Endeavour for Excellence

1. Endeavour for Excellence Week 3 Day 2

2. Change!

3. A Conceptual Framework derived from Social Role Valorisation

4. What is our mission? • What is the primary purpose of our work? • What kind of outcomes or results do we hope for? ‘THE GOOD LIFE’

5. Universal good things of life • Family • Home • Intimacy • Belonging • Friends • Respect & fairness • Safety & Security • Opportunities to develop one’s abilities • Work • Being treated as an individual • Having a say • Access to community places • Ordinary social life • Contributing • Good health

6. In comparison

7. Why is it different? Why do so many people who rely on our supports not have the things most of us describe as the ‘good life’?

8. Devaluation - A harsh reality • Someone is seen as outside the norm, different • The difference is viewed in a negative way

9. Societal (not individual) values • Narrow definition of beauty • Physical strength/ability, athleticism • Productivity • Material belongings/wealth • Competence, intelligence • Survival of the ‘fittest’ • Youth, newness • Dominance

10. Valued vs. devalued • Person w/deformityDependent adultUnemployed personHomeless personPoor personPhysical laborerPerson w/intellectual disability • Movie star/modelAthlete/championProfessionalHomeownerMillionaireSurgeon, solicitorUniversity graduate

11. Perceived devaluation • Devaluation is not about people’s inherent worth, but their perceived worth – it is in the eyes and minds of others

12. Unconsciousness of devaluation • Devaluation can be conscious, but is most often unconscious • Even enlightened, kind, progressive people (including human service workers!) devalue others

13. Devaluation matters • Devaluation explains why people don’t have equal access to the good things in life that others do • Being devalued results in the likelihood that bad things will happen to you, that you will be treated in ways that wouldn’t be tolerated for/by valued citizens

14. Common life experiences DISABILITY BECOMES LIFE DEFINING • Disability becomes the focus of what people know about a person, as if that is what matters most • Decisions are erroneously made based on one narrow dimension of who a person is

16. Common life experiences SEGREGATED AND CONGREGATED • People are separated (segregated) away from valued society • People are grouped (congregated) with other people who are also devalued

17. Common life experiences PEOPLE ARE DEPRIVED OF TYPICAL EXPERIENCES • Lack of opportunities to learn ordinary things in the ordinary developmental sequence • Exposed to non-typical circumstances, sometimes learning unusual habits

18. Common life experiences CAST INTO HURTFUL NEGATIVE ROLES • Eternal child • Object of pity • Menace • Burden • Client

19. Common life experiences LONELY • Very few freely-given friendships • A disproportionate number of friends with disabilities • Sometimes stressed or absent family relationships • Almost a total lack of intimate relationships

20. Common life experiences LOW EXPECTATIONS • People have grown up with the expectation that they ‘can’t’ • We have limited imaginations about what is possible • what people can do (or learn to do) • roles they can play, • lifestyle they can enjoy (with good support) • Low expectations become self-fulfilling

21. Common life experiences LIVES WASTED AND TRIVIALIZED • People are not seen as having an important purpose in life • People are typically minded or entertained rather than invested in • People’s time is often wasted, services not potent

22. Common life experiences

23. Likely impacts of devaluation • Preoccupation with one’s own condition • Feeling/acting like an alien in the world • Sorrowing over all the good things missed and the bad things suffered • A sense of worthlessness, dislike of self • Insecurity • Fear of failure and resulting avoidance • Searching for the abandoner

24. Likely impacts of devaluation • Fantasy and inventions about positive relationships that don’t exist • Seeking/demanding physical contact • Testing the genuineness of relationships • Withdrawing from contact and/or reality • Turning the hurt into resentment or hatred • Rage, perhaps even violence, at the world or self • A sapping of physical and mental energy

26. The relevance of woundedness • We need to avoid providing services which continue to impose wounds on people – congregation, loneliness, low expectations, etc. • We need to take into account the impact of the wounds people have experienced

27. Social roles • How we introduce ourselves or become known to others • What defines who we are, our identity • Is the place we hold in society, where and with whom we belong • How we are remembered in the end • “I am a . . . (noun)”

28. Roles have a big impact • Our image in the eyes of others • Our own self-image • Acceptance and belonging • Degree of autonomy and freedom • Opportunity to make our contribution • Quantity and quality of relationships • Personal growth and development • Material possessions

29. Valued & devalued roles A role may be positive or valued - good neighbor, student, member A role may be negative or devalued - client, eternal child, object of pity

30. Primary goals of SRV • Protect the socially valued roles held by the person • Avoid adding new negative, devalued roles • Escape or disprove negative roles that have become a part of a person’s identity

31. Primary goals of SRV • Enter into new valued roles • Deepen, defend and embed socially valued roles

32. Common goals of service • Minding • Protecting • Entertaining • Changing • Evaluating • Keeping people busy

33. From activities to roles ACTIVITY • Going to church • Working • Swimming • Cooking • Taking a class • Painting ROLE • Church member • Employee • Swimmer • Cook • Student • Artist

34. Role communicators - Artist

35. Primary SRV strategies • Image Enhancement • Competency Enhancement

36. People generally become what they are expected to be • Self-fulfilling prophesy • Our role in breaking the vicious cycle

37. Culturally valued analog “What happens for valued citizens of the same age, gender and culture?”

38. Supporting choice and self direction • It’s not about taking anything away from someone, it is about offering better options!

40. Non-programmatic issues that constrain programmatic ones • Funding • History • Legal issues • Political • Staffing • Personalities

41. Sequence matters! • Typically services are pre-designed based on professional ideologies about what people needDecisions are made before knowing who will avail of the servicePeople are then ‘fit into’ the model

42. Sequence Matters!

43. Discovery • Getting to know people in a different and deeper way • Focusing on: • Capacity • Commonality • Contribution/Citizenship • Context • Seeking potential and possibility

44. Defining a desirable lifestyle • A HOME of One’s Own • Of person’s choosing, in typical setting, with people chosen • Valued Social ROLES • Adult, citizen, neighbor, sibling, aunt/uncle, employee, volunteer, artist, member, friend • RELATIONSHIPS • Friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors, lovers

45. Discovering fitting opportunities

46. Mallory • Deficiency-based focus • Profound intellectual disability, IQ immeasurable • Quadriplegic • Epileptic • Nonverbal • Tires easily • Doesn’t tolerate temperature extremes

47. Mallory • Capacity-based focus • Can move her head 90 degrees to the right • Laughs and cries at appropriate times • Loves to be read to • Enjoys young children • Cares about access and fairness • Loves her animals! Being outdoors • Appreciates nice, pretty things • Flower garden • Peaceful, serene home

48. Thank you • www.genio.ie