Articles & Documents
We hope you find the following collection of articles and documents of assistance. You can read them on line or download by clicking on the green buttons. For further information or queries please contact Belonging Matters on Phone/Fax +61 03 9739 8333 or Email

Social Role Valorsation
Membership of The International Social Role Valorization Association
Our international organisation, comprised of individual and organizational members from across the globe, provides a network of support and alliance with others working to understand and use SRV. ISRVA maintains and updates the major SRV website, available in both English and French, keeps us all connected through social media, and provides opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue, training, and study for members. In addition, we support periodic International SRV Conferences, and offer small grants for SRV study and scholarship.
The International Social Role Valorization Association
Circles of Support
A Guide to Circles of Support
Many people with a disability, with the support of their families have taken great strides to improve social inclusion and access to their community but often this task depends on one or two key family members. This creates a significant concern about what will happen when these family members are no longer able to provide support in the future. Circles of Support are one of the ways people with disability can safeguard their vision and support in the future.
Voice - The Journal of Down Syndrome Australia: Deb Rouget and Teresa Micallef
Home Share
Are you living with a disability and looking for an opportunity to live independently? Maybe you’re looking for a housemate, but worried about finding the right person? We’re here to help... Home Share Melbourne provides a range of services that make it easier for you to make a great choice about where you live, how you live and who you live with.
Home Share Melbourne
Home and Accommodation
Crucial Times - CRU Newsletter
This edition of CRUcial Times is an exploration of what it means to create a home. We want to explore how we can assist people with disability to have more than just a bed, a room in someone else’s home or basic shelter but a home that others would clearly recognise and maybe even envy. Having a stable home can open doors to community, growth and connection.
Community Resource Unit
Why Group Homes Are No Longer Optimal: A Commentary
Though the group home was at one time the leading edge option for improving the lives of people with disabilities, it is now no longer considered the best option by leaders in the field
By Michael Kendrick
Who is Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) For?
No matter who is deemed eligible for Specialist Disability Accommodation, we must uphold the sanctity of home - what it means to have a real “home”.
By Deb Rouget
QUALITY AND OUTCOMES OF INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTED LIVING (ISL) ARRANGEMENTS FOR ADULTS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
The aim of the project was to learn more about the characteristics of Individual Supported Living (ISL) in order to inform, educate, and influence greater “take-up” of these options by families and support services to enhance the lives of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.
By Professor Errol Cocks, Professor Patricia O’Brien, Dr Stian H Thoresen, Professor Keith McVilly
A Home of My Own
Cameron Skinner lives in Warrigal, Victoria. He is a receptionist for the Jeremiah Business Group, lives in his own home and believes in the importance of giving back to community through volunteering and sharing his story at workshops and conferences. He is also an avid Collingwood Football Club supporter. Deb Rouget has been involved in the lives of people with a disability and families for nearly 30 years. She has been the Chief Executive Officer of Belonging Matters since its inception in 20
By Cameron Skinner & Deb Rouget (First published in Monash University's jounral, 'Parity' 2018)
Enabling Home:
How Genuinely Supportive Persons, Agencies And Systems Can Enable People To Have Real Homes Of Their Own
By Michael J. Kendrick PhD
A Home Thats Right For Me! Ontario Report:
Valuing Choice, Evolving Individualized Residential Options
By Jenny Carver & Associates
Personalised Residential Support:
PRS Report
By Professor Errol Cocks and Ross Boaden
Personalised Residenial Supports:
Guide To Decision Making
By Professor Errol Cocks and Ross Boaden
Individual Supported Living:
Manual
By Professor Errol Cocks, Monique Williamson, & Dr Stian H Thoresen
Community
The purpose of life is a life with purpose: creating meaningful futures through valued roles.
Conference paper from the 'The Odyssey: celebrating achievements, progress and change', Family Advocacy, Sydney 2012.
By Jane Sherwin and Meg Sweeney
Ways to build and join Community
Suggestions on how to foster community and develop roles within it.
Belonging Matters
How to live, not just survive, with an intellectual disability:
Community Living Ontario Canada
By Daniel Share-Storm
Good Lives:
Research on Self-Directed Lives: Perspectives of People with Disabilities and Families
By the Research Group on Self-Directed Living - Princiapl Authors Dr Eilionoir Flynn, Jonathan Angus and Rachel Cassen
Submission:
Belonging Matters' Submission to the Inquiry into the Social Inclusion of Victorians with a Disability, Parliament of Victoria, September 2014
By Belonging Matters
The Art of Asking
What does it take to ask, and to enhance our skills in the art of asking?
By Ric Thompson
Connecting People And Building Social Relationships:
Relationships and friendships arise from sharing common interests and passions
By Deb Rouget
Leadership For Social Inclusion In The Lives Of People With Disabilities:
Five challenges for those in leadership roles
By Jane Sherwin
Some Reflections Of What Might Be Needed To Assist People With Disabilities To Become Included In Community:
Our reflections stem from the individuals and families we have assisted over many years who have struggled to live a "typical" life in the community.
By Deb Rouget
Empowerment
Seven Steps to Self Direction
Building right relationship between people with disability, their families, friends and support workers
Valued Lives Health Passport
In light of the COVID-19 Virus The passport is a detailed document that can be used as communication tool to fill out with important information that is readily available to whoever supports/cares for you in a changing/emergency situation e.g. if visiting a doctor, having to go to hospital, having a new support worker care for you
Valued Lives
Social Role Valorisation In Action
An exciting array of practical articles and viewpoints based on Social Role Valorisation
By Values In Action Association
Good Lives:
Research on Self-Directed Lives: Perspectives of People with Disabilities and Families
By the Research Group on Self-Directed Living - Princiapl Authors Dr Eilionoir Flynn, Jonathan Angus and Rachel Cassen
Manawanui Media Release:
New research shows giving people control over their government funding is better for everyone.
By Julz Britnell
Who Cares?
The impact of ideology, regulation and marketing on the quality of life of people with an intellectual disability.
By Robin Jackson
Beyond "Choice and Control":
Helpful Supports for Strengthening Personal and Situational Capacities
By Michael Kendrick PhD
Greame Innes gave his final speech as the Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the National Press Club of Australia on July 2.
By Greame Innes
Discerning Actual Levels of Substantive Empowerment:
The Natural Authority of Families:
By Michael J. Kendrick PhD
Empowerment and Self Direction Relative To The Design And Governance of Personalised Service Arrangements:
By Michael I. Kendrick PhD
Ability Technology
Providing home control solutions and assistive technolohy services for people with a disability.
OCL - Transforming the way services are delivered to people with a disability.
By OCL Board of Directors
Some Lessons Concerning Agency Transformations Towards Personalised Services.
By Michael J Kendrick PhD
An Organisational Study Of OCL's Pursuit For Improved Lives:
By Patricia Fratangelo
Listening Differently:
A normal life, along with the attributes that each person brings, should be paramount in all decisions that are made.
By Patricia Fratangleo
Personcentred Approaches:
Genuine personcentredness means treating people as unique human beings with distinctive and/or even idiosyncratic longings, aspirations, visions, and needs.
By Deb Rouget
Challenging The Myth that One Size Fits All:
The problem with relying on a myth is that it may lead one to believe that it is the actual truth.
By Maureen McLiesh, Anita O'Brien. and Deb Rouget
Challenges Of Organisational Change And Authentic Choice:
Choice has been used historically as a reason for segregated and congregated programs.
By Jeffrey L. Strully
Transforming Agencies to Personalised Supports
Work
Small Business Enterprise Models of Employment
For persons with intellectual disabilities and high support needs
By rrol Cocks, Stian Thoresen, Robert Jackson and Allyson Thomson
Discovery is...:
Who is the person?
By Marc Gold & Associates
Customised Employment:
Individualising the employment relationship between employees and employers in ways that meet the needs of both.
By Marc Gold & Associates
Business Benefits Of employing People With Disability
A Fact Sheet
By Australia Network on Disability
School Inclusion
Vision for an Inclusive Education
A ‘vision’ can help people with disability and their families get what others often take for granted: a good life. A vision document capturing long-term hopes and dreams can be a powerful tool for sharing long-term goals and clarifying the place school can play in achieving that vision. A vision of an inclusive life is essential if a family wants a child with a disability to live a life embedded within, and contributing to their community, rather than being a ‘visitor’ on the outskirts. An in
Community Resource Unit Queensland
Learning From Home during COVID-19
The site provides general advice to parents in the current situation and useful websites to support student’s wellbeing.There are links to information on disability specific areas and Assistive Technology in the Inclusion tab and additional resources can be found in the Learning Resources tab
Deaprtment of Education Queensland
From Behaving to Belonging: The Inclusive Art of Supporting Students Who Challenge Us
About This Book: Challenging behavior is one of the most significant issues educators face. Though it may seem radical to use words like love, compassion, and heart when we talk about behavior and discipline, the compassionate and heartfelt words, actions, and strategies teachers employ in the classroom directly shape who students are—and who they will become. But how can teaching from the heart translate into effective supports and practices for students who exhibit challenging behavior?
Julie Causton & Kate MacLeod
Life Long Learners
Most people with disability have been tagged with a long list of deficits. Many of these are determined through an array of assessments that indicate what is wrong with them. What often follows is a whole series of interventions to try to ‘fix’ their problem. While some of these may be helpful and necessary, too often deficits are used to define the identity of the individual and what their life will be. This can have a negative impact on the experiences, opportunities and roles they are offered
Family Advocacy
A Summary of the Evidence on Inclusive Education
Across the globe, students with disabilities are increasingly educated alongside their nondisabled peers in a practice known as inclusion. Inclusion is prominently featured in a number of international declarations, national laws, and education policies. These policies, coupled with the efforts of advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, have led to a substantial increase in the number of students with disabilities who receive schooling alongside their non-disabled peers.
Dr. Thomas Hehir, Silvana and Christopher Pascucci Professor of Practice in Learning Differences at the Harvard Graduate School of Education IN PARTNERSHIP WITH: Abt Associates 55 Wheeler Street Cambridge, MA 0213
Wake Up World
Autistic boy with higher IQ than Einstein discovers his gift after removal from state-run therapy.
Access Symposium
Ensuring Authentic Inclusion For All Students
Australian Social Role Valorisation Association
SRV really expands my radar
The DDLS Advocate, October 2012:
Disability Discrimination in Schools
Lessons Learned From Our Journey Of School Inclusive Education
Inclusiv education is the best preparation for adult life.
By Martin and Darcy Elks
Why Should Schools Include Children With A Disability?
The first point to consider about inclusion is that it is fundamentally a moral issue.
Mixed Feelings:
A parental perspective on Early Intervention
By Lisa Bridle and Glenys Mann