Universal Enhancement
Universal LifeStiles, L.L.C.
...Overcoming Life's Obstacles
Universal LifeStiles Maxims
A pithy memorable phrase that captures
the essence of a concept.

  1. Normalization is not a goal, it is a result.™
  2. An adult is determined by virtue of age not intellect.™
  3. Take what you can get, closest to what you want.  (Lee Graber)
  4. If it’s to be, it’s up to me.
  5. Never do anything by yourself, other than go to the bathroom or smoke a cigarette.™
  6. Do not give people privacy, teach them to take it.™
  7. Every reason that you give why you don’t, is the justification for doing it.™
  8. We all have our demons.
  9. Only buckets have capacity, not the human mind.
  10. We see things not as they are, we see things as we are.
  11. An institution is not a place it’s a state of mind.™
  12. Anger communicates an unmet need.
  13. I am somebody. (Rev. Jesse Jackson)
  14. Violence is the language of the unheard. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
  15. Listeners are message insensitive to those who are not likable.
  16. Institutions are not built, they arise from indifference.
  17. If you make it a struggle, you will lose.
  18. Support staff must be transparent.™
  19. You cannot move to the community, it must be built.
  20. People with intellectual disabilities are not broken, they do not need to be fixed.
  21. When given options, people tend to choose those things that enhance their dignity and
    respect.™
  22. “Special" is a code word for segregation.™
  23. Clothing protector is a code word for bib.™
  24. A wheelchair is not a hearing aid in disguise.
  25. Support people at the level they are capable or willing to participate.™
  26. Nothing about me without me.
  27. It’s not attention people are seeking – it’s prestige.™
  28. To do for nurtures dependency – dependency nurtures to do for.™
  29. If grade retention is harmful, life retention is devastating.
  30. What test must one pass to be promoted into a reasonable life?
  31. You cannot prove someone cannot learn; you can only demonstrate you are unable to
    teach.  (Mark Gold)
  32. If you wish to be a consumer, you must be a producer.™
  33. At all costs, people we support must look good in the eyes of others.™
  34. If it is not illegal, immoral or unethical - just do it!
  35. Not to decide is to decide.  (Rev. Harvey Cox)
  36. It's better to err and ask for forgiveness than not to have acted at all.
  37. "Accept it, Change it, leave it or forget it."  
  38. Be the change you would like to see in the world.  (Mahatma Gandhi)
  39. We sometimes create storms in the midst of peace, so that we may remain valid.
  40. Fake it ‘til you make it.
  41. When you change the way in which you see things, the things you see will change. (From
    an article "It's The Way You See Things" by Dr. Kem Thompson)
  42. The higher up on the flagpole you go, the more your butt hangs out.
  43. Some people are never freed until their parents pass away.
  44. People have a right to be crazy; they just don’t have the right to behave that way.
  45. Where there is no vision, the people perish.
  46. Programing is something we do when we can’t or won’t give people a reasonable life.
  47. Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted, counts.
    (Albert Einstein)
  48. If you don't have it - you can't give it.
  49. People do not resist change, they resist being changed.
  50. "Not no, but how"?
  51. Getting a life for people and coaching them into it...is the intervention.™
  52. Start low, go slow.
  53. Regulations are good at keeping bad things from happening, but not so good at making
    good things happen.
  54. Treating people badly makes their condition worse!  (James McKelvey)
  55. If what you say is not memorable – it will not be remembered.
  56. It’s not what people have, it’s what they don’t have.™
  57. Not having the answer is forgivable; failure to ask the question is not.
  58. To call someone lazy, uncooperative or stubborn is to admit we don’t understand them.  
  59. Sensory stimulation is not a room, it is part of life.™
  60. The loss of liberty is the price of care.
  61. If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always
    gotten.
  62. If you want to know who is going to win the race, don't talk with the jockey, talk with the
    horse.  (Joseph Kunz)
  63. Being on a community placement list is not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it is
    standing on the edge of the precipice.
  64. Don't care for people; care about them.™
  65. The word "wait" is the most vulgar word in our vocabulary.™
  66. Going to counseling has no value; it's what you do when you are there.™
  67. Behavior management drains the life out of it's subjects.™
  68. You cannot fix a broken life with a behavior management plan.™
  69. Unions only go where they are invited.  (Vincent Petenelli)
  70. People do not have to prove themselves to have a reasonable life.
  71. The more competent you are, the more deviant society will allow you to be without
    devaluing you.
  72. We must provide an environment that is healthy enough for a life to happen. (Dan
    Berkwicz)
  73. If my life has no meaning or value, I will behave in a way to cause your life to have no
    meaning or value.
  74. Behave healthy, even if you're not.  (Vincent Petinelli)
  75. When you bond with people, they are less likely to behave in a way to disappoint you.™
  76. Work is the great equalizer.
  77. The most important thing in life is to win and be respected.
  78. To miss the point is the sin.
  79. People have a right to struggle.
  80. A controlling "do to" mentality drains the life out if its subjects.
  81. Don't blame them!  Train them!
  82. Employees don't leave their jobs, they leave their supervisors.
  83. Your staff will not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
  84. By your pupils you will be taught.
  85. Administrative expediency creates a disrespectful environment.  (Dan Berkowicz)
  86. Without a presence, there is no future.™  
  87. The history of their lives becomes their future.  (Cheryl Wacher)
  88. When people ask for things that are not available, professionals determine the request
    inappropriate.  
  89. You cannot keep people safe by denying them a life.™  
  90. This is more about us than them.™
  91. The worst thing we can do for the people we support is to do for the people we support.  
    (Steve Miller)
  92. We are focused more on rights than on doing the right thing.™
  93. Individuals make good choices by making many choices, some of which are bad.
  94. Choice is not selecting an option from an array of one.
  95. The intervention for many inappropriate behaviors is not seclusion but inclusion.™
  96. Facilities are meant to be flushed not lived in.™
  97. Life is uncertain; eat dessert first.
  98. The best vitamin for having friends is B-1.  
  99. There is no liberty without responsibility.
  100. Support staff are like stage hands in a play, remaining behind the curtain.™
  101. Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least. (Goethe)
  102. Treat everyone as though they are who they wish they could be. (Ghandi)
  103. Habilitation is not a goal, it is a result.™
  104. Barriers cause handicaps, not disabilities.
  105. There is no greater load than the man who carries no load at all.
  106. Independence does not mean doing things for yourself.  It means being in control of how
    things are done.
  107. Inclusion is asking for people...not just about them.™  
  108. Don't advocate for people.  Advocate with them.™  
  109. An office is a place where professional staff hide.
  110. To be the very best you don't need to be very good.
  111. "Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth
    doing."  (Theodore Roosevelt)
  112. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)
  113. Hurting people hurt people. (John Maxwell)
  114. Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing.  
    (Warren Bennis Ph.D., "On Becoming a Leader")
  115. Your behavior determines the consequence, I do not.
  116. If we were all good social workers, we would not need psychologists.™
  117. The right drug does not fix the wrong environment.
  118. Drugs treat disorders, not behavior.
  119. Control is the behaviorist's reinforcement.™
  120. It is the nature of Behavior Management to cause its' subjects to surrender their spirits or
    rebel.™
  121. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.  (Sophia Loren)
  122. Being an adult is a bilateral process; One must know how to give as well as receive.™  
  123. You can be a wounded wounder; or a wounded healer.  (Origins in Greek mythology;
    Christianity)
  124. The symptom is the disease.  
  125. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  (Carl Sagan)
  126. Without work, all life goes rotten.  But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies. (Albert
    Camus)
  127. Behavior Management is itself the disease for which it purports to be the cure.™
  128. Altering the behavior of others necessitates modifying our own.™
  129. Shift the paradigm or it will shift you!™
  130. Proposition is more effective than imposition.
  131. Our challenge is to define a line between compassion and infantilizing.  (Lara Okunubi)
  132. Plan for the future because that's where you are going to spend the rest of your life.  (Mark
    Twain)
  133. The purpose of life is a life of purpose.  (Robert Byrne)
  134. If you're not likeable, pursue recovery.  (Tim Sanders, The Likeability Factor)
  135. To whom much is given, much is expected.  (President John F. Kennedy)
  136. Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at achieving it!
    (Author Unknown)
  137. The lessons of the past provide the path to the future. (Author Unknown)
  138. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.  (William Jennings Bryan)
  139. I cannot hear what you're saying - your actions are drowning out your voice. (Wolf
    Wolfensberger)
  140. Shift the paradigm or....it will shift you!  
  141. Take the actions of love, and the feelings will follow.™
  142. Layers of bureaucracy shield the "institution" against the corrosive effects of inclusion. (Dan
    Berkowicz)
  143. Your brain can only absorb what your posterior [sic] can endure. (P. Dan Wiwchar)
  144. Treat others not the way you wish to be treated, but rather the way you would treat
    yourself under the most challenging of circumstances. (Author Unknown)
  145. Little people belittle people. (Author Unknown)
  146. Smiling is the face gives an emotional hug.™
  147. Loose lips sink ships. (War Advertising Council)
  148. Good words cost little, but mean alot. (Author Unknown)
  149. If your excuse for not doing ANYTHING, is that you are afraid of not being able to do
    EVERYTHING, then you are doomed eternally to do NOTHING.  Get up, get out, and
    do SOMETHING! (Author Unknown)
  150. Sensory Stimulation is not a room - it is life!™
  151. Polices may keep some bad things from happening, but they rarely cause good things to
    happen! ™
©Universal LifeStiles, L.L.C.
8126 Wellsbrook Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46278
Phone: (317) 871-2092 | Fax: (317) 871-2096
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