Report from The Arc of Northern Virginia and the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University about the success of the Virginia Supported Decision-Making Pilot Project. Includes reporting on the ten individuals who participated in the pilot and used Supported Decision-Making with positive outcomes. Four pilot participants use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).
Pilot was funded by the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities.
Handbook from Disability Voices United for parents and supporters of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Contains advice about how Supported Decision-Making can work with people who use augmentative and alternative communication.
Handbook is specific to California, but contains excellent information helpful to families in all states.
The Conversation Starter Kit is a tool to help you have a conversation with a supporter, health care proxy, family member, friend, or other loved one about your – or their – wishes regarding end-of-life care and health care decisions generally. It is available in several languages and different formats. There are dedicated kits for discussions with your health care proxy, for people with Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of Dementia, and for talking to your doctor, and for children with serious illnesses.
The Go Voter project from Self Advocates Becoming Empowered includes many helpful videos and other resources about voting for self-advocates.
Toolkit about getting started with using Supported Decision-Making. This toolkit has some references to materials specific to the Wisconsin state law, but is useful for anyone interested in thinking about Supported Decision-Making.
Copies of the toolkit in Spanish and Hmong available at this link.
Visit resource: Supported Decision-Making Toolkit (Wisconsin)
A sample letter than can be used to explain your wishes about health care decision-making to a health care provider. This letter could be used as an SDM agreement if you are only interested in your supporters helping with health care decisions.
Visit resource: Making My Own Healthcare Decisions for People with Disabilities
South Carolina Supported Decision-Making Project’s resource page contains a number of useful materials including:
Guide on SDM that is tailored to individuals and families that describes core principles of SDM and also includes helpful tools for weighing decisions. Guide is available in Easy Read and Plain Language formats.
Manual for people with disabilities and their supporters to help understand how to use SDM. Contains useful tools such as checklists for deciding what type of support is needed in various areas.
This is a worksheet and tool for self advocates and supporters to brainstorm the type of support an individual may need in various areas of his or her life.
Visit resource: Brainstorming Guide to Supported Decision-Making
