The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

For over 40 years, CQL has provided international leadership in designing progressive practices in services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and people with mental illness. We have provided a comprehensive approach to quality assurance and quality improvement that has at times included the full spectrum of issues: look-behind surveys for Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded, certification for basic assurances, personal quality of life, social capital and community inclusion. For the past 15 years, we have been collecting data on personal outcomes and the variables that promote peoples’ priority outcomes. CQL introduced the dialogue on social capital and disability in 2000, arguing that people find meaningful life opportunities and alternatives outside of programs and organizational services. The role of organizations is to connect people with resources and social networks in their communities. Unfortunately, our data and experience indicate that organizations have difficulty making these connections. As we move forward, we are guided by the words of the artist Georgia O'Keefe...."Only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis do we get at the real meaning of things."

CQL believes that there is a common value of personal choice and person-directed supports across disciplines, geography and diagnoses. We want to engage in a conversation to turn this into insight and action that will ultimately improve the lives of all stakeholders. CQL has invited a wide range of people and organizations to join us to define what each and all of us mean by excellence in person-directed services. We may use different terms and strategies (culture change, system transformation, consumer-directed, personal choice, individual control, self-determination, self-advocacy) – but it’s what we have in common that brings us together in this initiative. And it’s right there in CQL’s vision statement – a world of dignity, opportunity and community inclusion for all people. Together, we can strip away unnecessary distractions or differences and focus on the real things that matter, that have meaning, that give us purpose. In 2009, CQL built on our Personal Outcome Measures® to focus on what really matters to people, and to support organizations and communities to provide services that facilitate personal control. We have committed to understanding how this approach applies across a variety of settings, and to work with colleagues, people receiving services and their families to develop relevant strategies.

In this session, we will focus on reviewing and discussing those organizational systems and processes that have the greatest impact on people’s quality of life, and our process for putting this list together. We will also discuss one methodology for helping organizations discover their strengths and to prioritize strategies for person-centered excellence in their systems. Finally, we propose to continue conversations with people on the autism spectrum, their families, and those that provide services and support to them as to how these strategies are best applied in their organizations, systems and lives.