When you are negotiating support for yourself or someone close to you it is important to be clear about the areas of life you need to keep authority over and those which can be delegated to the people delivering the service you have engaged.  This can be complex, especially in the matter of personal support. 

Lisa Lehmann writes from a personal perspective of what it means to make choices and decisions when directing your own support: "I know I have an equally respectful relationship with all the people who play a supporting role in my life...I am now back in control of my life, and my destiny is mine once again." Read more of Lisa's story in  Being at the Centre of my Life.

The article by Michael Kendrick, The Natural Authority of Families and on by Margaret Ward, Ten guidelines for family governance of services, explore the same idea of determining authority for decision making from the perspective of a family member. 

In the article, Choreographing Life, Jan Dyke writes clearly and simply about the importance of negotiating limits of authority and of delegation that should "either come from the person with a disability who has the capacity to do so, or from the natural authority vested in their relationships with committed family members of trusted friends, or in none of these people are involved in the person's life, from an advocate or legally recognised source." 

Read more about Decision Making and Authority in self-direction.