Connecting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together:  The National Unified Lifeskills Model
Errol Ingram, Guide Dogs Assoc of Tasmania

NULM = National Unified Lifeskills Model

Topic
Exploring the links between: 
The Development of Lifeskills, Social Literacy and Autonomy and 
Educational & Vocational Outcomes for Young Adults who are Blind or Vision Impaired

The Development of Functional Competency & Social Literacy  
- Children & Adolescents who are Blind or Vision Impaired 
Functional Competence:
The critical role of vision in human development, functioning and communication.

Impact of blindness and severe vision impairment on informal and incidental learning – the need for formal  invention to ensure development of skills, knowledge and understanding in fundamental areas of daily living skills (lifeskills).

Fundamental lifeskills include: Orientation and Mobility (O&M), Independent Living Skills (ILS), Communication Skills (including Braille and the use of Adaptive Technology), Tactile/Vision Enhancement and Social Skills.

The link between competency in O&M, ILS, Communication & Social Skills and age-appropriate independence & socially literacy.

The pivotal role of the family’s understanding and expectations of independence and their consistent reinforcement of lifeskills and social literacy throughout infancy, childhood and adolescence.

Social Literacy:
Skills, knowledge, values and understandings associated with making sense of our highly complex world of social relationships and arrangements.
The critical role of non-verbal interaction in human communication.
Rites of Passage – link with physical, psychological, social, and emotional development.
The balance between independence, dependence and interdependence (Covey).

Paradoxes, Myths and Taken-for-Granted Assumptions 

Independence - Dependence 		
Inclusion - ’Special’ 
Duty of Care - Dignity of Risk 
Nurturing - Over-protection
“Cotton-wooling” – Vulnerability
Maternalism, Paternalism, Patronising - Matter-of-factness
Learned independence - learned helplessness (Seligman)/learned dependency

Background
The Australian Blindness Forum (ABF) has been working on a project for the past three years to develop a National Unified Lifeskills Model (NULM). 

ABF is an incorporated body funded by its members. 
ABF has been operating since 1992. 
Has approximately 20 members including major blindness agencies around Australia, Blind Citizens Australia, Vision Australia Information Library Service, Royal Australian 	 and NZ College of Ophthalmologists, and Radio for the Print Handicapped Australia.
ABF addresses issues of national importance that effect policy and service delivery to people who are blind or vision impaired.

One of the key issues that ABF has been engaged in since 2003 is the development of lifeskills, social literacy and autonomy for children, adolescents and young adults who are in the legally to profoundly blind client category.  
 
Concerns about the functional competency, social literacy and autonomy of young adults who are blind were raised by blindness agencies, Dr Phil Hatlen (Superintendent of Texas School for the Blind and Co-Chair of the National Agenda in the USA), and families. 

Blindness Agency Experience
Three main issues were identified in terms of service delivery to children, adolescents, young adults (and their families) particularly in the legally to profoundly blind client category:

Basic lifeskills and social literacy not being learned competently prior to adulthood. Lifeskills and social literacy include the following areas – O&M, Independent Living Skills, Braille, Social Skills, Career Education, Leisure/Recreation and Self-Organising Skills.  These areas represent fundamental skills, strategies and understandings that children who are blind must have the opportunity to learn and develop through critical developmental and transitional stages of childhood and adolescence.  

A lack of lifeskills and social literacy (a) limits choices for quality of life & independence in all areas of life including employment, accommodation, leisure, relationships and other lifestyle choices and (b) increases the person’s vulnerability to abuse (sexual, emotional, physical, financial, spiritual), mental health issues and family breakdown. 

In response, blindness agencies throughout Australia have been providing extensive remedial programs in lifeskills to young adults who are blind with mixed results.

Dr. Phil Hatlen’s Observations
“What is known about congenitally blind and visually impaired students is that, unless skills such as orientation and mobility, social interaction, and independent living are learned, these students are at high risk for lonely, isolated, unproductive lives”  (Hatlen 1996:6)
“…a modern tragedy, with  too many products of our educational efforts living isolated, troubled lives”  (ibid:7)

ABF Parent Focus Groups & National Forum Feedback
Significant gaps exist in relation to the availability and teaching of key life skills such as orientation and mobility, independent livings skills, social skills, Braille, and leisure and recreation  
Communication between service providers and with families varies considerably in terms of quality, quantity and consistency 
Accessing information about services, support, resources and training is often ad hoc.
Service quality, range and availability varies considerably within and across states 
Limited emotional and other support options for children and their families are available when and where they are needed 

“We don’t know, what we don’t know”
“If you ask the right person, the right question, in the right way, at the right time…you might get the right answer”

Appreciative Inquiry- An Alternative Approach
An alternative to traditional problem-solving approaches 
Holistic/systemic approach to inquiry
Builds on ‘what is going right’, thus goes beyond the status quo
Based on the view that the way things are is socially constructed by	our system and can be changed 
AI is based on success, strengths and possibilities  
AI is affirmative and not focused on deficits 
AI is  effective in managing complex change and transformation
AI creates a learning environment for all stakeholders
AI values dialogue and a range of perspectives.  (Cooperrider 1990)

Appreciative Inquiry 4-D Cycle
Affirmative topic choice
The development of functional 
competency and social literacy

Discovery
qualified & skilled educators, therapists, service providers;
young adults who are living productive, rewarding, connected lives; Gov’t and non-Gov’t orgs; best practice service delivery models and resources; research and service developments; the narratives of families

Dream
children & teenagers learning lifeskills & social literacy at appropriate developmental & transitional stages/ages; empowered and enabled families; all stakeholders cooperating ; adequate funding

Design
Design a coherent and centralised                                                                           conceptual framework which brings  together                                                                              families, educators, therapists and service providers in order to achieve a common goal of maximising the functional competency, social literacy and autonomy of every child who is blind or vision impaired

Deliver
A National Unified Lifeskills Model for Children who are blind and vi and their families

A.I. in Action NULM 
a series of 4 graphic slides illustrating framework pyramids depicting AI in action NULM
0-5yrs
6-12yrs
13-17 years
18+ years

Infrastructure
Accessibility
- XHTML compliant 
-	W3C - Accessibility Guidelines
Presentation
- Family-Friendly
- Plain English
Review Team/s
-	 Review Content
-	 Quality Assurance
-	 Dev Issues
Formats
-	 Website
-	 CD ROM
-	 Print

Summary of NULM
NULM is a coherent, comprehensive and centralised framework which has been designed through a process of Appreciative Inquiry in direct response to feedback from families.

The National Unified Lifeskills Model (NULM) has been designed and created on the basis that empowered, informed and enabled families are central to the development of the functional competence, social literacy and autonomy of children, adolescents and young adults who are blind or vision impaired.

Instead of …
“We don’t know, what we don’t know”…
“We know what we need to know”
    
Instead of …
“If you ask the right person, the right question, in the right way, at the right time - you might get the right answer”…
“We know the right people & services, we know the right questions to ask, we know the right way and the right time to ask those questions - to get the right answers”

NULM is currently being developed as an interactive website and self-directed learning resource for families. The expected implementation date for NULM will be mid-2007. 

For further information: Errol Ingram errol@guidedogstas.com.au 

Summary
2020 is 14 years away: 
do you remember what you were doing 14 years ago in 1992?
a child who is 4 years of age will be turning 18 
a child who is 7 years of age will be turning 21 
‘Toward 2020 what we do now will make the difference’
 …depends on what it is we are doing now, how we are doing it and why we are doing it.