Blog Archives
report: ‘Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth’
A 2010 radio show and 2011 longitudinal study on heightened vulnerability for those in and those leaving the foster care system. The study looks at (in Social Role Valorization terms) heightened vulnerability to devaluation and wounding in various life domains related to home, education, work, family, safety, health, income, etc. These reports indicate in part […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: foster care, heightened vulnerability, social devaluation, Social Role Valorization
SRV In the News: Disabled inmates denied crucial access, judge says
This article from the San Francisco Chronicle, details the trouble that inmates of county jails in California have had in gaining access to basic aids for their physical impairments. According to the district judge interviewed in the article, prisoners have been denied access to canes, wheelchairs, sign language interpreters and telephone-assistance devices. The judge claims […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: devaluation, disability, heightened vulnerability, news media, prison, role circularity, Social Role Valorization, SRV
SRV in the News: Heightened Vulnerability and Economic Hard-Ship
Following my last post, on the theme of the heightened vulnerability of elderly persons, I return to the concept of heightened vulnerability as it is also a very real concern for intellectually disabled people, especially during these hard economic times. The following articles give a sense of the scope of cuts coming to services for […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: devaluation, heightened vulnerability, intellectual disability, news media, Social Role Valorization, SRV, Wolf Wolfensberger
Robert Perske
If you have not done so before or recently, I recommend accessing Robert Perske’s website. It contains many of his published and unpublished writings. Perske writes compellingly of the vulnerability of impaired people. His chapter on the ‘dignity of risk’ in the Normalization text by Wolfensberger is still a must read. Tweet
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: heightened vulnerability
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
video of Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger teaching on the dilemma of providing human service for pay
Thanks to Guy Caruso, Western Coordinator at the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University and long-term member of the North American SRV Training, Development and Safeguarding Council, for sending me the link to this 90 minute video of Wolf Wolfensberger teaching on the dilemma of providing human service for pay. As always, his teaching is challenging, timely […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: heightened vulnerability, impoverishment, Wolf Wolfensberger
countdown: 1 day until the 5th international SRV conference in Canberra, AUS
Today Jo Massarelli, with help from Janet Roxborough of the Medical Safeguards Project, is teaching a one-day workshop on protecting the health and lives of hospital patients, particularly those who are societally devalued. (See here for a description of the workshop). This workshop, as well as the one taught yesterday by Susan Thomas, is being […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: heightened vulnerability, SRV, SRV conference
Guest post: Disability and transhumanism
The following is a guest blog post submitted by Steven Tiffany: Last week I stumbled across a blog posting reviewing a new documentary that takes an in depth look at the relationship between disability and impairment and the relatively new movement known as “transhumanism.” What exactly is transhumanism? Well, in a nutshell, it is the […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: competency enhancement, heightened vulnerability, Social Role Valorization, SRV
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
“The college of choice for students with learning disabilities and/or AD/HD”
An article in the 9 January 2011 EducationLife insert of the New York Times described Landmark College: “The college of choice for students with learning disabilities and/or AD/HD.” Landmark is a two year college in Vermont (US), costing $48000 USD annual tuition. They have 500 students. According to the article, half are recent high school […]
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: competency enhancement, functional impairment, heightened vulnerability, image enhancement, valued social roles