Supported Decision Making has become a big topic in Ohio recently. Some people are curious about it and are asking what is it and how can it help people with disabilities? Some people have seen that it is an alternative to guardianship and have also wondered how it can help someone.

Supported Decision Making is something that empowers people with disabilities to make their own decisions and choices in life with the support of others. It is a way for people with disabilities to make informed decisions while understanding the pros and cons of a decision or different perspectives. It allows a person to make the best choice possible. This allows for person centered planning and involvement in directing a persons own care.

Here are a few resources to help you understand What Supported Decision Making is and isn’t.

• Supported Decision Making Network of Ohio
• Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council on Supported Decision Making
• Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council Guide On Supported Decision Making and Guardianship
• Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities Supported Decision Making Tool Kit
• National Resource Center on Supported Decision Making

Supported Decision Making has been super important to be able to self direction my care. I have a Supported Decision Making Team. Anyone can have people help them make decisions. I am sure that a lot of people are already using this tool without knowing it.

Sometimes people will poll their friends or consult family or others to help them decide common every day matters like what kind of car they should buy or even maybe a family dinner that is being planned.

Ultimately the person buying car decides the final final product. This is the same for people who use supported decision making ultimately they decide the choices for their life.

In April of 2024, I started my Supported Decision Making Team. When it came to choosing my team , I wanted to have a variety of people. It was important for me to build a team verses have one single person because of high complexity of my disabilities and needs. It is important to know you can chose just one person. It doesn’t need to be a team of people like I chose to do.

Some things that I took into consideration was my needs and the background of friends and others I knew in my community. My Supportive Decision Making team is diverse. It is important to know that people who support you do not have to live in the same community or even the same state as you do.

My Supportive Decision Making team meets on Zoom. I have people on my team who live in other parts of Ohio and also someone who lives in another state.

When I chose my team I thought about needing a person that was disabled, a person understood my home care services, someone was an ally but understood complex medical needs and rare diseases and someone who had nursing background. It was important for me to chose people who were my friends for a long time and people who have known me a short time.

At first the people I approached didn’t feel qualified for such an under taking what they didn’t know was they had all the qualifications I needed. The most important thing to me was finding people who would listen and then share their wisdom but ultimately let me decide.

I am a complex person and I am not afraid to admit it. I got a lot of rare diseases and also some more difficult things that I need support on than others.

Sometimes people see me as a strong advocate and they often miss my more intense needs for support. Building my team was about finding people who saw me and supported me through my challenges and who saw my abilities.

I formed a team of five women and we have had a long year. My team has helped me in a number of ways. They have supported me to make many decisions including day to day decisions. It is important to know that supportive decision making isn’t just for the harder decisions that need more thinking it also for the every day decisions.

I want to share some ways that my SDM team have helped me on some big decisions. Then I also like to share how my SDM team operates on every day decisions .

I have consulted my SDM team about helping me make decisions to coordinate a move to a new apartment with choosing a moving service to also decisions around coordinating movers.

My SDM team also has helped me with decisions around making food choices and selecting recipes to make with my direct support staff on a weekly basis. People often have this assumption that if you are in the advocacy space you don’t need support or someone is super high functioning that isn’t always accurate that’s why people shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or a persons abilities or needs by what’s spaces and places they are connected to. Everyone has needs and also needs support. To learn more about my story watch this video to understand a more detailed part of my story.

Supported Decision Making has been life changing. It saved me from guardianship and had helped me take back my life and to make informed decisions on my everyday needs. I have learned problem solving skills, how to work thru conflict and how to ask questions and direct my care.

There are people who have used it along side of guardianship to give people with disabilities choices and help them to make the best choice with support.

I have also seen people who considered guardianship decide to read up and look at supported decision making and decide it was a better option and chose to let the person drive own care with guidance and support. I think that it is important to read about supported decisions making and learn what your options are to help people live their best lives.

I believe that people with disabilities are capable of making choices when given the right supports to do so. Everyone has their own journey and this is a simple tool than can be help many people because it helps with person centered planning and helps people direct their care and make decisions with support that help them live their best lives..