article ‘In school for the sake of keeping the mind stimulated’
The 2 January 2016 NY Times article entitled ‘In school for the sake of keeping the mind stimulated’ describes a program model that would be interesting to analyze from an SRV and PASSING perspective, including elements such as: contemporary level of societal devaluation and heightened vulnerability for older, retired people multiple role goals (see the […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: elders, model coherency, PASSING, SRV
article: ‘Retirees opting for all-ages housing communities’
The article ‘Retirees opting for all-ages housing communities‘ (and this 2010 article as well) could be the basis for an interesting exercise for a study group, university or college class, staff training, etc. Such an exercise from a Social Role Valorization (SRV) perspective might profitably include a discussion of the contemporary heightened vulnerability of elders […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: aging, congregation, culturally valued analog, elder, elders, heightened vulnerability, personal social integration, programmatic/non-programmatic, segregation, Social Role Valorization, SRV, SRV study group
SRV in the News – April 17th, 2012
Due to the fact that it has been some time since I posted my last entry, I will leave several links here for you to view with a brief elaboration of the SRV themes they touch on: The topic of elder abuse and exploitation is explored in this upcoming documentary. Previously I have posted about […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: autism, elders, imagery, interpersonal identification, seniors, Social Role Valorization, SRV, Wolf Wolfensberger
SRV in the News: The upside of delayed retirement
A recent article in Maclean’s spoke about the benefits of delaying retirement and staying longer in the workforce. Featured in the business section, the article speaks mainly about the financial reasons for working past the usual retirement age (65 in Canada). The article raises several important SRV issues however. Firstly, the inherent value of the […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: elders, news media, retirement, seniors, Social Role Valorization, SRV, valued roles, Wolf Wolfensberger
SRV in the News: “Reading, Writing and Retirement”
Recently, an article in the Toronto daily, the Globe and Mail caught my attention. “Reading, writing and retirement” reports on a program in a nursing home in British Columbia where a Kindergarten class takes place twice a week in the common room. The article presents a glowing report of the program and claims that similar […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: elders, news media, seniors, Social Role Valorization, SRV, Wolf Wolfensberger
SRV in the News
This is the first of what I hope will be a regular column dedicated to “SRV in the News”. At SRV workshops we often give examples from the media; some of these are current, while others are taken from the news media of the past 20 years or so. As is pointed out in the […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: elders, heightened vulnerability, news media, seniors, Social Role Valorization, SRV
Language surrounding “Alzheimer’s”
Driving home the other day, I turned on the radio and caught the end of a radio news broadcast concerning “Alzheimer’s.” (Note: I put the quotes around Alzheimer’s because my experience is that this term is too often loosely thrown around as a label or confirmed diagnosis, both by non-professionals as well as human service […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: adult day health program, aging, elders, image communicators, institutionalization, language, mind drugging, nursing home, social devaluation, Social Role Valorization, SRV
Mike Rungie: valued roles for elders
Mike directs an organization that provides supports to elders, including elders with medical conditions and/or dementia. He spoke about some of the lessons his organization has learned through using an assessment tool (SIP) derived from and influenced by the PASSING tool (Wolfensberger and Thomas, 2007). Some questions raised by Mike’s presentation include: what are valued […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: elders, SRV, SRV conference, valued roles
NY Times article: Our irrational fear of forgetting
A 22 May 2011 NY Times op-ed piece entitled “Our irrational fear of forgetting” raised questions around societal attitudes toward Alzheimer’s or more specifically, people who appear to have Alzheimer’s. A few highlights I picked out: • The writer warns of doctors who use the label of Alzheimer’s as a rationale for stopping life-sustaining treatments, […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: child role, elders, heightened vulnerability, non human role
Robot teddy bears for elders
This article and this one minute Japanese video describe a robot teddy bear: The hope is to use them for “robot therapy” in geriatric medicine for patients that suffer from dementia, says Fujitsu. In SRV workshops, we teach about the devalued role of child for elders (‘second childhood’). Teddy bears are typically associated with quite […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: child role, dementia, elders