DM : Our mandate is very similar to what Heath mentioned: It is supporting individuals with the aim of becoming con- tributing members of the community. Whatever that looks like is different from community to community, organiza- tion to organization, but we all agree that we need a shift in society so that people with disabilities aren’t continual- ly looked at like they’re in receipt of care or support. Our members are vocationally trained and they want to, like everyone else, fulfill their role in their communities and we in turn want to fulfill our role for them. We have a progres- sive ‘make it happen’ attitude and so do our members. HS : I’d very much like to echo what Deborah said: Progres- sive means a lot of different things to different people, but we translate it as the propagation of individual choice and celebrating the qualities and contributions of all citizens with disabilities, whatever they may be. Our programs benefit communities throughout Nova Scotia and I think we’ve really progressed from a model of people being in receipt to one where their contributions are integral to the fabric of their communities. So ultimately for DIRECTIONS, ‘best practices’ means an individually-tailored approach for everyone? DM: That’s absolutely right. Like Heath suggested, each community has its own unique make-up. My organization is in a particularly impoverished area of North Sydney and the employment piece doesn’t come as easily to us as it does
45
APRIL 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Made with FlippingBook HTML5