Personalised Lifestyle Assistance

PLA aims to provide assistance to people who have a disability together with their families/ allies who want to:

• Create "typical" lifestyle responses and supports (that foster community inclusion)
• Create personalised (one person at a time) supports
• Have influence over their own lifestyles
• Govern their own projects/arrangements and have high degrees of influence over service design and implementation.

The PLA project also aims to promote the emergence of such advances through seminars, training and discussion with various people, agencies and funding departments.

PLA at this stage has limited resources but its major role is to assist people who have disabilities, families and allies who affiliate with the above principles to:

• Think creatively and imagine possible solutions that are not standardised but personalised (one person at a time)
• Gain advice and technical assistance to design arrangements and projects that enable people with disabilities to have high degrees of influence, personalised solutions and socially inclusive lifestyles
• Liaise and negotiate with various agencies and departments that may be able to provide assistance
• Gain knowledge via information, consultation and training around such advances

The PLA project has received a non-recurrent grant from the Department of Human Services and is a semi-autonomous project, which is hosted by Melba Support Services Inc.  

Presently the PLA project is overseen by a small working party that is committed to its principles and vision. These members of the working party include people who have a disability, family members and allies.

A Project Manager is engaged by the PLA project to carry out the activities of the project.

The PLA project emerged following some workshops in Victoria by Michael Kendrick and others in regard to creating services and supports that are designed and governed by the people who use them. Another catalyst for the emergence of the PLA project was the establishment of Person by Person/One by One, which are small family governed arrangements in Melbourne. They aim to create very personalised (one-person at a time) lifestyle arrangements for a small number of individuals with intellectual disabilities so that they can pursue their unique lifestyle aspirations and abilities in the community. As a result of the interest generated in such models, the PLA project was initiated in August 2003 in order to foster other grass roots similar initiatives that foster community capacity building.  

For further information please contact

Deb Rouget

Manager, Personalised Lifestyle Assistance (PLA)

2/18 Floriston, Rd Boronia, VIC, AUS 3155

Phone: +61 03 9739 8333

Mobile: 0412001388

http://www.plavic.net.au