What is SDM?
Supported Decision Making
Supported decision making (SDM) is a tool that allows people with disabilities to retain their own decision-making capacity by choosing supporters to help them make choices.
SDM selects trusted advisors, such as friends, family members, or professionals, to serve as ‘supporters’. The supporters agree to help the person with a disability understand, consider, and communicate decisions, giving the person with a disability the tools to make her own, informed, decisions.
SDM means finding tools and supports to help a person with a disability understand, make, and communicate her own choices. Examples of these tools might be:
➞ plain language materials or information in visual or audio form
➞ extra time to discuss choices
➞ creating lists of pros and cons
➞ role-playing activities to help the person understand choices
➞ bringing a supporter into important appointments to take notes and help the person remember and discuss her options.
SDM will be at the heart of
SMARTS PROJECT
The SMARTS project will use the Supported Decision Making methodology to explore ways to return to people with disabilities control over their own choices about their sexuality.
The SMARTS project will provide clear and practical guidelines to different profiles of supporters-namely professionals, family carers, services managers – on different daily life situations they might face when providing SDM to people with disabilities about their sexuality.
iDECIDE is a European funded project that helps adults with intellectual disabilities develop the skills they need to make supported decisions by providing them with the right tools and trained support. This enables them to have more control over their lives and will help them to make important decisions in the areas of personal finance, healthcare and consumer rights.
The SMARTS project will use the SDM methodology developed and tested in the Idecide Project and will implement it this time in the field of sexuality.
For more information on the Idecide Project please visit: https://www.supportgirona.cat/en/international-projects/i-decide/
