	Supplement for Developmental Disabilities Programs

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

SDD 4: Social Inclusion and Community Participation

Persons with developmental disabilities and their families can access a broad spectrum of community services and supports designed to build independence and help them exercise their rights, privileges, and responsibilities as full members of the community.

SDD 4.01

The organization supports persons with developmental disabilities to establish meaningful social relationships, build and maintain natural support systems, exercise their rights and responsibilities, and participate in the life of their community by:

identifying and pursuing the types of social roles, as well as family and other relationships, the individual wishes to pursue;
providing opportunities for social and physical interaction with persons, in addition to service providers and recipients; and
achieving an optimal level of community involvement and participation.

SDD 4.02

Individuals with developmental disabilities receive services and supports that are tailored to their individual needs and help them fully interact with the community and achieve maximum independence in the least restrictive environment.

Interpretation: Services and supports can include:

adult foster care or kinship care;
education;
employment, including supported employment;
health and behavioral health services;
housing services and supports;
in-home support;
recreation;
volunteerism;
religious and spiritual supports;
mentoring services; and
transportation.

Services and supports for children and youth with developmental disabilities can also include:

after-school programs;
education support; and
mentoring.

SDD 4.03

Individuals with developmental disabilities receive appropriate support and education regarding sexuality and relationships, including:

sexual health and development;
family planning and pregnancy prevention;
prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS; and
prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation.

Research Note: The literature suggests that women with developmental disabilities are far more likely to be victims of sexual and other violence than women in the general population.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Children, youth, and adults who participate in developmental disabilities programs achieve full integration and inclusion in the mainstream, make choices, exert control over their lives, and fully participate in, and contribute to, their communities.

RELATED FILES


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	PREVENTION Actions taken to minimize and/or eliminate social, psychological, or other conditions. Prevention can occur at the individual, group, community, and societal levels and enhances opportunities to achieve positive fulfillment.