The Four Walls of My Freedom by Donna Thomson Read Free Book Online Page A

security, choice and the ability to make a contribution to society are the key ingredients.
    First and foremost in realizing these values or freedoms in the lives of people with disabilities is an understanding that caring relationships are the key to a good life. Furthermore, these wise parents recognized that people with disabilities often find it difficult to forge and sustain friendships. But caring relationships alone are not enough to sustain a good life — individual contributions must be enabled and valued in families and communities.
    Finally, PLAN ’s model to support children with disabilities as they age is directed and financed by families. The portion that is not paid by families is raised through charitable fundraising, coupled with awareness training for the public about our children’s civic contributions. Operational funds remain safe from cutbacks by steering clear of government funding — the family has total control of the entire process. The PLAN model is unique in the sense that it encompasses the aspirations of the whole family, not just the person with a disability.
    I rely heavily on my friends to enrich my life, through good times and bad. My friends leave care packages at my door when I am ill, they pray for my elderly mother if she is hospitalized and they laugh with me over dinner. I want Nicholas to have that same kind of support after Jim and I are gone. I know that other friends or family members can never replace Jim and me in Nicholas’ life, and I also know that Natalie cannot shoulder that responsibility alone. The letters in PLAN stand for Planned Lifetime Advocacy Networks. What do network members do?
    In the early years of PLAN , the status quo for people requiring care in their community was to receive services and participate in programs funded by tax dollars. No one imagined that people with disabilities had anything to give back to society. But anyone who loves a vulnerable individual will be happy to list that person’s gifts and contributions to family and the wider community. For anyone who has the capacity to act at all, a valued contribution gives meaning and confers value to that person’s life. Contribution equals citizenship became a core value of the PLAN movement. At the Ottawa PLAN parent group (Lifetime Networks Ottawa), I organized a fundraising tour of beautiful private gardens in the city. Any activity that I undertook had to showcase our values. So each garden on the tour had a greeter (one of our children) who took tickets and welcomed the public. Nicholas performed this function at our own neighbourhood garden. Even though he had required some assistance, I noticed that everyone was careful to thank Nick for his helpful participation.
    Over the past twenty years, PLAN network members have been acting in the best interests of a friend with a disability by:
    â€¢Monitoring the formal programs and services that our relatives receive
•Becoming effective advocates
•Serving as executors and trustees or as advisors
•Offering help and support in making important decisions
•Responding promptly and effectively to crisis
•Solving problems and handling the unexpected
•Carrying out the wishes of parents
    All of these roles are shared and performed by a group of individuals who truly care for the person at the centre of the network. Network members are not paid, nor are they volunteers. They are friends. And PLAN exists to ensure that network members function together as good friends of the person at the heart of the network over his or her entire lifetime.
    PLAN offers families the tools for creating a future that includes enduring friendships as well as a financial plan to support a good life for their relative. Families pay for these services and leave money in their will to ensure the enduring integrity of their personal vision.
    The values of the PLAN movement continue to inspire me; the founding families