SELF-ADVOCACY: IT'S OUR MISSION! VIDEOS SELF-ADVOCACY IS features actors with intellectual disabilities explaining the basics of the movement. It has some small technical glitches but it is one of our most popular downloads of all time! It launched to rave reviews at Engines of Success 2006. OUT OF THE BOX reflects the reality that every child needs to push their parents as part of the process of growing up. For people with intellectual disabilities this often takes place many years later than for others - but better late than never! HOME ALONE was captured with a small digital camera and was not rehearsed or planned. It features a Journeys participant showing that the younger generation at LiveWorkPlay may have a very different future in store! I WRITE CHEQUES was also captured in a spontaneous moment, and also features a participant from Journeys, this time showing how effectively he manages part of his personal finances. VIDEOS ODSP & ME was made over the course of several months utilizing a dozen actors with intellectual disabilities from SMILE. It launched to rave reviews at Engines of Success 2007. I AM A VOTER is comprised mainly of television and radio clips from the 2006 municipal election in Ottawa. SMILE (and Journeys participants of age) showed tremendous leadership as citizens exercising their democratic rights and obligations. THE RIGHT TO PARTY is a short video that highlights two types of freedoms that (sadly) many people with intellectual disabilities don't get the chance to experience: going to an adult party and staying overnight. SELF-ADVOCACY IN ACTION was a one-day conference at LiveWorkPlay that focused on getting down to the hard work of setting goals (self-advocacy is more than talk, it is all about doing). With the support of parents and others many of the people in the video went on to achieve the goals they described. SELF-ADVOCACY MEANS TO ME was one of the first times Journeys and SMILE participants talked publicly about self-advocacy. The occasion was the United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons 2005. A great early effort! People with intellectual disabilities will progress as self-advocates and contributing citizens while the organization ensures a high level of financial and moral accountability, transparency, and efficiency. (ADOPTED AT LIVEWORKPLAY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2005) But what is self-advocacy? It is so many things! a civil rights movement speaking up for yourself being an active citizen making choices and decisions taking on responsibilities enjoying meaningful relationships It's about people with intellectual disabilities showing the world what they can do! There are of course people with other types of disabilities who are self-advocates. For example, there are many people with physical disabilities who are self-advocates and leaders in all areas of society. But there are some unique issues related to people with intellectual disabilities that makes their self-advocacy movement a bit different. For example, many (if not most) people with intellectual disabilities... experience a school curriculum that is without clear focus or outcomes spend most of their lives in institutional forms of housing are isolated in their own communities with limited personal networks face serious barriers to volunteerism and paid employment are medicated with drugs they don't understand and/or don't need cope with daily discrimination and disphobia* have their lives and resources controlled by others are discouraged or prevented from living as sexual beings Thankfully - although it is taking far too long - things are getting better. Most importantly, people with intellectual disabilities are taking greater control of their own lives, and that in turn is having an impact on the world around them! Many people with intellectual disabilities are now managing their own bank accounts, renting or buying their own homes, taking on meaningful positions as volunteers or employees, developing friendships and romantic relationships, and more. At LiveWorkPlay this is something we work hard to support every day - in everything we say and everything we do. LiveWorkPlay did not invent the self-advocacy movement (it was around for many decades before we existed) but we have fully embraced its principles and are trying our best to live it. As you can see from many of the video presentations available on this page, participants at LiveWorkPlay are demonstrating that self-advocacy is making a difference in their lives. In order for these changes to take place, the support of family members and other trusted members of the individual's personal network are critical. Since adopting a clear self-advocacy mandate, LiveWorkPlay has placed increasing demands on parents in particular to change practices that in some cases were more than 30 years old. Basic changes like eliminating the family taxi (thus promoting use of public transportation) often snowball into other areas - making and going to appointments, personal finance, self-care, shopping - the list is as endless as the complexities of life itself. Families are definitely our most important partners in the self-advocacy movement, but there are lots of other key contributors, including government, the private sector, granting agencies, and other non-profit organizations. The list is too long to go into here, but please visit our supporters page to get the full story. This web page is always under construction, so if you read somewhere than some sort of information or another was supposed to be available here, please be patient and if it doesn't show up, just let us now. Our email address is at the bottom of the page. Thanks for supporting self-advocacy and people with intellectual disabilities! *"Disphobia" is a word that we first heard from David Hingsburger, who is many things but can be described as a disability rights activist, author, and speaker. His work has made and continues to make a very important contribution to the development of LiveWorkPlay. Google him if you want to check him out, he's got a great blog. The idea of disphobia is that we have words to describe acts and attitudes of hatred or prejudice against various groups (e.g. racism, homophobic, misogynist) but there is no similar term for negative beliefs and actions held or taken against people with disabilities. As a very rough definition, a "disphobic" person is one who thinks or acts in certain ways towards people with disabilities just because they have a disability. This can take countless forms, from fighting to keep a person with a disability from living on the same street, to bullying and teasing in the schoolyard, to the (well-intentioned but ignorant) touching of a stranger with a disability in a way that you would not touch a non-disabled stranger. So, fight disphobia. Get informed. Listen. And speak up when you see and hear disphobic activity around you. 153 Chapel Street, Suite 300 | Ottawa, Ontario | K1N 1H5 | 613-235-9550 info@liveworkplay.ca | www.liveworkplay.ca Charitable Registration 89622 2775 RR 0001