February 1, 2011

Well I’m going to do one of those short cuts again. I am going to copy over an article that I wrote for Jay Klein’s class – University of Phoenix. It is a social work class, mostly done online, and my articles and comments on their discussion will be posted next week. This is probably the fourth time that I have done this class with Jay in this way.

Jay and I go back to the mid 80’s. As luck or life would have it Jay has run into many barriers in the university systems that he has been part of – three in all. This has brought him to building a partnership with some techno folks who happen to be interested both in Inclusion and in video games. It’s just possible that we are going to be able to mount a research project to study the impact of our video game on the inclusive behaviour of the players. All very academic, I know. It may however give me my chance – finally – to run the BMX Model of Inclusion through some real life experiences by real people to see if it’s useful as a descriptor and predictor of inclusive situations. If it IS then there is a real basis to build forward action from a solid researched base.

I know many who read this wouldn’t care that much. However, money tends to follow the researchers and studies are often used to back people who have a chance to make a real change. I think we deserve to have a chance at this kind of position, so I am going to continue to go for it.

Here is the article:

Hello

Some of you will already have a good sense of who I am, from the course materials, Google and/or You Tube. We will probably never meet in person and be a part of each other's real world. In a way I wish we could meet face-to-face so I would get to find out who you are and what you would really like to know from and about me. Just the same this is a wonderful way to have a dialogue from one country (Canada) to another. I am hopeful that you and I will get very engaged in this activity.

Here are my opening thoughts.
In our language we speak of relationships as if they were things we have, or don't have. We say things like: "I have a car, two cats and five relationships." In reality relationships are what we are. I am one person with my mother, a somewhat different person with my father, a very different person with my best friend, yet another different person with my boss, and so on. There is no "I" that exists alone - solitary. I am a being that is revealed in the context of other "I's".

We also speak about disability as if it were a thing. We say things like: "I have an apartment, a computer and a disability." This is just as misleading as saying I "have" relationships.

Disability is not real in a concrete sense. Disability can only exist where people have a social agreement about the way some people's bodies and/or minds exist in the world. In particular the culture "already knows" that there are ways that people should never be in their bodies, minds and emotions.

Anyone who knows someone well who has been labeled disabled has had the experience of the disability disappearing. That is, in certain environments and under some conditions the same person with the same abilities will go from seeming to be odd and needy to seeming to being very recognizable and capable. The same person suddenly is OK and "just like me really except a little different."

Creating a world where diversity is appreciated and fostered – creating Inclusion – is much more than doing and saying some things differently. Inclusion is a philosophy, a belief system. Inclusion is about having the world be a place where everyone's abilities matter and are built into everything that is happening in the social and economic community. In inclusive society everyone is a contributor. The whole range of ability is seen as capacity.

If we come to truly believe in Giftedness – that is that difference leads to opportunities that can benefit everyone – then we must notice that some actions and some language works against opportunity and participation and some support it. The language and actions related to the idea of disability work against Inclusiveness and Giftedness.

The good news is that we don’t need the concept of disability at all. With some work, self reflection, dialogue and change of action disability as a concept and as a practice can disappear.

When disability disappears it is because something about a person's usual and unusual differences has become a contribution to the social and economic network of relationships. When people experience that difference leads to capacity they welcome the broad range of skills and abilities that can occur among human beings.

This week the course invites you to look at diverse capacity as a natural part of being alive in relationship. People who have been labeled disabled bring both usual and unusual capacities to the networks of relationships that make up our communities.
Please watch the video, “Working with Judith Snow”. Please read the three attached articles: "Prologue and "The Story" (Prologue.pdf)", "Community Is Not A Place But A Way Of Life", (Community.pdf), and "Notes On The Gifts And Assets that People Who Are Vulnerable To Rejection Commonly Bring To Community" (Gifts.pdf, see below)." After absorbing these three please communicate your thoughts, reactions, questions, disagreements, and points of agreement via this threaded discussion.

Here are some suggestions to help start your discussion. You could discuss:
1) Your initial thoughts or reaction.
2) What made you feel good and what bothered you?
3) What is the message about the power of relationships and of language?
4) What is being expressed that is relevant to you and the work that you do?
5) What is the message of Inclusion?
6) What will you do differently after this week of study?

I am looking forward to interacting with you.

Have a great course.

Judith Snow


Gifts Document:

NOTES ON THE GIFTS AND ASSESTS
THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE VULNERABLE TO REJECTION
COMMONLY BRING TO COMMUNITY

Judith A. Snow, MA
January 2011
Hospitality
• making people feel happy
• listening

Grounding
• slowing people down, reorienting people to time and place
• leading people to appreciate simple things
• causing people to appreciate their own abilities

Skill Building
• pushing people to be better problem solvers
• causing people to try things they've never done before
• causing people to research things they never encountered before
• improving education
• improving technology
• modeling perseverance - being unstoppable

Networking
• reaching out to people and breaking down barriers
• asking questions that everyone else is too shy to ask
• bringing people together who otherwise would never meet

Economic
• providing jobs to people who want supplemental income, like artists
• providing jobs to people who need to work odd schedules like homemakers
• providing jobs to people who otherwise have few or no marketable skills
• filling odd niches
• providing a home, bringing people home

Emotional/Spiritual
• often modeling exemplary forgiveness
• offering opportunities to do something that clearly makes a difference
• reorienting values from accumulation to relationships
• making people more peaceful