Voici un article intéressant sur l'autodétermination tel que décrit par un jeune homme avec une déficience. Après avoir vécu 15 ans en milieux institutionnels il a su définir ce que l'autodétermination signifie pour lui.
SELF DETERMINATION
by
Michael Kennedy
What I consider to be self-determination for people with disabilities is to work collectively, with the person with the disability at the top. The person's family members, friends, agency staff, and anyone else the person wants involved become the collective, along with the person themselves. They make the decisions together, with the person at the top, doing it with the person instead of having it all set up beforehand.
Self-determination is not having everything done for you because then you're not learning to do it for yourself. We have to be allowed to learn about life, make mistakes, and fall on our faces if need be. Asking for help is self-determination, too.
It is not self-determination when everybody makes your decisions for you, tells you where you are going to live, what house you can live in, what neighborhood you can live in, what clothes you should wear, what food you can eat, how much money you can spend and what you should buy.
Why do people without disabilities feel that they have the right to become independent and self-determining but people with disabilities don't have that right?
By not letting someone take a chance and experience life, professionals and parents make the biggest mistake they can make, because before a person becomes self-determining they've got to go through some trials and tribulations of just life itself like anybody else. Instead of doing everything for us and protecting us from life, people should just be available if and when we need help. And they shouldn't discard us if we don't want to take their suggestions, because we can't set up our lives like they set theirs up.
What people need to realize is that self-determination can be different things to different people. All people should have the opportunity to be self-determining, based on what that means for them. They might need some guidance, they might need some help, but that doesn't mean they ought to be shut out of opportunities to have their life. Everybody needs some support at one time or another, I don't care who you are. What's important is to focus on what you can do, what you are good at and like to do. When you are getting supported, you have to take the intiative to tell other people what you want, what you need, and the supports you will need to live the way you want.
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This article was prepared by the Research and Training Center on Community Integration, Center on Human Policy(Permission de reproduire)