Foundation for success

Visioning & Planning are the Foundation for Success

With FMS, a family creates a vision by making a clear and loving description of their family member: who they are, what they care about and dream of, what interests them, and what they can contribute to the wellbeing of others, and the life that those who love the person want for them. A family’s vision is shaped by life long knowledge of the person, conversation with others who know their family member in different ways, and knowledge of the positive possibilities that other families have created.

Over the past 40 years Inclusion Alberta families have discovered the power of inclusion in normative pathways. They found that people with intellectual disabilities thrive when they are immersed in the same paths through community life as any other person at a similar stage of life. A person may need individually tailored accommodations, supports and safeguards, but retreating to a special, separate pathway just for people with intellectual disabilities doesn’t offer the best chances for a good life.

A family plans by identifying the particular community pathways that offer opportunities for a person to develop their abilities, pursue their interests and contribute their talents and gifts. They think about what will make the person successful in the relationships, places, roles and activities that each meaningful pathway offers. They decide and act on the very next steps to advance the person’s journey along their path through community life.

A vision and plan form the foundation for organizing support. Organizing sets the intention for the work of staff funded through FMS and describes the difference that their work will make in the lives of the person and family they support. The results of visioning and planning guide negotiation with PDD. Your family vision and plan are not the same as the Individual Support Plan you will make with PDD as a condition of using FMS. You can use FMS to pay for one or more aspects of the good whole life that your own vision and plan describes. The Individual Support Plan will describe the supports you choose to pay for with FMS.

Click to hear Darcy Elks reflect on the contributions visioning makes to family life.