People living with a disability can finding achieving independence challenging. We all know that one of the core objectives of the NDIS is to encourage participants to enhance their independence. This goal is frequently referenced in NDIS plans, within policies, your reports and adopted by those who take a genuinely person-centred approach to care.
However, there are times when businesses, independent support workers, and even our own staff need to catch up. Instead of promoting independence, they sometimes mistakeably hinder it, misunderstanding what genuine care should involve.
Every paid support worker should actively help participants work towards their NDIS and personal goals while fostering independence. This is no simple task, businesses need to promote staff development, encourage self-improvement, or ongoing training, that allows workers to reach new heights. Which not only elevates your business, it gives your staff confidence in their abilities and brings about real change for your customers.
Your support staff are the backbone of your business!
How do we work on building resilience and independence?
1. Support, Don't Control
Whether new or experienced, support workers often face challenges or sometimes preconceived ideas that don’t promote the wellbeing of your customers.
They're doing their best, but sometimes, to care and protect, they accidentally create a controlled environment.
Compassionate workers may overstep, offering too much care at the cost of a participant's independence. When a support worker enters a customer's home—Supported Independent Living or a private residence—they must shift into "support mode."
Support isn't about managing or controlling someone, it’s about guiding and encouraging them. Rather than instructing your customers what to do, supports should involve the them and promote their preferences.
To prioritise everyone's safety, it is important to provide assistance by offering safer options that empower customers to make decisions.
2. Build Trust
Building trust takes time, but it's essential.
A strong rapport between the support network and the customer fosters independence. This can be achieved through regular, open communication, respecting the customer's privacy and personal space, and consistently following through on commitments. Although it requires dedication, the result is a connected support system that increases the participant's confidence and autonomy.
Remember, the quality of interaction always matters more than quantity. Creating a supportive environment where the customer feels confident speeds up their journey to independence.
3. Judgy much?
Walking into a stranger’s world can be an awkward experience. We can be shocked! That’s when it becomes easy to fall into the trap of making judgments based on our own experiences and beliefs.
It is important for your team to recognise that each person's circumstances are their own, and that they may have arrived at their current situation through factors that are not immediately obvious.
Your customers may feel embarrassed or ashamed about their living conditions, which can lead to behaviours such as lack of interaction, verbal aggression and withdrawal.
It's easy to misjudge a lifestyle we don't understand. Your customers can pick up on it when supports pass judgment, even subtly. Comments like “who does the dishes here? Why is the rubbish bin full, it stinks!” These are inflammatory and not helpful. That's why it's key to educate staff to step back from their own ideas of "right" or "wrong" and look at the world through your customers eyes.
By practicing non-judgmental observation, staff can better understand those that they are supporting, build rapport, and foster trust and independence.
We have worked with customers in their early twenties who lived a confronting lifestyle; their home was dirty, cockroach-infested and overcrowded with visitors, animals and waste. Our approach was to understand that there had never been any guidance. Their parents had tragically died when they were teenagers, these two young people both lived with intellectual disabilities and were doing the best they knew how.
A cleaning company became involved, to start the process and the customers began appreciating a cleaner home. So, they embarked on learning, being guided by their support to do the dishes after a meal, take the garbage out regularly and ask their guests to clean up after themselves.
After months of hard work, you could see the pride on their faces when they were visited, and how eager they were to show their progress. Once they greeted staff at the door and wouldn't allow entry, now they are happy to say, "Come in."
4. Slowly does it: Change is a process, not an event.
Sometimes we have customers who have lived with their parents or other caregivers, who are now elderly. They have been cared for all their lives, by people who only wanted the best for them and wanted to protect them.
When your customers begin to live more independently, such as their own accommodation, you need to ease them into the ideas about making their choices. For some there have been routines built around what has been best for everyone.
"I always go to bed at 8pm," When a customer mentions a habit or routine, it's important not to criticise it or overlook it as "silly behaviour." instead, foster more engagement and options in your conversations.
For example, if a movie night runs late and extends beyond the usual 8pm bedtime, the customer may express concern about the impact of staying up later. They may feel they are being bad or they will be in trouble. Approach the situation delicately to understand their perspective. Explain the potential consequence might be feeling a bit more tired in the morning, but they could always sleep in.
Moving slowly, can bring about significant changes and a freedom your customers may not have felt before.
5. Get out into the Community.
Encouraging community access and activities can be daunting to many for the first time. But by gauging interests and having discussions, you can promote ideas about meeting new people, having fun and working towards goals.
By aligning interests, even if it is an online Community, you are advancing your customers' abilities and interactions, giving them a sense of accomplishment that naturally builds confidence.
6. Does your customer vote? Let's talk about it.
We have had customers living in such controlled environments that their opinions of politics were overlooked entirely, so they were not enrolled to vote.
Encourage discussions about politics. You can start with the NDIS and how it works in simple terms, as well as the new legislation and the coming changes. Then, talk about how these changes will work when we go to the voting booths next year. Currently, you can even discuss the US political landscape. With Trump and Harris in full swing, their debate is everywhere on the net.
We all know the saying " don’t talk about politics and religion", but these conversations are stepping stones to assisting your customers with their autonomy and understanding a broader idea that their vote counts.
7. Daily living skills – the start of great things!
Your customer may have already had a Functional Capacity Assessment and be working with an Occupational Therapist. You can enhance and fine-tune the sessions with simple tasks to assist your customers in gaining independence.
Instead of washing their clothes, help them understand how the washing machine works and what the steps are from dirty clothes to putting them away.
It's not about making significant, overwhelming changes; it's instead about making a series of more minor changes that, when combined, create a huge difference.
Start developing skills across the board using small increments and celebrate those successes. The minor hiccups – have a laugh.
8. The taboo topic: Sex
Let's start an important conversation about sexual health for people with disabilities.
We always need to protect, assess, report and assist our customers on understanding the risks of sexual abuse from other individuals. Our customers can be vulnerable.
However, independence does take many forms, including empowering individuals to make their own sexual health decisions through education.
Check the web and connect your customers to resources that will assist them to understand the differences between fun and abuse.
Check out your state for various options.
9. Tech Empowerment for Independence
The advancement of technology is transforming learning and development, making it more efficient and accessible than ever.
The tablet is a key player in personalised learning for people living with disabilities. Intuitive interfaces and customisable features create an ideal learning environment.
As a bonus, tablets are fun to use and do not carry any of the negative stigma often associated with ‘special equipment’.
Not only can a tablet assist with communication, but it can also enhance and develop skills in a safe and engaging environment, including road and public transport safety awareness and even barista training.
There are numerous platforms for learning, which is self-paced and led by interests.
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Achieving independence for people living with disabilities is a multifaceted process that requires genuine support and a team effort.
Your staff should foster independence by offering guidance, building trust, and avoiding judgment. Through gradual change, community engagement, and fostering daily living skills, your customers can grow more confident in their abilities.
In the end, promoting independence is about empowering participants to achieve their goals, fostering resilience, and creating meaningful, lasting change.
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We wish you well, as always
The Lama Care Team
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