For far too many years, the services and supports received by people with disabilities were either program-centered and driven by what was available, or professionally-centered and determined by what those individuals providing supports thought was best for the person with a disability. This situation was the case whether the individuals in question were student still in school or full-fledged adults with all the capacities needed to create and work toward their own personal visions or dreams for the future. Left out of the decision-making process, people with disabilities rarely found themselves with support programs that facilitated their achieving in life what was important to them.

Person-centered planning (PCP) is a well-known approach to developing individual support programs that, over the past twenty-year has been widely used for people with a variety of disabilities. PCP was developed for better understanding of individuals with disabilities, their enhanced experiences, and effective problem-solving facilitation to achieve individualized and inclusive experiences. Although there are numerous approaches to person-centered planning, all frameworks are based on: (1) a set of values and strategies to support people creating a personal vision for their future based on desired life outcomes; and (2) plans for working toward making their vision come true. The person-centered planning process itself is geared toward providing that group of individuals who are support the focus person with a greater understanding of the individual’s:

• Dreams and vision for the future

• Core values

• Gifts and capacities

Unlike traditional deficit-based approaches to planning that seek to align supports with remediation of a person’s deficits or challenges, person-centered approaches focus on the “positive possible.” This consists of assisting an individual with developing a social network or circle of support that will (a) respect their vision for the future; (b) encourage them to challenge themselves and try something new; (c) support their self-determination; and (d) marshal the resources needed to help the person make that vision for the future a reality.

There are a number of different types of person-centered approaches to support planning that while aiming for similar outcomes go about achieving these in slightly different ways. Essential Lifestyle Planning was developed originally for use with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving residential services and supports. Making Action Plans or the McGill Action Planning System was originally used in supporting the educational inclusion of students with disabilities. This same group also developed Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH). PATH is used to support a person being able to create a dream for the future and then set short and long term goals, solve problems, and facilitate achieving desired life outcomes via action or support networks. A fourth approach is Personal Futures Planning (PFP). PFP in particular emphasizes the need for enhanced awareness the person with disability’s potential becoming a fully integrated and contributing member of the community.

More generally, PCP focuses on identifying a wide range of personal characteristics, abilities, and supports that are critical for an individual to succeed in inclusive community settings. It is a collaborative, goal-driven, and individualized approach focusing on community inclusion, positive relationships, respect, and competence (Claes, Hove, Vandevelde, Loon, Schalock, 2010).

Using person-centered approaches to support planning have been positively associated with improvements in social networks, closer contact with family and friends, greater involvement and engagement in group activities, and enhanced employment opportunities. A person-centered plan, however, is of little use if it is not implemented as intended and it would seem that all too often this is the case. Smull posited that after more than a decade of person centered planning, many people with disabilities have better support plans but not necessarily better lives. A person -centered plan therefore needs to be conceptualized as a necessary but not sufficient step to supporting people with disabilities to have better lives.