his decision to get an ATM card. Phil expresses excitement about getting an ATM card, understands the steps he needs to get one, and makes it clear that he does not want to talk more about it. Phil respects his decision and notifies his supervisor at the end of the day about what happened.

Community Inclusion and Relationships