What Makes OCL Different?

"We cannot do great things on this earth.
We can only do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

“OCL does not want to be a model for someone else. It is essentially nervous about someone else imitating something that needs to be reinvented each time you work with an individual.” – Michael Kendrick

The Zust Family (real story, pseudo name)

"I thought it was pretty important that my son be able to get out and about, and do things in the community that I could not help him do anymore. My son is a person that enjoys being around people. I was able to get him out some, but not enough to fill his needs. And one of the real important things for me is for someone to be able to come in and help him with is personal care needs."

When this mother had first expressed her son's needs, the answer had been to place him in a vacancy within a group home, which she did reluctantly. But when he was injured within that home and had a lengthy hospital stay she knew she could never send him back there, so she brought him home, even though she did not have the resources to support him well. Someone from the state told her to call OCL.

 

"I got on the phone rather quickly, made contact with them, a meeting was set up and soon there were people from OCL at my house to meet my son and myself. And we just sat and talked. It was a very comfortable meeting. They asked "What would you like? How would you and your son like his services to be put together?" That was the first time that anyone had ever asked me what I wanted for my son and what my son wanted for himself... I was actually allowed to describe how I wanted my son to live at home with me. I wanted help for him to get out and do things in the community that he wanted to do and to get the support he needs to get him ready in the morning. They left, saying they felt it doable. I found it hard to believe because I hadn't heard of anything of this type before, I really hadn't. I guess I was shocked with the whole thing..... They asked me to put down in black and white a schedule of sorts of what the day and week would look like. So I did three schedules. One would be the best. The next would be a step down or two, and the third would be what I absolutely needed to have for my son and myself to get by. Someone from OCL called and said there should be no reason not to get everything I asked for. I said "Oh, come on now." They said "No, really we think that we can do this!" It sounded too good to be true. Anyway that was our holiday gift of '93, when we were informed that it was approved."

Comments from Robert Ciota, previous Deputy Director of Central New York Developmental Service Organization

"OCL is a small organization with a simple but powerful message that is expressed clearly in your mission and methods statement. Your starting point is always with the individual, and with those who know the individual. Your methods are supportive and your means is "choice" as determined by the people whom you support. Your goals and objectives are the same as those, which are shared by the larger adult community, personal fulfillment and responsibility for oneself. You distinguish yourself by taking the time to discover and recognize the uniqueness of each person, their abilities, their dislikes, their strengths, their weaknesses and their hopes and aspirations, the whole person within the context of their life; and what is important to them defines what you do."

Comments from Bob Goodfellow, previous Program Specialist at Central New York Developmental Service Organization

".......You say, 'I'm going to make this work and we're going to work on the rule, we are going to make the rules work with us.' I'll be honest with you, most people say, 'What's the rule? Now how do I live with it?'..... There's a perception of risk that may or may not be real. And I think that those who say 'I am going to take the risks' are different in approach than people who say 'Tell me what the rules are.' To me that is a fundamental and I think that it leads to a culture within an agency that leads to innovation, creativity and responsiveness to individuals rather than just to words."

"What OCL is doing is simply taking the obvious and saying what works for most of us is what we can facilitate for those we support. This probably seems pie in the sky for a lot of people because this field's view has always been 'give me the money, or tell me the rule and I will do the service.' Money or rules do not hurt, but they can't buy quality. [These kinds of support] get to what community integration is all about: real people and real lives with all of the messiness, confusion and risks that come with it."

Staff member's comments:

"..We talk about community as a separate place only when using the word regarding people with disabilities. There is only one community out there - it's a place in which we all live, a common-unity. We must not look at people with and without disabilities as different from one another... We must believe in the natural capacity of people to find common acceptance with all people." – Debbie DiGiacomo

"If we don't listen to the people and support them well, then what are we doing? I mean we could sit and play house. I don't know if I could work in a place where I had to oppress people in that way. I don't think I could ever do it. We don't own these people." – Richard Prue

“We are all woven together like a giant tapestry of color and imagination” – Patricia Fratangelo

“We can accomplish what we set out to do. We are not restricted. We can be creative. I feel that there is a sense of working together to get things done. I feel that we are a part of a revolution and that we are all important members within it.” – Philip Shaer

“We have a higher tolerance for disorder than other places.” – Richard Prue

Family Members

“We are not a bureaucratic place, we want normal lives for our family members; we want what is best for our children.” – Cheryl Kantak

"OCL has provided the kind of support both our son and family needed and asked for. It has not been perfect, but it has been good, really, really good because OCL has supported our son and our family in the way we wanted." – Sue Lehr - Check out this link to learn more about our son and his life http://www.youtube.com/user/BenLehrI

"Staff at OCL listen. They worked with me to develop a plan that was right for us as a family. I was actually allowed to describe what I wanted. I found it hard to believe because no one had ever asked me before. If I died tomorrow, I know my son would be squared away. I know that I don’t have to worry about his future. That’s a big load off from my shoulders." - Jeanne Zaricznyj