Keystone Human Services to Pilot the Newly Launched Listen Include Respect Guidelines
The News
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Keystone Human Services (KHS) is a non-profit organization that is a part of a global movement to provide support and expertise to people with disabilities.
“People with disability should have the opportunity to not just be physically in the room but to be fully included within all aspects of organizations,” said Kayla McKeon at the launch event for the Listen Include Respect guidelines.
Inclusion International officially launched the Listen Include Respect guidelines at a side event during the 15th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Keystone Human Services was proud to co-sponsor the side event.
The global guidelines, developed by self-advocate leaders and their families with support from Inclusion International and Down Syndrome International, are designed to help organizations in all sectors to ensure their work is inclusive so people with intellectual disability can fully participate.
Inclusion and accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought or an exercise to check a box. Inclusion and accessibility should be addressed from the start with the help of people with disability. Both should become part of an organization’s culture.
As McKeon said, “There should be nothing about us without us.”
Next week at the June Summit, Keystone Human Services will launch a 12-month pilot project to incorporate the Listen Include Respect guidelines into our work. We will especially focus on the ideas around providing good support.
Support work is an essential resource for advocacy, inclusion, and the advancement of an everyday life. Direct support professionals are well-positioned to recognize and challenge barriers to inclusion and advocate alongside the people they support in ways that amplifies the voices of the people they support.
We are taking a rights-based approach to the ideas of good support. Over the next year, direct support professionals will increase their knowledge about human rights and how they can support people with disability to make decisions, participate in the community, and control their own lives.
Join us for the June Summit on June 22, with keynote speaker Sue Swenson, president of Inclusion International:
Manor at Mountain View
2201 Fishing Creek Valley Road
Harrisburg, PA 17112
4:30-7:30 pm EDT