What was the process?

The first task of the project coordinator was to become familiar with the stakeholders and aware of the key issues that were of concern to the tri-county region. This was accomplished through the use of personal interview, discussion, and mail-in surveys. Senior and front line staff from rural and urban settings involved in both literacy and developmental services completed the surveys. Please refer to Appendix A for the initial survey.

The information collected was then summarized into a document for use by participants during the focus group.

Implementation Considerations

• Use of appropriate language. Since the project coordinator was working with both groups, it was necessary to become aware of the appropriate language/terminology used in literacy and developmental services. As an example, it was important to become familiar with non-labelling language i.e. remembering to describe people as persons first and not their disability.

• Establishing groundwork for the project. The Tri-County Literacy Network is a relatively new agency in the region, and so it was necessary to provide information to the organizations serving people with a developmental disability about the role of the Network and the goals and objectives of the project.

• Getting commitment to participate in focus groups. By meeting with potential participants individually at their convenience, it was hoped that there would be a greater commitment to participate in the focus groups.

How was this evaluated?

The project was in its early stages at this point in time. At this stage, information was being gathered and there was no true basis for evaluation or comparison. Success was loosely judged on the basis of having evidence to indicate that information had been gathered from as wide a cross section of agencies as possible representing the two sectors.

What was learned from this phase of the project?

From initial interviews and surveys some common concerns began to emerge. The literacy field expressed concern regarding their ability to adequately serve people with developmental disabilities while meeting the expectations of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Practitioners from the developmental services field expressed general concerns about access to mainstream literacy programs. These were but a few of the initial concerns and issues that were later fleshed out during the focus groups.

It was also learned that while there was a relatively high level of awareness and sensitivity to the issues and concerns of adults with developmental disabilities, many of the programs and agencies still felt that more could be done. At this point, the project was ready to move on to the next phase of conducting focus group sessions to clarify the issues raised.