Safe, Respectful & Accessible Needs Assessment Break-out Session Louisville 2007 Grantee Meeting May 20, 2008, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Just ASK – Kansas Collaboration Just ASK Needs Assessment Plan Appendix A Definitions The definitions in this appendix are for readers of the needs assessment plan and will not be used with individuals or groups participating in the needs assessment. * Accessibility: People with disabilities have the right to an equal opportunity to participate in the community including employment, accessing government programs, public accommodations, transportation and communication. Accessibility means that disability is accounted for in all aspects of life and those structures, processes and environments are designed to maximize inclusively. * Advocacy: Broad term to describe actions directed by and on behalf of marginalized individuals to support their autonomy, to influence systems and to educate communities. Survivor-centered advocacy uses a framework that is responsive to the survivor as a whole person by acknowledging risks generated by the perpetrator, systems and society. It includes a philosophy where survivors are valued as the experts, where each survivor’s individual experience is the starting place for action. When using the term “advocacy”, Just ASK includes wide ranging activities such as intakes, telephone calls, in-person support, information sharing, referrals, peer-support, safety planning and transportation. * Autonomy: Every individual’s inherent human right to direct their own destiny, make choices and to define their own experiences. * Collaboration: A conscious and dynamic relationship made by two or more organizations with formalized agreements to share influence and resources in order to achieve mutually beneficial results they could not achieve individually. (This definition is based heavily on work by the Fieldstone Alliance.) * Confidentiality: Creating deliberate protections for information that is given to an individual or to an organization with the expectation that the information is not shared without specific permission from the individual who owns the information. * Disability: To meet the ADA definition of disability a person must have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, has a record of such an impairment or is regarded as having such an impairment. An emerging definition of disability focuses on the environment as a barrier, rather than a person’s functional limitations. This environment can include the social/political, informational, communication as well as the physical environment. People with disabilities are also a cultural group and constitute the nation’s largest minority. This group is simultaneously inclusive and diverse crossing all ages, religions and ethnic groups, socioeconomic levels, genders and sexual orientations. * Diversity: A recognition of the infinite number of ways there are to be human and to move through the world. Diversity is an acknowledgement of differences in identity, background, history, experiences and options. There is often a focus on gender, disability, race, economic background, religion, sexual orientation or rural/urban issues. This collaborative’s definition includes these but also other elements and recognizes the multiple ways people can identify within each group. * Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive and coercive behavior used to establish power and control over another person through fear and intimidation. Domestic violence occurs within intimate relationships, and abusers can be spouses, partners, boyfriends/girlfriends, family members, or caregivers. Batterers take away the victim’s fundamental right to maintain control over their own lives. They do this by using various abusive tactics including use of violence and threats of violence, controlling the victim’s mobility, isolating the victim, threats to hurt the victim and the victim’s family, controlling the victim’s money and using fear, intimidation and shame to silence the victim. * Points of Access: Any place, contact, document or information which leads a survivor or person with a disability directly to services from a CIL or SA/DV program. Points of access may include a variety of opportunities for contact between an individual and the organization such as outreach materials, a person in the community who recommends an advocate, a website, a community event that highlights services or heightens awareness, a mechanism in an allied system that makes automatic referrals, etc. The survivor or person with a disability may make contact via telephone, in-person, attend a group meeting, email, etc. * Safety: An environment that attends to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each individual, thereby allowing them to exercise their autonomy. * Sexual Assault: Any type of sexual activity to which a person has not freely consented. It is a form of violence that uses sex and sexuality to humiliate, intimidate, control or instill fear in another person. Sexual assault can be committed by the use or threat of force or under circumstances where a person is incapable of consenting. It ranges from intimidation to inappropriate touching to penetration or intercourse. It also can be verbal, visual, audio, or any other form which forces a person to participate in unwanted sexual contact or attention. Sexual assault includes rape and attempted rape, child molestation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, incest, and sexual harassment. It can happen in different situations, such as date rape, personal assistant or domestic or intimate partner violence, or by a stranger. * Systems Change: A method of impacting the culture of an organization by focusing on the structures, policies and procedures of the organization. This results in a sustainable shift in attitudes, practices and services provided by that institution. * Technical Assistance: The proactive provision of prescribed or requested specialized support, help and information on specific topics or activities. It may be delivered in-person, by telephone, electronically or in writing. The assistance is provided in a timely, specific, respectful and thorough manner.