Focus on home: It is not innovative to want ordinary
In her two-hour, thought-provoking, and actionable presentation, Janet shared stories of real families who have supported loved ones with disability to live in places of their choosing.
During the webinar, Janet challenged us to look to the familiar, valued, and typical ways we have always thought about home, just as we would for our other kids or their age peers who don't have disability. She described the benefits of building tailored supports that augment the person's autonomy, and how the strongest safeguards arise from being known in the community.
She also warned us that the pressure to choose special housing options is relentless, and that by choosing the special path, the person will always end up in a place that is very different to what we all recognise as home.
Speakers
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Janet Klees
Janet Klees has been involved in the lives of people with disabilities, their families, and community allies for about 40 years. For nearly 10 years, Janet has been the Executive Director of the Durham Association for Family Resources and Support (DAFRS) in a region near Toronto, Canada. DAFRS works in partnership with families to imagine, plan, and implement good lives in the community for people with disability. They utilise a principled, family-led, one-person-at-a-time, and SRV-anchored approach.
Prior to this, Janet coordinated the family-governed Deohaeko Support Network of seven families for over twenty years. She credits this work for giving her much of her practical experience.
Janet is a talented writer and has published three books directly rooted in the Deohaeko experience (We Come Bearing Gifts, Our Presence Has Roots, and Deohaeko Decades). She also writes various articles and other documents to support her work and thinking.
Janet continues to meet, share and learn with families and their chosen organisations in many parts of the world, with a focus on principled strategies to bring about roles, relationship, and places of belonging working together with families in real partnership, and helping families to build powerhouse support teams and welcoming, inclusive communities.
