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It is a terrible thing to see

and have no vision.

Helen Keller 1880-1968

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While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.

Helen Keller 1880-1968

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“There are those who would mis-teach us that to stick in a rut is consistency - and a virtue, and that to climb out of the rut is inconsistency - and a vice.”

Mark Twain

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“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.”

- Unknown

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Vision is a picture of what is perceived, at a moment in time, as being possible in life.

Vision is formed in one’s mind. If vision is not continuously developed

and evolved it can stagnate. Vision can be shaped to expand or limit

life’s actual practical possibilities.

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“Imagining better” is the key means by which vision is formed and strengthened.

“Imagining better” is a process whereby we form and test ideas to see whether they are actually better for ourselves or others.

Typically we start with rough images of a better life that may arise from our unmet needs, wants and longings.

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Sometimes people call this process “dreaming”.

We “dream” both with our conscious and unconscious minds and often a dream emerges first as a meaningful symbol that captures some of the essence of what we think might be “better” for our lives.

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Dreams do not usually emerge as polished “final versions” of what they might one day become.

Dreams initially emerge more as hints of what might someday be possible.

Dreams can sustain us even if they do not all come to some sort of full realization in everyday life.

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“Imagining better” is likely to be even more significant and beneficial in the lives of people who have thus far not explored their true potentials in life.

Low expectations serve to hold people trapped in lives that are inconsistent with their true potentials.

It is likely that a serious exploration of people’s potential will always yield surprises.

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Start exactly where people are at. Avoid placing the focus on a person’s

disability. Focus instead on the person; who they

are, what they need and what are their hidden or underdeveloped potentials.

Concentrate on exploration, with the person, on what is needed and wanted by the person.

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Pay close attention to what enlivens the person.

Be alert to what the person is passionate about.

Seek to discover and name what the person most enjoys in life.

Push the boundaries in terms of what people might be open to trying.

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On an ongoing basis, generate and take advantage of many experiential opportunities rather than to rely solely on abstract questions.

Avoid “premature realism” and practice “sensible unreality”.

Get support to be able to maintain the capacity to push boundaries and to open up new vistas.

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Involving Interested Friends, Family And Others Committed To The Person In Regular Vision Building Efforts

Exposure To Inspiring Examples Regular Contact With Others Who

Challenge Us To Expand And Refine Our Vision For What Might Someday Be Possible

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The Regular Celebration Of Small Gains Acknowledging And Sharing The Many

Fears, Doubts, Difficulties And Setbacks Revisiting, Evolving And Affirming The

Vision…Even Writing it Down! Creating Occasions To Challenge our

Comfort Levels And Assumptions Ongoing Explorations Of New Vistas

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Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible.

Walter Lippmann