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Supported Living is…

  • Individualised
  • Flexible & responsive to change
  • Based on person's choice
  • About real homes
  • About real membership and participation in communities
  • Based on the human rights of people with disabilities
  • For any person, regardless of type or level of disability.
  • Happening now.
Family members
What is Supported Living?

Supported living is quite a simple idea…

A person with disability gets the support they need to live in their own home.

If the person's needs change the support they get can also be changed.

The most important thing is that the support matches the person's needs.

This means the support services are designed for the person…they fit the person, the person does not have to fit the services.

This helps the person to live in their community.

How supported living works has been described like this:

"…a person with a disability who requires long-term, publicly funded, organized assistance allies with an agency whose role is to arrange or provide whatever assistance is necessary for the person to live in a decent and secure home of the person's own."
John O'Brien, 1993, Supported Living: What's the Difference?
  • The funding a person gets is just for them. It is individual.
  • The funding goes with the person and it changes if their needs change.
  • An agency helps the person to get the supports they need to live in the home they choose and be part of their neighbourhood and community.
  • The agency does "whatever it takes" to get good results for the person.
  • Supported living is based on the belief that people with disability have the same rights as everyone else to live in and belong to their community.
  • An agency supporting a person coordinates the supports needed for a person to live in a home of their choice and to become contributing members of their neighbourhoods and communities.
  • It implies a "whatever it takes" approach to achieving positive outcomes for people.
  • Supported living is based on a particular view and about the worth, rights, membership and potential contribution of all people.
  • It is happening now, for people with disability in other states in Australia and around the world. (examples)
  • A lot has to happen to make supported living a real choice for people in NSW.

"There is enough anecdotal and research evidence to show that
Supported Living is effective, affordable and what many people want.
The challenge is to take the lessons from across the world and apply them."

P Kinsella (2001). Supported Living. The Changing Paradigm - from control to freedom.


 

To learn more about what supported living means… click here

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