A Different Perspective on Disability

Laura (Mole) Chapman

Barnwood Trust

Welcome“paid pests.” These are the scholars “whose function it is to disrupt and intervene in conversations in ways that are disturbing and force people to ask why they frame the questions in the way they do or why they make the analysis they do. ”

Marshall, C. et al 2006, P.21

Ground Rules

What do you need to participate?

Shared Outcomes:

• Why is inclusive practice important development to you?

• What do you want to learn?

• What are your hopes and fears?

Respectful Language?

Political correctness made

us change the words but not the

conversation.

Although I loathe the notion of good manners, I do like the

notion of courtesy, and therefore for me respect is

expressed through courtesy… avoiding the assumptions about another person and keeping a certain distance

professionally

Dialogue • Personal: inner, reflective, analytical, synthesizing. The way issues

are internalized. A process that makes sense. [Private voice]• Social: family and friends, deep, open, direct, love and unconditional

acceptance. [Personal voice]• Professional dialogue: a closed ‘expert’ language - ‘jargon’ to the

outsider. The writer, the journalist and the professional communicator… the questioning of technique and practice. [Public voice]

• Learning dialogue: process of mentoring, coaching, and tutoring. Enquiry, discovery, questioning, affirming. [Expert voice]

• Community dialogue: process of debate and shared decision taking. Trust, convention, shared understanding and protocol. [Shared voice]

West-Burnham, J. 2009, pg 122

Disabilism

The disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by contemporary social organisation which takes little or no account of people who have impairments and thus excludes them from the mainstream of social activities.

Articulating Disablism

Fred Brown (the person) is a man with cerebral palsy (the impairment). When the barriers and disablism (the oppression) that restrict Fred have been removed from society, Fred will no longer be disabled, but he will still have cerebral palsy and be called Fred.

Disabling Assumptions

The characteristics of disablism

Stereotypes of Disabled people

Myths and assumptions Professional reaction

I feel I act

Community Reaction

What do I need to belong?[not fit in]

The Facts

• Visually impaired people are four times more likely to be verbally and physically abused than sighted people

• People with mental health issues are 11 times more likely to be victimised

• 90% of adults with a learning difficulty report being 'bullied'.

Scope 2008

Compared with non-disabled people, disabled people are:

• more likely to be economically inactive – only one in two disabled people of working age are currently in employment, compared with four out of five non-disabled people;

• more likely to experience problems with hate crime or harassment – a quarter of all disabled people say that they have experienced hate crime or harassment, and this number rises to 47% of people with mental health conditions;

I think professionals working with disabled

people should be recognising why it’s

important that they listen to what we’re asking...

that’s for me where I think you start sharing power.

I think professionals working with disabled

people should be recognising why it’s

important that they listen to what we’re asking...

that’s for me where I think you start sharing power.

Visibility

on the experience of disability, history is largely silent, and when it is discussed at all, it is within the context of the history of medical advances. Just as women and black people have discovered that they must write their own histories, so too with disabled people.

Oliver and Campbell 1996

The Medical Model of disabilitythe personal domain

• Medical approach to the problem.

• Defined by non-disabled professionals

• Equated to illness in terms of research and findings.

• Care and benefits have been awarded to compensate for personal tragedy.

COMMUNITIES OF BELONGING

COMMUNITIES OF BELONGING

Locality

Disabled people

Schools

Toddler groups

Outsiders

Insiders

Hard to reach

Polish people

Pockets of deprivation

23

Personal

Social

Professional

Community

Circles of friends / dialogue

Meaningful relationships

Our judgments about almost all social interactions, organisations and communities depend upon our perceptions of the relationships involved.

(Gelsthorpe & West-Burnham, 2003)

There is a community aspect of saying “you are

in my community, you may be quite distant, but how can I involve you?

What can I do?”

There is a community aspect of saying “you are

in my community, you may be quite distant, but how can I involve you?

What can I do?”

The Social Model of Disabilitythe public domain

• The problem owned by the whole community. • It defines the problem in terms barriers:

attitudinal, structural and systemic.• Acknowledges the oppression and a requirement for action.• It recognises disabled people’s voice in

distributed or shared leadership.

Critique of the Social Model • No real argument to Medical Model/Social

Model distinction• Non-disabled / disabled division is divisive• Denies the experience of those

marginalised; those with learning difficulties, mental health problems and severe or acute pain.

Shakespeare, 2006, p. 77.28

Inclusive practice:

"Inclusion is a process of identifying and breaking down barriers which can be environmental, attitudinal and institutional. This process eliminates discrimination thus providing all children and young people with equal access to play.”

“Is an ongoing process of reviewing and developing practice in order to adjust and celebrate diversity. It is the journey not the destination!”

Principles of Inclusive Practice

• Equality • Diversity• Balance• Fluidity• Ethical Commitment

A Different Perspective on Equality pg 20

Personalisation

6 things that I value and take for granted in my life?

Important

To me? For me?

Culture Change

WelcomeToleranceSingle /otherDeficitBarriers Rigid rulesComplianceImprovement

InvitationAcceptanceDiverse Assets BoundariesFlexible ValuesCommitmentTransformation

Chapman, L, 2010, pg. 26

Positive and Possible• Everyone can do something to contribute towards

greater fairness, while not everyone will do the same thing in the same way.

• The challenge then is to accept that the change is possible if people are able to appreciate a whole diversity of positive actions.

• Rather than a step-by-step approach or a scale of difficulty, an acceptance of diverse routes to a more human experience.

Chapman, L. 2011 pg. 35

Co-ProductionOn a societal level, Co-Production entails a simple but profound shift in relationships... Co-Production may mean the active process of remedying or preventing whatever would violate our sense of social justice. A social justice perspective elevates the principle to an Imperative’

Cahn, 2000, p 34-35

Social Justice As stated by Prof. West-Burnham:

The principle of equality has to be reinforced and extended by the practice of equity.

Equality: every human being has an absolute and equal right to common dignity and parity of esteem and entitlement to access the benefits of society on equal terms.

Equity: every human being has a right to benefit from the outcomes of society on the basis of fairness and according to need.

Social justice: justice requires deliberate and specific intervention to secure equality and equity.

Chapman, L. and West-Burnham, J. 2010, pg.26

Whose slice?Inequality is best explained as a powerful social force that generates community divisions and oppression.

Inequality weakens community life, reduces trust and increases violence across populations.

Language & Dialogue• A bridge between people.

• Words can hinder or empower.

• Links professional, personal, and private

conversations.

• Avoid ‘them’ and ‘us’.

• Validates experience: active and engaged participants.

Growth and Capacity building

Learning and Development

We must put into practice our socially just ideologies.

We must move from passive discourse and involvement to conscious deliberate, and proactive practice in educational leadership that will produce socially just outcomes for all.

Marshall, C. et al, 2006, P.27

Good bye!

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