Listen carefully and look for strengths

Understanding community values and perspectives

An IL-informed process includes respecting peoples’ values and choices as the groups come together. Listening assures that you are becoming aware of the community’s values and perspectives which allows you to meet them where they are. This means suspending your own judgment about where they should be in understanding disability and working with them to take the next step for community living. Using a positive and affirming approach will help the group identify strengths and next steps.

Different values

Doing this kind of work with communities can highlight differences in peoples’ values. You will likely encounter people who have different values from you and each other. It’s important to be tolerant and model tolerance for different values. Use these differences to explore how folks can work together despite their differences.

Move in a positive direction

This project is meant to be positive and focus on strengths. It is okay to talk about past challenges, but it is important to keep the group moving in a positive direction. Whenever possible, help the group avoid getting stuck in talking about past failures.