Collaborative SRV-Based Assessment Report –
20-24 August, 2024
Diya Foundation
Background
Diya Foundation has been a collaborator with Keystone Institute India for several years, through active engagement with training in Social Role Valorization and other topics related to inclusive practices. Many of the staff has received training in SRV, and Ms. Maria Santamaria, the Founder/Director of Diya Foundation, has extensive training through the 4day intensive workshop. Several months ago, at the SRV Summit, Maria requested SRVfocused feedback as she was considering how to use the ideas for positive change.
This report is solely for the use of Diya Foundation staff and leaders and may not be shared or distributed except by Diya. Assessment team members signed confidentiality agreements, and are also fully understanding that the staff, people served, and their families shared information about themselves and their lives which we consider to be a privilege and an honour to listen to and learn from, and also implies trust and responsibility which the team took seriously.
The team was formed with great care. Manisha Bhattacharya (Kolkata) and Leela Raj (Mumbai) both have a great deal of experience with SRV in the Indian context, are teaching and using Social Role Valorization within India, and are members of the All-India SRV Leadership Network’s Evaluation Team, studied SRV ratings areas for over 6 months, and co-authored an evaluator’s manual. They both participated in a PASSING evaluation in the United States, giving them advanced training in program evaluation. Betsy Neuville has extensive experience conducting SRV-based assessment in many countries and also in India and served as team leader for this collaborative process. Milton Tyree is an associate with Marc Gold & Associates and has many years of experience as a team leader and report writer in SRV-based assessment. He also consults in many countries worldwide on supported/open employment.
We are presenting this feedback with everyone’s understanding that we only spent two days with the 60 people participating in Diya Foundation, and a few hours interviewing families and leadership. We cannot possibly know the people and their needs in the same way as families and staff. However, new eyes may uncover new possibilities, and spark continued growth, renewed vigour, and even new directions contributing to better, fuller lives for the people attending Diya. At the same time, practical considerations and the broader awareness of the people may cause Diya leadership to decide NOT to pursue certain suggestions, for very valid reasons. The recommendations are made in the spirit of “more and more like this” rather than this must or should be done. On 24 August, we presented a brief oral report to
Diya Foundation staff, including Ms. Sarah Maria, Ms. Deepika, Ms. Padma, and Mr. Adriane.
The Collaborative Assessment Process
TUESDAY (Interview and Meraki Visit): The team gathered on Tuesday, 20 August for our first meeting to review the tasks before us, the schedule, and the duties of team members. We then had the chance to meet for 3+ hours with Maria Santamaria, and her core team including Shirley Metline, Padma B, Deepika R, and Dr. Babita Gupta, in a structured interview, about all sorts of program aspects including program aims, processes, history, and support methods. All team members noted that Maria knows about every aspect of services, and, more importantly, is very committed to building positive futures for each of the people served, which is aptly summed up in their vision statement: “Creating Futures, Communicating Hope, Celebrating Life”. This made the interview a pleasure, but also told us a great deal about the engagement of leadership. We then visited Meraki, Diya Foundation’s Assisted Living training facility to meet the people staying there. We were introduced to them, spent some time, and ate dinner prepared by the four men and the staff.
WEDNESDAY (Site Visit and Conciliation): All the team members visited Diya Foundation in the morning, dividing themselves in pairs to observe the morning and afternoon routine. Two team members visited the Inox at Bharatiya Mall, to meet Vikram, who was employed there, and Rodney, his job coach. The entire team had lunch together with Maria at Diya. We departed at 4.30 pm and met as a team for discussion and analysis of our observations - a Foundation Discussion - identifying the most pressing needs of the people Diya serves and discerning their needs.
THURSDAY (Site Visit and Conciliation): Two team members visited Diya Foundation for family interviews and two team members visited Lemon Tree Hotel to meet Chiranjeevi and Adrian, the job coach. All team members had lunch again with Maria at Diya, observed some more programs and departed by 3.30 pm. The team got together for a deeper discussion, identifying the strengths of the programs at Diya Foundation and formulating recommendations.
FRIDAY (Report Writing): The team met briefly in the morning to outline and assign the major sections for the final report and spent the rest of the day writing the report that brought together all of the observations and the final recommendations.
SATURDAY (Initial feedback): The team met Maria and some of her senior team members for a brief overview of feedback, augmented by slides.
Major Programmatic Strengths Identified
First, we note the powerful strengths we saw, which serve as the foundation on which moving forward can be built.
1. A Learning Organization - Well-Equipped in Major “Better Practices”
One of the strengths we note is the commitment of the organization and its leadership to learn and change. From the beginning, the founders saw how important it was for their participants to be contributing and working members in the society. They began to connect with learned, experienced change leaders from across India and beyond, and integrate those ideas into practice.
We found a determination, will, and ability to learn good ideas in Diya leadership. In particular, we have seen Diya participating in the SRV-related training in the last few years be it SRV residential workshops, online glimpses, person centred planning, DSP training or Customised Employment. It was extraordinary to witness the huge numbers of willing and dedicated participation from Diya. No doubt that Diya is well-equipped in major ‘better practices’. The ideas were seen being utilized in forms of One Page Profiles for the participants, within the “getting to know you” processes in place, and in the form of developing Systematic Instruction while participants are learning new tasks (e.g. Bunsen Burner, as we observed). This shows a willingness to both learn and implement these new ideas.
2. High Consciousness about Important Dynamics in SRV
The changes Diya has made due to their SRV commitment are visible. The ideas of SRV are apparent in our conversations with staff and we can see signs that SRV has become somewhat enculturated. They differentiated adults from teenagers by providing an alternative space and intensity of activities in a separate room downstairs. It was evident that the staffs are aware and conscious about addressing the ‘role of eternal child’ and are keen to the consequences of age-degradation. This high consciousness about liberating adults from child roles, were echoed many times in our conversations with the staff at Diya. We could see the One-Page Profiles are being created for each participant and how optimistic these profiles are. The negotiations at R-Fit towards an integrated gym experience for the members shows the leadership’s awareness about the impacts of congregation and segregated groupings. They also know that a greater amount of true inclusion is possible and are working with R-Fit “in that direction”. It is clear that Diya job placement staff show care before placing a person in a job; Diya leadership believes in ‘going slow’ and ‘knowing the person and their interest areas’ first and waiting for a ‘good match’- many may see this as slipping off the opportunity but it is in Diya’s core value system to bring in opportunities to their participants to continue to be a valued contributing member to the employer. On the very first day in the leadership interview, Sarah Maria mentioned her concerns over the employees at the supported
employment getting much less than the minimum wages and thinking of ways how to address that- this shows a conscious effort to move as close to the typical working practices as possible.
This takes courage - to decide to do differently than everyone else because of the values, principles, and knowledge that one holds. SRV practitioners across the world have often taken directions untrod by others, made different (more principled) decisions than most other organizations, and sometimes have paid a price for this.
3. Part of an Alliance of Organizations Committed to Inclusive Practice
Sometimes this can be an isolating and lonely road, and so we rely on each other for support and strength, for new ideas, and for expertise. Diya has a strong, powerful and dynamic support system in Bengaluru with people and organizations that are committed to working with SRV ideas. Diya is a part of the strong SRV league in and around Bengaluru and reaches out to the other SRV-minded organizations, such as All-Inclusive Foundation, Baldwin Opportunity School, Biswa Gouri Charitable Trust, Seva-in-Action, Asha Kiran, and numerous parent leaders such as Liz Albuquerque, Suganthi Murali, and Suja Pisharody. They are allies and partners, invested in the same cause and guided by the SRV ideasCustomised employment- person-centred-planning tools. Diya as an organization and as individual staff have many opportunities to explore and brainstorm together for ideas to move forward and make people’s lives more and more meaningful. Even regular conversations can clear the SRV lenses and see things from the SRV perspective again. This is an important thing that we all do as partners- to revisit the ideas again and again- to not only help people to achieve the good things of life but also making sure of the respectful ways to do that. Diya’s close relationships with allied organizations, combined with their excellent reputation, create a great strength in shared vision held by a network across Bengaluru and surrounding areas.
4. Rock Solid Trust in Leadership
Another, very important program strength is the families’ faith and confidence in Diya Foundation and its trusted, invested and competent leadership. This has rightfully earned the trust of the families. Maria Sarah is an exceptional leader who thinks passionately and assimilates the ideas which helps to move toward a dignified working life for the individuals Diya serves. The well-stated goal towards having a dignified life and creating future for the people has become the goal for all the leaders at Diya as well. The parents look up to Maria and her staff to bring in ideas which are different and guide the participants to achieve that. All the families that we spoke to have unanimously expressed their trust, comfort, reliance on Diya and also shared how happy their sons and daughters are here at Diya and that happiness was reflected in the parents as well. They also mentioned Diya being their family now. The involvement and dedication of the teachers to empower the participants in different ways from building daily living skills to preparing for employment to taking responsibilities, to being available at the time of needs and to try out new possibilities are the things that came up in our discussions with the families.
A reputed and trusted organization under the guidance of Maria and supported by the leadership of Padma, Shirley and Deepika and by the teachers and staff who are associated
with Diya have created a sense of trustworthiness among the parents. We understand that the loss of staff has been a problem; however, we met many staff who have been working at Diya for many years and are deeply satisfied. There is no question that Diya has attracted a diverse group of skilled guides, well-wishers and trustees who are loyal to the mission of Diya.
5. Quality and Commitment of Teachers and Staff
Diya has high quality teachers and staff. The teachers are well-trained, hardworking, dedicated, and high energy. The staffs were seen to have very good understanding and synchronization between them, which leads to a smooth delivery. They have a very good depth of knowledge and years of experience. We saw some excellent, intensive handholding between senior management, senior teachers and junior teachers. With new teachers with less than a year experience, we saw how the senior staff stepped in and assisted and guided the new staff.
The staff has had good exposure to constant training from different places on employment and work culture. The exposure that they got through the employment of the participants in different sectors, has also played a huge role in their learning. The system of observing, learning and implementing has been mastered by Diya. This knowledge and implementation of good practices helps Diya be the leading-edge organization in Bengaluru when it comes to employment.
The diversity in staff background really stood out as a strength. We met staff who had backgrounds in working in corporations (Adrian and Rodney) and in marketing (Suman) and many other examples. This careful and focused selection of staff from diverse fields contributes a great deal to the staff quality and competence. Having a balance between staff trained in Special Education or Psychology and staff from different diverse backgrounds helps so much in offering a rich education experience to the adults. For example, having a skilled computer teacher for ICT in the C-Cube Studio or a corporate worker as a job coach mentoring in a corporate sector is an excellent, potentially effective, and rare practice.
Some of the staff team are themselves young adults, and we saw a connection to the people they serve. In many ways, the staff can serve as experts on typical life for young men and women in their 20s and 30s, and they impressed us as keen, creative, and invested.
6. Invested Motivated Participants/Trainees
And most importantly, Diya has such energetic, hopeful, promising and potent participants who are very much ready to explore rich life experiences and are willing to take up the role of employee. They are game for change and want to work. Participants are looking forward to
new experiences and want to dig into new skills to fill the role effectively. We spoke to many participants and observed them to be so keen in learning and doing things seriously- be it the Amazon retail training or the Bunsen burner. When Jay Prakash and Mona were involved in proofreading, we observed their dedication and the extensive effort that they were putting in. Most of them hope for and expect a forward trajectory- from an internship to a permanent job; increments, new responsibilities and so on. We got to meet Vikram at INOX mall and were happy to learn that he is being given new responsibilities by his employer and he is learning and performing it with the help of a natural support system at his workplace. The families also want to see the participants in this new role and that is their dream for coming to Diya. It makes it easier to achieve the goals when people believe in themselves and also have a support system that holds high expectations for them as well. That’s when people thriveand we saw many participants at Diya are all-in - ready and expecting a better future where they are working, and they have put their faith in Diya to assist. This is a big responsibility for Diya, to deliver on helping people succeed in work.
Themes of Note
During our discussions, the following themes were discussed and explored. These are not noted as deficiencies, or problems, just themes that we noted as we spent time at Diya, and they may be helpful in understanding the recommendations to follow.
Culturally Valued Analogue
The SRV trained leaders at Diya will remember this bedrock concept running like a red thread across every aspect of SRV theory. It is extremely useful in providing guidance to Diya in their areas of service - work and work training. Every program has an analogue – a guiding framework that a program is “like” or resembles. In some programs, there is confusion about what the analogues are, or there is little consciousness in creating appropriate analogues for a particular age group. For example, a day centre for adults might model itself as a school, which may or may not be appropriate depending on the age group served. At Diya, based on our review of materials as well as interviews and observations, the CVA is work training, career planning, and work, and this concept was a continuous source of comparison within our analysis. Remember that before directions are set or decisions are made, the first question that can be asked is “How does this happen for typical people in the society” and using the answer to this question as a starting place. In the recommendations section contained within this report, you will see this concept used again and again, and is an excellent practice to adapt for decision-makers and staff at Diya.
Individualization and Regimentation
Large groupings of people with disabilities together in one room or building make individualization challenging for all organizations. How to meet the varying needs of many people whilst retaining an orderly and predictable schedule and routine requires a continuous balancing. We saw efforts to individualize for people that Diya serves, and, at the same time, saw ways that the large groupings of people together made regimentation difficult to avoid.
Inward Focus/Outward Focus
There is a frequent tendency of all organizations to see the needs of people as addressed by what the organization has to offer. For example, if an organization has tie-ups with a handful of corporate who are willing to hire people with disabilities as housekeepers, one is naturally likely to see many people served within the organization as having a real love for housekeeping tasks. This theme also echoes within our recommendations.
Go Deep/Go Wide
When an organization such as Diya encounters idea sets such as person-centred planning, Social Role Valorization, Customised Employment that they are excited about, decisions are taken about how to move forward towards practice. Some idea sets are well suited to “go wide” - eg: implement across an entire system. Trying to match the CVA can be “done wide”. Weeding our negative role messages (such as eternal child, menace, or program client”) are best “done wide” Others, especially complex ideas that require major mindset and practice changes, might be better implemented using a “go deep” method - start small and do it with high intentionality and focus. Customised employment is an example of this.
Program Potency and the Practice Loop
The power of a process (eg teaching people to prevent sexual exploitation, teaching people to assemble a Bunsen burner, preparing people to work at Amazon) are all processes. Processes can be powerful, they can be weak, or, as is usually the case, somewhere in between. Throughout the report, especially in Recommendation #3, we will provide recommendations to increase the potency of service processes. When a person has mastered a particular skill, such as knowing a list of Work Ethics, and there is little chance to explore how those ethics play out in real scenarios, “practice loops” are often a filler which may not be the best use of people’s precious time. Providing lengthy periods of POSH training and related sexuality themes daily to all participants, whether the person needs that content or not, could be a “practice loop” taking up time in a low potency activity. This may be true for some people at least. Other examples of possible practice loops are people ending the day colouring Mandalas with crayons or practicing naming work ethics, or multiple exercise/stretching sessions, might be similar examples.
Who are the People; What do they Need?
During our evening meetings and discussion, we took all of the information that we collected during extensive interviews and observations and held a deep discerning discussion called a Foundation Discussion. This is a structured conversation in which we asked four questions:
1. Who are the People
a. demographically
b. existentially, due to life experiences
2. What do they need?
a. Most pressing needs - what are the most important needs that must be met?
b. Purview of program - which needs does Diya have responsibility to try to meet?
3. The Achievable Ideal - how might these needs ideally be met for one perso
4. What is the service providing?
Once the Foundation Discussion concluded, the team identified major needs of many of the people we met at Diya, with an understanding that some of these needs are driven by the life experiences people have had. For the people we met at Diya, those life experiences, or wounds, including the universal experience of rejection and extraordinarily low expectations. This is best exemplified by the dire words of warning from Abhishek’s doctor at his birth “He’ll only be able to eat and sleep”. Being routed from segregated school to segregated school is also a form of rejection, segregation, and congregation, combined with quite sheltered childhoods impact many of the people at Diya. As a result, they are often removed from the life experiences that form a strong foundation from which to make decisions. Lastly, nearly everyone has been thrust very strongly into the “eternal child” role, probably throughout their lives and even now by family, by society, and in the minds of servers and maybe co-workers. Based on the people we met and all that we learned from the Diya staff, we were able to discern what we consider to be the most pressing needs of the people at Diya
1. Rich, diverse life experiences to form a basis for decision making, including what might be fitting work
2. High and Positive Expectancies from people who believe in your potential
3. Unequivocal adult valued social roles
4. Personalized, fitting work roles
5. Opportunities for choice, autonomy and decision-making
6. A home of their own with independent lifestyle (for some people)
7. Lots of relationships with typical people, in typical places doing typical things in typical ways.
The team identified that a home of their own does not come under the purview of Diya as it is primarily a work program. We did visit the Meraki program, which we would say is a practice experience rather than an actual residential service, and we do have some recommendations about that at the request of Diya.
Recommendations
Recommendation #1: Harness the CVA
The Culturally Valued Analogue (CVA) is a powerful tool to design almost everything you do at Diya. Simply put, using the CVA means basing your program activities on what is done in typical life. There is a CVA for everything- e.g. working out at a gym, doing yoga, how a meaningful day for non-working adults unfolds, work, a work training program, breaktime at a workplace etc. The list is endless.
We can easily see that Diya has used the culturally valued analogue in some ways, especially in their efforts to separate adolescents’ spaces from adult spaces (work-training program), and have clearly worked to make adult activities more adult. It should be kept in mind that
within India, the CVA for education dictates that most valued people stay in school until they are 18 years of age, and accepting persons of 14 – 17 years is a violation of the CVA. Perhaps this is done for good reason, but it is some sort of a compromise which should be carefully considered. Reena, a very recent SRV graduate, said “thinking about the CVA before starting anything new” is her new objective. We saw participants going to R-Fit wearing their gym outfits and doing real exercises. And this is evidence that Diya has really thought it through to work on it. We believe that the CVA can be harnessed to provide even more guidance as Diya looks to cross the river into included lives for the adults they serve.
As Diya knows full well, using the CVA in the program activities has a huge benefit. It serves as an anchor and a reference point to provide guidance to the person and to their supporters for when they are considering a particular service or role for someone; and if you are not sure about where to start, a great place to start is to ask this question, “what happens for typical people?” And those same things are what we want to consider for people with disabilities, of course individually adapted and accommodated.
And to do this, you need to study the ordinary. You need to observe how a task is being done by a typical person. For doing this, you have to explore the person’s goals and interests first, but also have to generate ideas and observe how the interests and goals are pursued by typical people. You need to think about the typical place to pursue it, the typical ways that people follow. For the most part, the CVA for Diya is work and work training/preparation.
It will be helpful if Diya staff could visit a typical work-training place, with intention to look at their course curriculum (e.g. digitalization), the way members are being taught, how the training room looks, how the productive working hours look, how do the certificates look. This could provide rich guidance in understanding changes that are needed. A typical workplace or work-training place for adults may include some posters related to work ethics or the work culture of the organization. But Diya needs to be cautious about its numbers and also regarding the representations; whether the image message is age-appropriate or not; whether it is putting the trainees into the risk of cast into some negative roles. We strongly recommend Diya SRV leaders to walk through their premises and look at the image messages and language that are being used currently with an SRV lens. Ask yourself- what does it look like for typical people who are taking work-training. Look at the physical setting, the appearance and personal possessions of the participants, the routines, schedules and activities that the participants are engaged in, the language used to and about them. This will give some idea about what are the changes that Diya may decide to make. Referring to the people you serve as trainees or members or even participants is much preferable to students; having more adult-like and work-related representations on the walls and aligned with the message of work training and work. Beginning the day with Yoga, exercise, prayer, and the national anthem is perhaps appropriate for a Christian school but would be very odd for a workplace. Zero-hour team meetings are more adequate to the context than having exercise or Yoga sessions in the morning. It might be within the CVA for a workplace or work training program to begin the day with optional yoga, mindfulness, or exercise, but it would not typically be a routinized part of the workday.
Developing a CVA for the breaktime at a workplace or work training program by visiting such places may give you an idea for how long a break should be at a workplace, what do generally people do in that time, what are the options available which are age-appropriate and respectful. If you follow the CVA, then you likely would not promote people learning to fill leisure time at work using crayons for art.
Also, developing a CVA for the people who are not working at present but enjoying a meaningful life might give you an idea of how a day at Diya might look like for the adults who are not aiming for a job for their personal reasons- like Mona or Jiju. There is another culturally valued analogue that might be helpful in crafting a full, relevant, meaningful day for such people. We call this CVA “Meaningful Day”, and it is very helpful for people who are not likely going to be working full time anytime soon for any number of reasons.
There are many people who are not working but living a meaningful life- taking language lessons, going out with friends, volunteering, taking internships, working a part-time job, learning to play a musical instrument or taking photography lessons, joining sports clubs, participating in community services for their faith community, becoming fan club members and so on. For example, Mona is interested in painting. Earlier people have bought her paintings as well. So, helping her to join a local painting course, extend friendships there, try going for exhibitions, buying canvas and paint brushes and bags and palettes and so on might be very beneficial for her. Combining her interest in painting with a part time job at an art store, or working afternoons in a small gallery or museum. She might join a painter’s association and reaching out to other adults in the community who share the same interests as her. This focus – on a full, rich and meaningful day might be appropriate for Jiju and others who are not aiming for a job at this time.
For the adults who are willing and attending yoga class at Diya, you can also harness the CVA for this. A workplace might offer an optional morning pre-work yoga class, but you could expect people to wear yoga clothes, have a mat, and work at a progressive level. Exercise might, again, be offered as an option in the workplace or at a neighbouring gym, and should include wearing different clothes than you work in. Buying the typical kind of sportswear, wearing that while working out, having a typical exercise routine which builds up over time, showering and changing after a workout, having a personal trainer, encouraging them in joining a gym outside Diya individually, at their locality- these important role communicators may create an opportunity to build new connections with other gym-members as well. Any number of people wait for their afternoon transport for a very long time in the lobby, and this would be an excellent time to work out or do yoga.
We recommend Diya SRV leaders participate in a structured imagery analysis. This is an intentional “walk through” by all staff when there are no participants present. Each have a look at everything- the posters put on the wall, the items on desks and tables, the seating arrangements, the working tools, the language used on the walls of the the room, the tasks that are set-up. As you observe, think of what a typical person might think of the people who attend this place – what age are they, what are they doing here, what is this place for? What
image might everyday people have of the people attending here? What do these messages convey about their age, competence and condition. This process may give you an insight on creating a clearer message about the people who come to Diya through the physical setting.
Sub- recommendations:
1a: Take a field trip to local adult training centres (eg: professional training, air hostess school) to see what is on their walls and how they are decorated. Consider bringing the interior of Diya in line with the CVA. Diya Innovations is a good model of space that looks like a proper “handcrafted corporate gifting manufacturing and design centre”.
1b. Work to bring yoga, exercise, morning assembly, prayer time, art class, sexuality and body safety training, etc in line with the CVA in as many ways as you can.
1c. Have the phrase, “How do valued people do this?” ringing in your minds as guidance
1d. Participate in an Imagery Analysis as described above
Recommendation #2: Principle-Based Decision Making
We recommend adopting a thinking practice in which every decision that Diya considers is first driven by the principle, “How do we want to represent the people we serve?”
A strong example of the way this can benefit the mission of Diya is to examine the concept of Sensitisation Programs. Conventional wisdom tells us that vocation-oriented NGOs must “sensitise” the person’s future co-workers. Once that is done and over, the idea is that the person is entering a sensitised environment. A much better approach is to have the job developer spend some time in the future work environment, assess the culture, see what is already in place as a part of a cross-organization diversity training, and carefully deciding IF sensitisation needs to happen, how it should happen in this individual circumstance, and how it will be received by co-workers. Efforts as they stand now may do more harm than good, such as portraying co-workers with intellectual disability as people who may bite, using cartoon stick figures, and other unintended messages. If it is needed, and no other way exists, it should be individualized to the person, respectful and done with great care.
Diya staff can take this principle-based decision-making practice of asking, “How does this impact how this person is seen and treated?” in all sorts of areas:
1. The information about people on the walls of the rooms
2. The way yoga is practiced - timing and place
3. Everything that goes up on the walls.
4. The messages about sexual harassment and the intense training on it
5. The ways employees in open employment have their image protected (eg lanyards in the program, Chiranjeevi’s lanyard, indicating he cannot hear or speak.)
This leads to a challenge for Diya. As an organization which is trying to serve a group of people with disabilities, the methods used have often started with canvassing chain employers or large businesses, and Diya has been successful with this model of job development. After all, 37 people have been employed in open employment at variety of workplaces, but it has almost always started with the employer. For example, Amazon says it will take 4 people, and 4 people are put forward.
This leads to a second overall recommendation of Principle-Based Decision Making - Start with the Person whenever you can. This includes for career identification, possible valued roles, and teaching sexuality, prevention of abuse, and workplace behaviour in ways that start with the learner needs, not the program that Diya has to offer. The result of trying to use a person-driven approach when you have a limited menu of options, you end up “shoehorning” programs to justify how they meet people’s needs.
Recommendation #3: Use Solid Principles of Instruction and Learning
What it is that people are presented to learn, how they receive instruction, and who provides instruction represent essential and interrelated components of work and work preparation.
What it is that people are presented to learn –It is important to begin with a process of devoting time with a person in a variety of settings, with different people, and activities of life -- exploring life and work possibilities not previously considered. Who is this person? What are personal interests, skills, and conditions that need to be in place for this person to be at his or her best. For those selected for Customised Employment, such a deep dive into the process of Discovery will be foundational. While this level of exploration will not be feasible for everyone, developing a healthy curiosity about each person, including at least some knowledge and experience outside the walls of Diya is essential.
It's this personal information and relationship with each individual that provides the basis for determining fitting content for learning. The challenge becomes personalising fitting content within constraints of the existing domains and curricula at Diya, as much as possible.
Because people with disabilities are vulnerable to other's low exceptions for performance, high exceptions for people's capacity to learn are crucial. This was observed at Diya, examples being people learning use of computer software and the introduction of Bunsen burner assembly. People are likely to conform to the expectations provided by others.
How do people receive instruction? The following are instructional considerations for individual and group teaching approaches the team observed at Diya:
Individual instruction - Using Systematic Instruction for teaching assembly the Bunsen burner - Four Diya employees participated in a 3-day Marc Gold & Associates Systematic Instruction workshop in Bengaluru in November 2022. Assembly of the Bunsen burners is an excellent performance task for use of the content studied in this workshop. Here's a brief
summary of how the three interrelated principles of MG&A Systematic Instruction (Method, Content and Informing Strategies) relate to learning assembly of the Bunsen burner:
Method - Method is a mental image of performance obtained from carefully observing the performance of a task. A consistent and clear method of performing a task will facilitate learning. Embracing the way in which a task is done in the workplace honours the culture of the business, helps the person fit in, and makes it easier for coworkers to provide instruction. Therefore, the first thing we need to understand is the method of assembly of the Bunsen burner by people already assembling it which is at Deen Instruments. During our Saturday feedback session, it was shared that Sanchit’s father demonstrated the method used by employees at Deen Instruments. This is excellent! This method is THE method for everyone to use for teaching the assembly. (Ideally, the assembly demonstration by Sanchit’s father would have been videotaped to ensure precision of the method.) where (person’s) dad works. If this has not already been done, then a visit to carefully observe its assembly and, if at all possible, make a video of the assembly. This video provides the method to be used in teaching at Diya. The entire assembly of the Bunsen burner, or total task presentation, is assumed to be proper for each learner, instead of some individuals doing subassemblies.
Content - Here the method is divided into teachable steps. Leeann told us that 14 steps for the Bunsen burner assembly had been developed. And during our Saturday meeting, it was learned that these were the steps were provided by Deen Instruments. Perfect! Some learners may need the initial steps subdivided into additional steps. Note that content steps are solely for the benefit of the instructor – determining which steps the learner knows how to perform and which steps require additional information.
Informing Strategies - Informing Strategies is the most nuanced and complex principle of Systematic Instruction. It relies on the learner and instructor having a balanced relationship, that is the task provides the motivation and external reinforcers are not used. The instructor provides information to the learner using Marc Gold’s teaching principle named "no news, is good news." If the learner knows the step, the instructor quietly observes performance. When additional information is needed, the instructor provides the least amount of information needed for correct performance of the step, prior to an error being made, by demonstrating, describing, gesturing, modelling, or providing hand-over-hand information on correct performance. This is somewhat different from what was observed during Bunsen burner assembly by team members where in one instance the instructor was teaching two people and in another instance many hands were touching the Bunsen burner parts and the instructor was assisting with the assembly.
Who provides instruction? The 7-Phase Sequence may be used for determining the proper instructional role of the job coach. While studying MG&A Systematic Instruction and its teaching principles of Method, Content and Informing Strategies, it's essential to describe when we, as human service workers, need to get involved with instruction and when we need to step aside. Such decisions affect role perception of an employee with a disability. If there's a heavy-handed job coach presence, then it increases the likelihood that the person with a
disability will be perceived in the predominant (devalued) role of human service client. However, if the person with a disability is receiving typical instruction from co-workers or supervisors, then the likely predominant role will be employee. The 7-Phase Sequence provides a way of designing advance planning for instruction. Prior to the person beginning work, the job coach devotes time to study the business, its typical business practices, means used for all employees to learn their jobs while identifying the people typically providing instruction and support to new employees. From this information, an instructional plan is established, using what's existing, typical and valued as much as possible. This is a process that's similar to SRV's Culturally Valued Analogue or CVA – beginning with approaches that are typical and valued and using these ways as much as possible, reverting to adaptations, modifications, or anything "special," only after typical and valued ways have been exhausted.
While visiting INOX, the value of typical instruction was described. Vikram had received primary initial instruction in tasks such as making popcorn from Marz, a co-worker of similar age, while Rodney stepped back, assisting as needed with communication because Vikram's speech may be difficult to understand until one has gotten to know him. What would have made this better is if Rodney had the opportunity, in advance, to meet Marz, have Marz show him typical instruction in popcorn making, determining ahead of time that Marz would provide instruction on this task while Rodney would be in the background, but readily available to assist Marz or Vikram if needed. Arrangements would have been made for Vikram to meet Marz and other co-workers prior to the first day of work, perhaps following new employee orientation. These pre-employment processes are helpful in setting the stage for success through an understanding of support roles, accentuating the role of employee, while lowering anxiety on the first day of work -- for the new employee, the job coach, and business co-workers and supervisors.
The Business/Job Candidate Compatibility Analysis includes a summary of information learned during the 7-Phase Sequence as well as learning about customised job design. This pre-work form had been misunderstood by the job coach, who had been hired following the eight days of customised employment training. He and the open employee he supported began work together on the first day and the Business/Job Candidate Compatibility Analysis was completed after the job began. Therefore the benefits of pre-work planning were lost. This is an example of misunderstanding covered in a following report section titled, Pass It On.
Group Instruction and Work Readiness - It's common for human services to be predicated on the idea of readiness, especially services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities -- where simulations and approximations of the real thing are provided instead of the real thing. Yet for many people with intellectual disabilities, skill generalization and transfer is challenging. Dr. Wolfensberger coined the term pedagogic verisimilitude to refer to “the degree to which a teaching activity and context duplicate the setting and circumstances in which the task to be learned would have to be performed in real life. The
less pedagogic verisimilitude exists, the less likely it is that the behaviour will be learned, or if learned, transfer to the real-life situation.”
Therefore, for teaching skills such as scanning, fulfilment and shipping in the Amazon class, it's important to identify how people typically learn these skills at Amazon, using the previously referenced CVA and 7-Phase Sequence. Despite the best of efforts, it's really not possible to simulate work demand, coworker interactions, and environmental conditions.
SRV theory is also helpful in naming the trade-offs made in image and competency when people with disabilities are grouped together. Competency development is compromised because there are no model workers who've mastered the skills to be learned. The only models are others who are striving for competency. When grouped with others on the basis of disability, the image portrayed to the people congregated and others is that people are pretty much the same, belong together, and really wouldn't fit-in with non-disabled people. This clearly is not the message Diya intends to communicate.
Recommendation #4 – Develop an Exploratory Mindset
We all know about the importance of having the typical experiences with typical people in typical places. Many of the people who are not yet working, may not be benefitting from the activities at Diya while they are awaiting a job, or may be a long way from actually getting a job. Besides work, adults might spend time with their families and/or friends; participate in recreational experiences in pursuit of their personal interests or hobbies such as music, reading, or dance; visit the gym or go walking or running or participate in other sports to achieve their fitness goals; pursue their religious or spiritual interests through visiting a place of worship or attending a faith gathering or the like. Each of these experiences provides rich fodder to nurture valued roles in each of these life spheres. This brings us back to offering the richness of the culturally valued analogue of “meaningful day” as mentioned above.
Different places bring diverse opportunities for richer experiences and also connectedness with different people across the community. We use a tool called “Community Mapping” which helps in exploring all the places that the community has to offer in a very structured way. Community Mapping facilitates the identification, alignment, and using the community resources to address the needs of all adults including adults with disabilities. KII teaches an excellent process which can be adapted with a focus on local places with potential as workplaces, volunteer sites, or simply places to try out.
For instance, A Bharath, a 32-year old adult, might, besides working as a customer-relations executive, spend his free time with his mother who he dotes on and feels responsible for, visit the neighbourhood temple as a devout Hindu and participate in community Satsangs or bhajans as an avid singer and worshipper, maintain his fitness as a cyclist along with other keen cyclists in his community, while at the same time developing friends and social connections, and so forth.
So, Bharat who is work ready and while waiting for employment, may then be assisted to explore all of the above possibilities to try different things, taste different experiences, enjoy diverse valued roles, and thereby experience a full, meaningful adult life.
We suggest you put on your explorer hat with a mindset to look within, and using all the training you have received, to look deeply at how everyone you serve can have a fuller, richer, adult life: shifting focus from keeping the individual busy and happy to ensuring the individual has a meaningful day with valued roles and diverse experiences.
We encourage you to think of how you could search and explore and network to create some new connections for some of the adults at Diya Foundation, the focus being on seeking out people who are not staff or family members, people who may share common interests and who would be open to forming relationships.
When people have their circles of relationships expanded to include newer people, people who do not belong to any known category mentioned above; the easiest ones - family, extended family or staff, then lives grow and become enriched, that is when they strike gold and truly live like valued adults in their communities.
Sub recommendations:
1. Conduct a community map of businesses within a 1-3 km radius of Diya, preferably on foot. Include the tiniest copy shop, to the booksellers, to appliance sellers, to clothing stores, to auto dealers, to eating establishments. Every single place where someone might find work. Volunteers could help do this.
2. Seek part-time fitting work for people - you will be more successful in small businesses that are “in the vernacular” than large-scale employers such as Unilever and Hotel chains which hire a massive workforce. These opportunities can be fostered in close-by places owned by local people.
3. Add volunteering as a way of exploring future work, as well as a way to gain experience and skills. Remember that volunteering is spurred by individual people’s interest, not in groups! This relates to the Principle-Based Decision Making in recommendation #3 - start with the person.
Recommendation #5: Pass It On: Big Ideas must be Shared and Understood to Take Root.
Diya has invested in some of the most forward-thinking idea sets in the country, training numerous staff in complex idea sets such as
Social Role Valorization (multi-day intensive training, one day overviews, etc)
Customised Employment Certification Course through MG&A
Systematic Instruction
Foundations of Direct Support
Person-Centred Planning
So many certifications, course completions, and exploration of different ideas are evident at Diya. We could see clear evidence of the idea sets filtering into practice. For example, the use of very positive one-page profiles were put into practice, although we would be
careful about where they might be placed. Adriane, a newly hired and very promising job coach, has been introduced to SRV concepts by Sarah. As a whole, though, we recommend that the staff must be supported to understand ideas more deeply, and make them become better and better practitioners. Perhaps there could be a weekly staff discussion on expanding person centeredness well beyond one-page profiles and the get to know you deeper into job ideas In fact, the action plans for many people were more geared towards steering people into what already exists as employment or activity (e.g. POSH training, yoga or fitness, and housekeeping skills) vs. actions likely to really move people forward in life. We were pleased to see the use of Discovery profile for A. Bharat, and also believe that truly successful fitting work for him may not be found within the current stable of corporate housekeeping offerings such as at a hotel chain or a movie theatre, and in fact many other careers could be found that would be an excellent fit for his natural and learned abilities.
A very significant example of this is when a job coach was expected to use a specific form for Vikram, the Business/Job Candidate Compatibility Analysis. However, he had not been instructed that this form only makes sense when used as guidance PRIOR to starting a job. The implementing aspects of idea sets such as Customised Employment are most effective when the implementer understands the concept fully.
Concrete Recommendations to PASS IT ON:
5a: Implement a lunch and learn type program to pass on ideas and deepen staff knowledge
5b: Apply person centeredness in methods such as yoga, working out at R Fit, and private, relevant training in workplace boundaries and sexuality.
5c: Per recommendation 7, use Discovery as part of a full-scale Customised employment method for a few people, end to end. Piecemeal implementation is not likely to be successful.
5d. Teach the first 5 units of the Foundations of Direct Support Program at all staff, and to new staff. These ready-to-go modules are perfect starting places for core ideas like person centred thinking, disability is natural, about developmental disabilities, models of disability, person centred thinking, and SRV. They can be done online or in person. There are 50 master trainers in India who are keen to train, and there are many here in Bengaluru.
5e. Job coaches should receive in-depth training is aspects of customised employment, and care should be taken not to take pieces of the process and insert them without a whole person approach.
Recommendation # 6: Tentative Advice for Meraki Residential Training Program
We had the pleasure of meeting Abhilash, A. Bharat, Rajvimal, and Ashlin at the flat which has been taken by Diya to assist the adults they serve to have a supported living experience.
This experience culminates in a 15 day stay at the flat, after which a certificate of completion is awarded. We were so warmly welcomed by Shirley and the four men and were grateful to spend time there.
The program itself was described as an experience designed to change the mindsets of both families and the people served, by demonstrating that the person can gain independence, can be away from parents and family members for a period of time, and possibly someday live away from family. In at least some measure, this goal is being met, given the way that both the people who have stayed at Meraki and their families reported to us.
As Diya is aware, there is no real step forward planned for this in the lives of the people. Continuing the program once everyone has the chance to participate likely will turn into another “practice loop” without a tangible outcome. Considering that there is a not a structure for flat-based community living infrastructure at this point for people with intellectual disabilities in Bengaluru, it will largely fall onto families to create such arrangements. For example, this could happen now for Mona, if she is amenable. However, this will be a lot for many families to handle, and we recommend that Diya stick with a strong focus on work. You have more experience with this than any other organization working with people with developmental disability, are having success, and have an excellent trajectory forward. Having Shirley as such a committed and trusted ally so everyone feels safe has been an advantage but is not sustainable. As well, from our own experience we know that managing 24-hour residential services invariably requires so much attention, troubleshooting, and a crystal clear “CVA” of Home rather than Program. We believe Diya’s best efforts should go to employment and livelihoods.
Within this model of work, we are able to cautiously offer an idea for your consideration. We can imagine offering, in that very flat, “employee housing”. We know there is a positive analogue for this, as many employers offer housing for employees, either temporary or longer term. We can imagine that Diya may offer short term accommodation to Diya participants for periods ranging from 1 month to six months, maybe longer. Perhaps there will be four spaces there, perhaps less. There would be a trusted, well-trained live-in direct support practitioner who would provide the necessary assistance and oversight, assuring a presence for safety, resolutions of conflict between flatmates, and supporting as needed for all.
This would be a tricky scenario but has the possibility to offer the benefits you are seeing along with coherency with your work focus. Payment for such a service brought to our minds issues of what is “sellable” for fundraising. This might be just such a project where you would need to charge for a service. The same consideration might be given to other high -cost new ideas, like establishing a truly Customised employment service that may not be fully fundable through corporate giving.
Recommendation #7: Create a Dedicated Customised Employment Program
Diya has been in the area of vocational training and employment for 25 years. You are supporting people in gaining employment through open or competitive employment and sheltered employment. Customized employment however is different, it is unique. It first requires a respectful, intentional, and very focused process of discovery of the individual’s interests, conditions, and contributions. Starting with the individual, it then explores those employer needs that can be met by this person’s interests and abilities thus resulting in a mutually beneficial employment situation.
Diya therefore would do well with creating a separate, dedicated Customized Employment program that can serve those individuals with significant impact of disability who may not meet the demands of traditional job descriptions and may thus either set themselves up for failure or rejection at the job site or end up waiting - sometimes endlessly - for the ‘right’ job. Customized Employment strategies are especially important for those individuals who will do very well in some environments and who at the same time may not do their best under specific conditions. These conditions as you know can make the employment a success or a failure for an individual.
Ashlin comes to mind - he is a confident, competent young man who has the skills and strengths to work in any number of work roles. However, he may have difficulties with boundaries in the workplace. This is exactly the kind of situation that could benefit with a customized employment approach to ensure that Ashlin is set up for success in a job that fits his needs and abilities and meets the requirements of the employer.
Diya has an excellent team that has just the drive and enthusiasm this program would need. Trained, MG&A certified professionals are at Diya everyday who can spearhead this program or, as has been mentioned earlier, pass on the training they have received to the professionals who are eager and willing to be trained to carry on this important work.
Coming back to the idea of deep vs. wide, it is clear to us that trying to shift a traditional employment model based on readiness to a customized approach is much harder than simply building something new.
Sub-recommendation
7a. Start a dedicated unit for Customised Employment
We recommend you offer CE as a separate focused project, and that you start with only a few people. It would be excellent for your first participants to be people who were learning partners such as Sneha and Chinmay, and others we can easily imagine being excellent candidates. Please reference the essential elements of customised employment as a reminder.
Concluding Remarks
As we close out this report, we note that Diya has worked hard to shift mindsets of parents, who are understandably and naturally focused on a safe, protected, and ‘happy’ life. As well, they have worked hard and with success to offer employment, especially with large corporates in the area of housekeeping and warehouse work. We are impressed with many aspects of the work programs, and with the true innovation of launching an authentic affirmative employment business – Diya Innovations- with an eventual aim to pay people a fair and equitable salary. We commend Diya for their work in opening access to genuine work roles for adults with intellectual disability and feel so hopeful that the ideas of customised employment can lead towards fitting work and individualised careers for people, both deep and wide. We commend Diya and its leadership and staff, as well as the people they serve for hungering for a bigger life, a fuller life, and are willing to bring families along collaboratively.
Everyday citizens will learn to be with people with disabilities only by actually being with them- in roles that speak to citizenship and community. We are at your service in implementing any of these recommendations, and always recommend an approach of “more and more like this” rather than jumping to new ways of working without a clear vision.
We encountered such interesting, full and lovely people at Diya. We were welcomed, showed great hospitality, and cared for. We met people who were lively, talented, full of promise, with a zeal for life that we feel all people should have the chance to know better. As well, the staff team showed us such hospitality and welcome as well. The assessment team itself was deeply enriched by the experience, and we extend gratitude to the people working at Diya, the staff team, the leadership, and the families, all of whom are clearly invested in the futures of each member of this group of people who are working to take their place in the world.
With Best Regards and at your Service.
Betsy Neuville for the Collaborative Assessment Team
Leela Raj, Manisha Bhattacharya, Milton Tyree, and Betsy Neuville Keystone Institute India