Global-Report-Living-Colour-dr2-2

Inclusive Communities = Stronger Communities
GLOBAL REPORT ON ARTICLE 19: THE RIGHT TO LIVE AND BE INCLUDED IN THE COMMUNITY
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community; indeed many times they are an obstacle
to achieving that goal. Buildings do not provide
meaningful lives – choice, access to appropriate
supports, and relationships are the elements needed
to establish and maintain inclusive lives in
community.
Based on institutional closures in many countries across
the world we now know that to ensure successful and
positive outcomes, efforts toward deinstitutionalization
must reflect the following elements:
• Individuals and families must be given status and
support to exercise personal choice
• Supportive relationships for people
must be built that give people value
and respect
• Opportunities and support must be
established for people to learn and
work in the community
• Community services and structures
must be available and accessible (that
is they must be usable by all people,
free of barriers, etc.)
• Flexible and responsive personal
supports must be provided to meet
disability related needs
We must learn from our mistakes, not repeat them.
Deinstitutionalization must be about more than simply
closing large institutions, about more than simply
replacing large institutions with smaller ones, about more
than creating networks of group homes, and ultimately
about more than substituting isolation outside the
community for isolation within the community.
Deinstitutionalization must be about creating capacity
within community to support people with intellectrual
disability and their families, to live as full and equal
citizens, in ways that reflect and respect the prevailing
culture and traditions. The outcome must be lives that are
typical and ordinary, yet valued.