THE RIGHTS WE WANT!
ABOUT SKILLS SOCIETY
VISION A community where all individuals are valued citizens deserving respect, dignity and rights.
MISSION We support individuals with disabilities and their families in their right to learn and grow in the community. Our services strengthen belonging and encourage and support individual choice and opportunity.
Citizenship is what we strive for every day At its core citizenship is our sense of value and belonging. Skills Society was formed to provide people with disabilities with the same opportunities and choices, the same ability to share their gifts and talents, and the same sense of belonging that we all enjoy. An important part of citizenship is rights. Everyone has rights and responsibilities and people with disabilities deserve the same rights as any other citizen.
Relationships Surrounded by people who love and care for you, sharing your life with others
Rights Equal access to opportunities, freedom to choose, independence
CITIZENSHIP
Participation Meaningful things to do and places to go, the opportunity to share gifts and talents with others
Belonging Feeling valued, respected, and an important part of society
In 1995 Dave Hingsburger, a disability rights advocate, collaborated with a group of 40 self-advocates1 to develop The Rights We Want! Statement of Our Rights & Responsibilities (formerly known as the Consumers’ Bill of Rights). As this group wrote their bill of rights...they asked for not a thing. They wanted instead a change in attitudes and a change in practice. ...They wanted an end of tyranny and a beginning of welcome. ...a bill of rights was the beginning of a journey. - Dave Hingsburger2
THE RIGHTS WE WANT! STATEMENT OF OUR RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES
The video, The Rights We Want, was later made in 1998 by a group of self-advocates supported by Skills Society; all members of the original group who had written the Consumers’ Bill of Rights. They were:
Alma Grauman Ann Marie Fortier Brian Grummet Chuck Williams Dave Stockl Germaine Toutant Jeff Collins Kim Fischer Marnie Coyle Michelle Semple Zuli Hudda
Andrew Zapach Brenda Bacon Cherie Biron Danny Sauchuk Gabby Urtasun James Carr Karen Baum Mark Morin Maureen Mills Molly Kagan
Statement of Our Rights & Responsibilities Skills Society is committed to support to Individuals with a view of maintaining dignity, individual choice and independence. Skills Society will encourage respect and seek to protect, to the best of its ability, the rights of Individuals as set out in this statement of Rights & Responsibilities. It is recognized that along with rights come responsibilities. Skills Society supports Individuals to understand their responsibilities as well as their rights.
1. The images within the Rights We Want! were updated in 2021. In the process of updating the design some wording was added or changed to reflect the current times 2. Wendy Hollo and the Self Advocates from Skills (2000). The Rights Stuff: Self-Advocates Learning and Using Their Rights, p. 10
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • • •
Participate in job training. Be at work on time, ready and willing to do my job. Get along with my co-workers and customers or clients. Follow the instructions needed to do my job properly.
This means that we want time alone. This means that we want our bodies respected; we don’t want to be touched in private places or be seen naked. This means we want private information to be kept confidential. This means that we want staff to knock before coming into our homes or our rooms. This means that we want our phone calls, emails, messages, and mail kept private. This means that we want to keep intimate details of our lives private.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • • •
Not to tell strangers private information about myself. Not to share my personal information online. Don’t be naked in front of others, keep my bedroom and bathroom doors shut. Respect other people’s privacy, don’t gossip or tell other people’s private information.
This means that no one can tell us who we like, who we love or who can be our friends. This means that we need and expect to be taught the skills for developing and maintaining relationships. This means that we want sex education - to learn about our bodies; and relationship training - to learn about ourselves and others.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • •
•
Participate in sexuality education, to learn about sex, relationships and myself. Understand the differences between committed sexual relationships, friendships and acquaintances. Respect and care for the people we have relationships with.
This means that we want to be “self-advocates” and speak for ourselves.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • • •
Learn about Self Advocacy and become a Self Advocate, speaking for myself. Understand the issues that I am being asked to decide upon. Be involved, speak out for myself, give my opinions, vote in elections. Support and teach others to be Self Advocates.
This means that we want to determine how – when - and where we express our own spirituality and speak our chosen language.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • •
Respect others who have made different choices of spirituality. Be knowledgeable and aware that my choice of spirituality is not physically or mentally detrimental to myself or others.
This means that we want to determine how and where we spend our money.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • •
•
Pay my bills when they are due. Pay for things I need first, such as food, clothing and housing, before buying things I want but can live without. Demonstrate that I can properly control my money.
This means that we want to determine who we live with and where we live.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES •
• •
Know what kind of living arrangements I want, for example, how many and what kinds of roommates; what type of house and in what area; what can I afford? Make sure that my roommates are people I can get along with. Respect my roommate’s rights.
This means that we want to be on hiring committees, and if we don’t want to hire a staff, then the staff is not hired.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES •
•
•
Learn about what is involved with hiring a support staff, such as understanding what support I need and how to interview someone. Use good hiring practices. This means that I can’t decide not to hire someone because of their ethnicity, religion, gender identity and expression, or sexual orientation. I will hire the person most able to provide the type of support I need.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • •
Understand the kind and amount of staff support I need. Get staff help when I need it. Don’t ask for help when I don’t need it.
This means that we have a right to know what is in our files and what staff say about us to our family and friends.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • •
Participate in meetings about myself. Review what is being written about me in my files. Speak out for myself if I see or hear something I don’t agree with.
This means that people can’t treat us differently because we have a disability. This means that if we have ethnic, racial, gender identity and expression, or sexual orientation differences we will be respected in spite of the differences.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • •
•
I can’t treat other people differently because of their disability. I can’t treat other people differently because of an ethnic, racial, gender identity and expression, or sexual orientation difference. I have to respect other people and their differences.
This means that we want to make every decision about our lives that we can.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • •
Demonstrate that I make good choices for myself. Be responsible for the choices I make.
This includes the police, store personnel, and medical services.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • •
Treat people working in the community with respect. Speak out for myself if I’m not being treated with respect.
This means that we want discussion groups, to speak our minds, to care for each other, to act as a group.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • •
Participate in group activities that interest me. Share my opinions and ideas. Support, initiate, or participate in Self Advocacy groups.
This means that we can go wherever we want in our community.
MY RESPONSIBILITIES • • •
I am aware of my own personal safety. I know what is safe and what is unsafe in my community. I respect the rights of other people in my community.