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Learning module · Deeper method
An orientation to person-centered planning, supported decision-making, LifeCourse, the ADA and Olmstead, home and community-based services, employment-first practice, and positive supports, and to what each asks of a service design.
Why this matters
Equity in disability services is inseparable from disability rights. A redesign that adds steps, removes choice, or assumes incapacity can be inaccessible and inequitable at once.
Person-centered planning. The person directs the plan; the system organizes around their goals, relationships, and preferences. Ask how a process lets the person lead rather than respond.
Supported decision-making. People have the right to make their own decisions with support they choose. Ask whether a process assumes incapacity or offers support.
LifeCourse. A framework for thinking about a good life across a lifetime, using the person's vision and a mix of supports. Useful for planning conversations; it is one framework among several.
ADA and Olmstead. The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead decision require services in the most integrated setting appropriate. Ask whether a design steers people toward segregated settings by default.
Home and community-based services and employment-first practice. Services in the community and competitive, integrated employment as the first option. Ask whether eligibility, assessment, and authorization steps make the community option harder than the institutional one.
Positive supports. Approaches that build skills and quality of life rather than relying on restriction. Ask whether a process responds to behavior with support or with control.
Each legal or policy claim above needs the current source. Use the external references in the Library and the policy owner for anything that affects a person's eligibility, rights, or services.
Questions or corrections
If something is missing or does not seem right, tell your Equity Director or find the right person or office.