Birmingham
Midshires Apartments located in Hockley, Birmingham is a supported living service is designed people having an asd who need extra help to live in their own homes. Each person will have their own unique tennancy agreement.Support within the se apartments can mean full 24-hour care which will include a combination of domiciliary support and personal care hours or simply a couple of hours support a week to help with shopping and budgeting.
The apartments have been developed with a housing agency to provide opportunities for individuals to live in their own homes, each apartment being self contained and having a bedroom, lounge / dining room, kitchen and bathroom.
In developing this service, Autism First have listened to and have a clear understanding about what people with an asd want from this type of service. The general view is that one size, one model of service delivery will not satisfy the needs of all and that there is a need for a great deal of flexibility and creativity not only in service development but equally in service delivery.
The "Framework for Service Delivery" developed Autism First will be adopted and implemented in its entirety at this service and clearly emphasises our asd specific person centred approaches to support and futures planning and sets out how we will respond to individual hopes dreams and aspirations in creative and meaningful ways to promote fulfilment of life expectations.
The Person Centred Approach developed by Autism First is fundamentally different than many principles that have been developed and adopted to date in the way that it first addresses communication needs and abilities to ensure that each person can be fully engaged in the whole process in a meaningful and creative and constructive way.
Being 'person centred' or using a 'person centred approach' means ensuring that everything we do is based upon what is important to a person from their own perspective and not based on a simple external hypothesis about what we think the person may like to achieve.
At Autism First, it is our view that supported living services can be for everyone irrespective of their level of ability. We also believe there should be no set criteria to receive the support being described.
Support levels provided are based on each individual's assessment and not on a specific type of programme. This ensures that Individuals receive support where, when, how, and with whom it is needed. All support provided equally ensures a level of flexibility so that it may be adjusted to consistently meet changing needs.
In listening to and understanding what people with an asd want from this type of service and our knowledge of some of the difficulties experienced by individuals particularly relating to socialisation and communication, many people have expressed that while it may be their desire to live alone they do not want to become excluded from a social world.
"I really like my flat but it would be much better if I had a friend to sometimes talk to or go places with, I think nobody is listening to me, just because I prefer to live alone it doesn't mean that I want all of the time alone"
Young Person with asd. Their request for anonymity is respected
In taking the above factors into consideration, at Autism First, whether a person lives within a residential service or a supported living model, an integral feature of the support and services we provide always includes the provision and promotion of a range of opportunities to facilitate social inclusion, these are both in and out of house.Young Person with asd. Their request for anonymity is respected
Since our services are individually designed and developed, there are no prerequisites. It is our view that we must give up trying to make people ready to receive this type of service by simulating how it is to live in their own home and begin supporting people to have that home.
If people cannot do something, then we can find someone to do it for them rather than requiring them to learn to do it before they will be ready to receive this type of service.
There is nothing magical about any type of support programme, or building. What can be magical is what the program, building, and the people who deliver the support have to offer. Our challenge in supportive styles of living is to create this "magic" in the person's own home.
Those who we provide support and services to can expect to hear a language that is natural to their setting, the language we use is natural and promotes inclusion. Thus, the places people live in are described as Joe's home, or Mary's home; people clean their home and do their laundry rather than learn programs; people live with roommates, not with staff or providers; friends come over to visit, not volunteers; and people are referred to as neighbours, friends and citizens, rather than clients, consumers, and residents.
Autism First have a clear recognition of the need for us all to give up talking about "them", "those people", and "they", in doing so our language becomes more inclusive and helps guide our actions in the best interests of those we provide support and services to.
New Website Launch
Feb 24, 2007
Autism first are pleased to announce the launch of our new website. We hope you find the site helpful and informative, and we appreciate any feedback that you may have.
