Calling Miss Cleo

Over the holiday break, I began to wonder, as many of us do, what the next year would bring to those us working in the field of services and supports for individuals with one or more developmental disabilities.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if my magic 8-ball wasn’t working very well – it only had a limited number of responses to my many queries, and those responses seemed a bit vague. So I thought it might be time to go a little higher up the ladder. I decided to call Miss Cleo.

Now, for those of you who don’t remember, Miss Cleo is a self-proclaimed psychic and shaman who achieved fame as a TV spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call service known as the Psychic Friends Network from 1997 – 2003. Lawsuits and skepticism finally forced her off the air, but I felt so desperate to get a glimpse of what is in store for us in 2011 that I managed to track her down and gave her a call.

Here’s some of what she is predicting for this year (with some prompting from me, of course):

This year will force some soul searching about our values.

Now, Miss Cleo, my magic 8-ball, and I weren’t quite clear on this, but we all believe that it is past due time to really examine what we as communities value. Maybe we will finally look at the gap between the haves and have nots and ask ourselves if we as a community need to work together to narrow that gap. I’m not talking about some wildly liberal agenda here, but rather, I’m just asking if the individuals we serve in the DD field, individuals who invariably fall into the “have not” category, might deserve a little better. Not simply in terms of more funding for services, because although I’d like that I don’t think it is a likely scenario, but rather in terms of all of us really looking at the system inside and out and seeing where we can improve.

There is a money aspect to this prediction, though - the recent economic downturn may have opened some doors for re-examining what we value as a society. I hope that this new emphasis on soul searching will lead to better results for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Imagine! will rise above the fray.

The system as it stands is full of distrust and suspicion. Everybody seems to question the validity and quality of what others are doing. The providers don’t trust the CCBs. The CCBs don’t trust the advocates. The advocates don’t trust the government agencies. The government agencies don’t trust the providers. It is a vicious circle, and the people we serve are being hurt by this lack of trust and cooperation.

I am committed to keeping Imagine! above the fray and out of that circle. I want us paying attention to the right things – the things that will bring achievable solutions to the many challenges facing our system. I’m not just saying this to be saying it. The system is getting more and more fractured. Either we are going to find a way out of this mess or more and more of the people we serve will slip through the cracks created by these fractures. We have to find a new way.

Wider stakeholder engagement will revitalize the system.

OK, so the system is fractured. What is interesting is that, even with all these fractures, many key stakeholders still don’t have a voice in the system. For instance, take the Colorado taxpayer. If the majority of Colorado taxpayers knew how system funding was currently being used, I believe they would be furious.

Well, they don’t know right now, but they will soon. Social media is rapidly becoming a game changer, allowing all sorts of stakeholders opportunities to engage in discussions and decision making processes in ways never before possible. The days of decisions being made behind closed doors by a small group of people are coming to an end. I think this will have some very positive results – engaging more stakeholders may well bring new ideas and positive outcomes.

Rule changes will reduce system outliers.

People who require the support of others are often categorized in order to manage eligibility for public support. These categories have very specific definitions, and the public support comes with very specific rules. We know of people who have needs that cannot be met within these narrowly defined definitions and rules - outliers that do not fit the design of publicly funded programs. We know them, and yet we cannot help them.

To make matters worse, the rules are often created in a vacuum and result in disastrous unintended consequences. And when we try to mitigate those consequences, we are told that we can’t change anything because of the rules – the same rules that were made without considering the consequences! So we are forced to dedicate time, energy, and resources in efforts to fix the rules, leaving us with far less time, energy, and resources to do what we do best – serve individuals with one or more developmental disabilities. And we have even less time, energy, and resources to figure out how to serve the outliers.

As more stakeholders become aware of these issues and engage in solution finding, the rules will change to better allow us to concentrate on services.

OK – full disclosure: I didn’t really consult with Miss Cleo for these predictions (or my magic 8-ball). And maybe some of these predictions for 2011 are really more appropriately put in the “hopes for 2011” category. I’ll let you decide.

I do predict this will be a difficult year, however. I also predict it will be a pivotal year. We are facing so many challenges, but there are signs that resolutions are nearer than they may appear at first. By the end of the year, if we are smart, dedicated, committed to working together, and open to new ideas, we may find we are much better off by the time 2012 rolls around.

Just in time for the end of the world, according to the Mayans. I’ll have to ask Miss Cleo about that, I guess.

Then again, what do I know?