Community Living movement embarking on 'a new story'

OTTAWA, Ont. - The Community Living movement is shaping a new narrative with new language and new types of thinking that holds great hope for the future, according to John Lord, a closing presenter at the Canadian Association for Community Living's (CACL) 50th anniversary conference.

Lord, a researcher, educator and author, says the key to a successful social movement is its ability to reframe something from what it is to what it could be. The Community Living movement is building a new mindset and knowledge, as well as raising expectations in the community, through its commitment to key values and principles.

Three key principles will be critical when turning values into action, says Lord, who cites a strengths-based approach, networking and collaboration as the main tenets to building inclusion.

He says Community Living is becoming a strengths-based organization by promoting the philosophy that everyone has something to contribute to society through participation.

"We understand that we intentionally build from people's gifts and strengths and that every single person has gifts and strengths," says Lord. "We are a movement that is moving away from scarcity into asset thinking."

Dianne Garrels-Munro, president of Community Living Ontario's board of directors, agrees with Lord, adding that during the conference she witnessed a shift in language that highlights Community Living's progression towards a strengths-based approach.

"People were at first referring to vulnerable people and in the last couple of days that word vulnerable has not been used as much and I think that is an important shift," she says. "I think if we start celebrating gifts rather than vulnerabilities, we change the entire concept upon which we are talking and thinking about what is going on in this movement."

Networking will also play a key role in the new story, adds Lord, who says small groups of people coming together with an idea are the real instigators of change.

This point is proving true for Gordon Kyle, Community Living Ontario's director of social policy and government relations, who says being able to connect with members from the national and international movement will help the organization explore new ideas for how to support people through common tools such as CACL's National Report Card and the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

"(The conference was) a chance to talk to each other and share the issues and struggles that we are having," says Kyle, who presented during two sessions, Advocating Inclusive Education and From Change Agency to Status Quo.

"I came away with pages and pages of material here to help us in our ongoing work."

The third key principle for the new story involves collaboration with the greater community, according to Lord, who says organizations are shifting from a program-based approach to building capacity in the community.

At Community Living Ontario, Keith Powell, executive director, says they plan to connect with the community by finding ways to become more relevant to young families.

"(We will be focusing on) building the association as compared to enhancing services. We are already very active in that regard, enhancing and preserving the services that we support. What we go away now with are tools and focus to building the association and building community."

Reprinted from Community Living Leaders, an online news news service of Community Living Ontario. www.communitylivingontario.ca.

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