103: Living the Way We Want Distance Learning (For 16)

DETS Course 103: Living the Way WE Want Distance Learning is a basic level course that empowers people with intellectual disabilities to consider and speak up for what they want in their lives. The twelve one-hour sessions in Course 103 to help your group members:

• build personal power
• learn about the rights movement for disability equality and how it applies to them
• act together to contribute to the community

These participatory, fun exercises will continue to strengthen your members’ identity as “self-advocates. This course is an  essential part in the movement for person-centered planning–empowering the person in the center.

Session 0
Title: Participant Orientation

Description: An engaging and fun overview of the coming 12 sessions. Also a chance to set up technology and communication protocols.

Objectives
–Review the material in the Participant Kits.
–Build participant anticipation and enthusiasm for the coming 12 sessions.
–Get everyone’s commitment to attend and participate in all 12 sessions.
–Facilitator learn how the group works together and make adjustments so that everyone is comfortable with the distance learning format.

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Session 1a
Title: Session Openers

Description: This is your formula for starting each of the 12 sessions in this course, DETS 103 Distance Learning.

Objectives:
–Participants build comfort with one another as a learning group.
–Participants see the big picture, where this course is going.

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Session 1b
Title: Values Collage

Description: Participants make a collage using their personal choices of words and phrases that describe their values.

Objectives:
–Knowing what is most important to you.
–Telling others about your values.
–Using your values to guide your life decisions.

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Session 2a
Title: Decision-Making

Description: Participants practice noticing decisions they are making, considering whether they are big decisions or small ones, and how to approach each.

Objectives:
–Participants can recognize difference between big and small decisions.
–Participants experience a process for making a big decision, what goes into it.

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Session 2b
Title: Guess What I’m Good At

Description: Participants use this charade exercise to silently show something they’re good at, while others guess.

Objectives:
–Know and name your strengths.
–Understand and practice how you use your facial expressions and body to communicate.

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Session 3a
Title: Don’t Fence Me In

Description: All sing a song and talk about our desire to be free, and what gets in the way.

Objectives:
–Develop an awareness of barriers that are getting in the way of living the way we want.

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Session 3b
Title: My Goal

Description: Participants use a worksheet to name one goal in their life, what factors help them reach it, and what stands in the way.

Objectives
–Participants practice assessing their goals, and how to work toward them.

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Session 4
Title: What’s Working?

Description: Participants work in teams to fill in a worksheet, and use their answers to talk about things that are working well, and things that are not working so well.

Objectives:
–To identify what things are currently working well in your life.
–To identify what things are not working well in your life.
–Brainstorm things that should stay the same and things that should change.

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Session 5a
Title: History of Power

Description: Participant teams each study a small slice of history, and present that information to each other, noticing the shift over time toward the right to Live the Way We Want.

Objectives:
–Participants notice the historical shift from experts having all the power over lives of people with disabilities to people having power over their own lives.
–Participants begin to notice who has the power in their lives, and understand that a shift to having more control over their own lives is possible.

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Session 5b
Title: Optional Quiz

Description: Review group quiz to solidify new learning about the movements in history, and now to notice them all around us even today.

Objectives:
–Participants will test their understanding of how history has shaped their current lives.

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Session 6a
Title: Old-Versus-New Way of Planning

Description: Pairs study a series of realistic statements to decide if what’s happening is “Living the Way WE Want” or if it is not, then share thoughts with the large group.

Objective:
–Participants practice noticing when experts take power over people with disabilities, and when they actually help people get what they want.

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Session 6b
Title: Practice Being Proud – Guided Relaxation

Description: Participants relax and listen as facilitator reads an uplifting poem that says you learn to be proud by practicing.

Objective:
–Life the spirits of the participants, give them some empowering phrases to remember.

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Session 7a
Title: What’s Integration? A Right!

Description: Participants use colors to create a segregated pattern on a coloring sheet, then use an identical sheet a second time to show what integration looks like.

Objective:
–Become familiar with the concepts of segregation and integration.

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Session 7b
Title: My Integrated Life

Description: Practice noticing integration in our lives by looking at examples and identifying integration in our own lives.

Objectives:
–Notice the right of integration in your life
–Notice segregation in your life.
–See common experiences you have with others.

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Session 8a
Title: Living the Way We Want

Description: Participants put some of their hopes and dreams onto worksheets that parallel the five of Living the Way We Want Posters from Session 1a.

Objective:
–Participants get some low-risk practice in talking about their deep hopes and dreams.

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Session 8b
Title: Living the Way We Want

Description: Facilitator read a series of statements. After each, participants decide if it’s true for them personally, then show and compare responses.

Objectives:
–Low risk method to get folks talking
–Non-verbal activity maximizes full inclusion of all abilities
–Give folks practice and reinforcement for saying who they are.

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Session 9
Title: Assertiveness Training

Description: Volunteers take turns role-playing simple situations three times: once passively, once aggressively, and once assertively.

Objectives:
–Understand the difference between communication passively, aggressively, and assertively.
–Experience which communication method is most effective.

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Session 10
Title: Take Action on What’s Not Working

Description: Use role-play as a way to practice taking action in their own “not working” situations.

Objectives:
–Participants wrestle with an issue they’d like to change, and practice ways to get around roadblocks.
–Participants begin to consider a path to getting closer to having more of what they want.

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Session 11
Title: Becoming the Leaders We Want to Be

Description: Participants reflect on all the new learnings of this course, the leadership skills they’ve built, and consider ideas for how they want to use this knowledge going forward in their lives.

Objective:
–Participants gain a stronger sense of their own leadership skills.

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Session 12
Title: Take Action on What’s Not Working

Description: Recognition and celebration of participants’ successful completion of all 12 sessions.

Objectives:
–Mark the completion of this 12-session course with a ceremony presenting certificates.
–Raise community awareness of what we are doing.