SRV study tip #1

Get a PASSING manual. Pick one rating. Read and study it, especially the general statement of the issue and the Normalization/SRV requirements. Close the book. Write in your own words a description of the issue at stake in the rating. When you’re satisfied, open the book back to that rating and compare.

Try with other ratings. Let me know how it worked!

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Heightened vulnerability: greater risk of tuberculosis

This Globe and Mail article describes the heightened vulnerability faced by native peoples in Canada:

A new federal report reveals the TB rate among status Indians to be 31 times higher than that of non-aboriginal Canadians. Among the most susceptible of aboriginal populations are the Inuit, for whom the TB rate is 186 times that of Canadian-born non-aboriginals.

The data reveal TB rates among non-aboriginal Canadians have decreased from one per 100,000 in 2003 to 0.8 per 100,000 in 2008, yet rates for aboriginals are climbing. The increase is particularly dramatic among Inuit, for whom the rate climbed from 22.1 cases per 100,000 in 2003 to 157.5 cases per 100,000 in 2008.

The prevalence of TB among native peoples is likely caused by people living in overcrowded, moldy homes.

This is not a new problem. Over 100 years ago, a Canadian chief medical officer warned of the greater risk of TB at government run ‘residential schools.’ Historically, TB at all kinds of institutions (such as mental retardation institutions) was not uncommon.

Apparently, the government feels no pressure to address this greater risk for native peoples:

New Democratic MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis on Wednesday submitted a request to House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken asking for an emergency debate on the TB findings. The request was declined.

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European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

2010 is the European year for combating poverty and social exclusion. From a 16 February 2010 news item:

Social exclusion refers to those who don’t enjoy levels of participation that most of society takes for granted, because of their poverty, lack of basic competences or lifelong learning, or as a result of discrimination.

In SRV, we talk about social devaluation and segregation.

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‘special education’ ‘teacher’

According to our local paper, our former School Superintendent last year gave his office manager a highly paid job as a special education teacher, though she lacked state certification as well as teaching experience.

This reminds me of a visit I made several years ago to a so-called special education classroom. I sat in on a class when the teacher announced they were going to do math. The teacher then proceeded to write on the board questions such as:

6>4   True or False

8>12   True or False

3>1   True or False

She asked the students their answers: true or false. They kept getting them wrong, according to the teacher. Then she gave her answers:

6>4   FALSE

8>12 TRUE

3>1   FALSE

OK, for those of us who fondly remember grade school math, the greater than/less than signs are like an alligator, right? The alligator’s mouth always opens toward the bigger number because it’s hungry and wants to eat more not less! When I pointed this out to the ‘teacher,’ she said she had been teaching it that way for years and so couldn’t be wrong. So much for hiring the best, having high expectations and teaching well.

By the way, the students in the class I was visiting were high school age, so they had sat through years of that kind of drivel.

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Swedish study links suicide and social exclusion (segregation)

A recent study in Sweden found links between social exclusion (segregation) at a young age and greater risk of suicide.

A quote from the study relevant to the wound of impoverishment of experience, as well as material poverty:

“This view emphasises the importance of taking the emotional and social poverty of children just as seriously as their material poverty when it comes to suicide.”

The article mentions Durkheim and Merton. Merton wrote about social roles, a concept obviously intrinsic to Social Role Valorization.

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Stanford Prison Experiment

Dr. Philip Zimbardo (who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment) in a brief interview talking about how quickly the students in the experiment took on the roles of guard and prisoner.

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Physical setting: prison architecture

In Social Role Valorization theory and in the PASSING manual, we talk about the power of the physical setting when it comes to communicating roles and images, setting expectations, affecting competency, and so on. This 2009 NY Times Magazine article describes a prison in Austria that is architecturally quite different from most prisons.

From the article:

Here’s a striking building, perched on a slope outside the small Austrian town of Leoben — a sleek structure made of glass, wood and concrete, stately but agile, sure in its rhythms and proportions: each part bears an obvious relationship to the whole. In the daytime, the corridors and rooms are flooded with sunshine. At night, the whole structure glows from within. A markedly well-made building, and what is it? A prison.

The place must be a country club for white-collar criminals. No, it holds everyone from prisoners awaiting trial to the standard run of felons.

The article could make for a good Social Role Valorization teaching exercise: what sort of role messages does the physical setting communicate about the prisoners, how might the architecture/layout support competency enhancement, what sort of assumptions underly the architecture, etc.

More from the article:

An assistant warden accompanied us on our tour, one of three guards on duty tasked with watching more than 200 inmates. On one side of the prison there was a block of prisoners on remand; on the other side were the convicts, living in units called pods — groups of 15 one-person cells with floor-to-ceiling windows, private lavatories and a common space that includes a small kitchen. We came upon one prisoner cooking a late lunch for a few of his podmates; we stood there for a bit, chatting. They were wearing their own clothes. The utensils on the table were metal. “They are criminals,” Hohensinn said to me, “but they are also human beings. The more normal a life you give them here, the less necessary it is to resocialize them when they leave.” His principle, he said, was simple: “Maximum security outside; maximum freedom inside.” (The bars over the balconies are there to ensure the inmates’ safety, Hohensinn said; the surrounding wall outside is more than enough to make sure no one gets free.)

We walked around some more. There was a gymnasium, a prayer room, a room for conjugal visits. I asked Hohensinn what he would do if, contrary to fact, it were conclusively proved that prisons like his encouraged crime rather than diminished it. Would he renounce the design? He shook his head. “The prisoners’ dignity is all I really care about,” he told me.

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“Shark bait kids”

The following item was sent to me from Jane S:

Thought you might like to have a look at this article. So much to discuss! Positive activity; unconsciousness of vulnerability; another brick through the use of language.

Hey, congratulations on the blog, by the way.
Warm wishes
Jane

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Youth prison

In the PASSING manual, Dr. Wolfensberger and Susan Thomas write that one of the few human service practices that does not have a culturally valued analog (CVA) is a prison (p. 31). A recent article in the NY Times (14 February 2010) describes the prison system for youth in New York.

The article is a litany of social devaluation and wounding. Segregation and congregation. ‘Special education’ units in the prisons. Multiple transfers (physical and social discontinuity). Physical settings (barbed wire, bare rooms, no air conditioning for prisoners in cement cells, etc.) and practices (strip searches) which, despite whatever rationales lie behind them, communicate roles of animal and menace.

Even within the prison, some roles are even more devalued by prisoners and guards, such as snitch (someone who complains about the treatment). Guard and prisoner are complementary roles, and often invite mistreatment by guards and submission or rebellion by prisoners, as the Stanford Prison Experiment, Abu Ghraib, the book Newjack by Ted Conover about becoming a prison guard, and reports about super-max prisons reveal.

Violence in the prisons, both from prisoners and guards, is rampant. No wonder, given the setting, roles, expectations, lifewasting. From the article:

Violence was the greater threat, whether from other youths or the guards, who are known as youth counselors. The younger ones, he noticed, seemed to bring their personal problems to work. Any hint of insubordination could result in physical restraint, he said, despite the strict state rules limited the use of force. It was common to see youths covered in rug burns from being shoved against the ground.

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“The neediest cases”

A recent article in the NY Times (21 February 2010) could be the good basis for many SRV-related exercises, such as examining the images and messages in the article communicated by language and pictures. These images refer to activities, social roles, funding, personal appearance, etc. A professor might do this exercise with a class or a supervisor at a staff meeting. Image-related exercises particularly are good to do with a group, as other people can pick up on things that one person by themselves might miss. If one were to do such an exercise, an effective way would be to do the exercise in multiple steps:

• identify as many images in the article as possible (circle or highlight in the article)

• determine the message(s) sent by each image

• keep in mind the heightened vulnerability and stereotypes associated with the particular socially devalued group or person being referred to

• keep in mind the often unconscious way in which images are received

• ask about each message: is the message confirming or countering prevailing stereotypes about that societally devalued group?

• how strongly and clearly is the message communicated? (not all images will come across equally; some will be stronger than others)

• only after looking at all the images and messages, consider what the overall impact is on the social value of the devalued person or group referred to in the article. Even among people familiar with SRV, we tend to characterize a situation as all good or all bad. SRV and the PASSING tool in particular tries to teach the skill of making distinctions and looking at all the information before coming to a judgment.

• ask: what impacts might such images have on the person’s: social roles, opportunities, social value, competency level, etc.?

Let me know how the exercise works, or if you have other ideas for other exercises.

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