A Few Words About Dignity of Risk - New Mexico Department of ...

What if you spent three hours every day just waiting?What if you grew old and never knew adulthood?What if you never got a chance?-Linda Stengle, Laying Community Foundations forYour Child with a DisabilityNew Mexico Developmental Disabilities Supports Division- Meaningful DayA FEW WORDS ABOUT DIGNITY OF RISK3

Dignity of RiskOverprotection may appear on the surface to be kind, but it canbe really evil. An oversupply can smother people emotionally,squeeze the life out of their hopes and expectations, and stripthem of their dignity.Overprotection can keep people from becoming all they couldbecome.Many of our best achievements came the hard way: We tookrisks, fell flat, suffered, picked ourselves up, and tried again.Sometimes we made it and sometimes we did not. Even so, wewere given the chance to try. Persons with special needs needthese chances, too.Of course, we are talking about prudent risks. People should notbe expected to blindly face challenges that, without a doubt, willexplode in their faces. Knowing which chances are prudent andwhich are not - this is a new skill that needs to be acquired.On the other hand, a risk is really only when it is not knownbeforehand whether a person can succeed...The real world is not always safe, secure, and predictable. It doesnot always say "please", "excuse me", or "I'm sorry". Every daywe face the possibility of being thrown into situations where wewill have to risk everything...In the past, we found clever ways to build avoidance of risk intothe lives or persons living with disabilities. Now we must workequally hard to help find the proper amount of risk these peoplehave the right to take. We have learned that there can be healthydevelopment in risk taking... and there can be crippling indignityin safety!-Robert Perske, Hope for the FamiliesNew Mexico Developmental Disabilities Supports Division- Meaningful DayA FEW WORDS ABOUT DIGNITY OF RISK4

Some Considerations for Support Staff:In working with young people and/or people with a disabilitythere is a need, through planning, to minimise possibleharm. It is not possible to eliminate risk, only to formulatestrategies to minimise it. Allowing someone to undertake orengage in a risky activity does not make you negligent.Failing to take any steps to minimise foreseeable harm couldbe. This is called ‘dignity of risk’.The ideal for individuals with a disability is to live a life whichis as typical as possible to their nondisabled peers. Allpeople take risks. Duty of care can sometimes seem inconflict with allowing risk. Simply allowing a person toengage in an activity with inherent elements of danger orrisk is not automatically negligent.When a staff member is uncertain, they should discuss thesituation with other staff, a supervisor or seek guidancefrom management.From “Duty of Care, Critical Thinking and Ethics”Facilitated by Dr Caroline EllisonEmail: Caroline.Ellison@flinders.edu.auNew Mexico Developmental Disabilities Supports Division- Meaningful DayA FEW WORDS ABOUT DIGNITY OF RISK5