Open Future Learning

Open Future Learning is the online learning resource for the developmental disability | intellectual disability | learning disability workforce.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Absolute legend. Ft Steven Brandon. Excerpt from “A Day in the Life” - full video on our YouTube channel.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Inclusion is measured by whether someone is given a real way to be understood, and whether others take the time to listen. If you want to know whether someone was included, don’t ask if they were there. Ask if they were respected, heard, and able to influence what happened next.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Too often, we mistake presence for participation. We invite people with developmental and intellectual disabilities into rooms, have people sit at tables, and then move ahead without really making space for their thoughts, choices, or feelings.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

A good day is not the same as a compliant day. Too often, people with intellectual disabilities are praised for being “good” simply because they followed directions and caused no problems. Doing everything you are told is not the same as living a meaningful life.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

“Be my microphone, not my voice.” - Dave Hingsburger

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

There are some people who could hear you speak a thousand words and still not understand you. And there are others who will understand without you even speaking a word. #intellectualdisabilities #downsyndrome #developmentaldisabilities #autism

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Not a child. Not your property. #developmentaldisabilities #intellectualdisability #downsyndrome #autism

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Real support should make friendship possible, not replace it.

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ID: Fionn holds a cardboard sign above his head that reads "I don't want support staff as friends" - a person walking by has stopped to read the sign.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

It is too much to ask?

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Great support doesn’t mean stopping people from choosing wrong. It means being there with them when they choose, and staying if things don’t turn out well.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

“I found this job at a moment when my life felt dark. I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety since I was young. I’d just left my home health aide job that didn’t feel meaningful anymore. I needed something that felt more fulfilling."

Read: https://t.co/dqRCNhDqKV

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

There is a lack of men in disability support. But as Hasan Kreik shows in this video, the ability to provide great care and support has no gender.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Stereotypes.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

The people we support aren’t ours. They belong to themselves. Forget that, and we stop supporting and start managing. Use people's names whenever you can. Use language that is person-centere: the person I support, the person I work for, the people I assist. Words matter.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

If you want to support people, stop bubble-wrapping lives. Start making space for risk, for growth, for the dignity of trying.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Stealing from people with intellectual disabilities?

Read: https://t.co/QvwCX5Si7v #developmentaldisability #learningdisability #downsyndrome #autistic

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

Trump and RFK link pain reliever Tylenol to autism - but many experts are sceptical.

#trump #autism #TYLENOL

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

And pity is never respect. Respect stands straight up. Respect meets your eyes level. Respect recognizes the person in front of you without the sugar, without the syrup, and without the tilt.

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

The head tilt is the look many give when they meet someone with an intellectual or developmental disability. It’s that slight lean to the side, the softened eyes, the syrupy smile. It’s supposed to say, “I’m being kind.” But what it really says is, “I see you as less.”

[Open Future Learning @Open_Future]

It’s a gesture soaked in condescension, the nonverbal equivalent of baby talk.
People don’t tilt their heads when greeting a banker, a teacher, or their neighbor at the grocery store. The tilt isn’t about welcome; it’s about pity dressed up as compassion.