Endeavour for Excellence

Endeavour for Excellence Hope Leet Dittmeier hopedittmeier@me.com Week 1

An SRV-derived Theoretical Framework

What is our mission? • What is the primary purpose of our work? • What kind of outcomes or results do we hope for? “THE GOOD LIFE”

Universal good things of life • Family • Home • Belonging • Friends • Work • Safety and Security • Opportunities to develop one’s abilities • Respect, honesty & fairness • Being treated as an individual • Having a say • Access to community places • Ordinary social life • Contributing • Good health

Why is it different? Why do so many people who rely on our supports not have the very things most of us enjoy and describe as the “good life”?

Devaluation - A harsh reality • Someone is seen as outside the norm, different • The difference is viewed in a negative way

What society values • Narrow definition of beauty • Physical strength/ability, athleticism • Productivity • Material belongings/wealth • Competence, intelligence • Survival of the “fittest” • Youth, newness • Dominance

Valued vs. devalued • Person w/deformityDependent adultUnemployed manLazy teenPoor/homeless personSomeone on the dolePerson w/intellectual disabilityIlliterate person • Movie star/modelAthlete/championProfessionalHomeownerMillionaireSurgeon, solicitorInstructor, university graduate

Perceived devaluation • Devaluation is not about people’s inherent worth, but their perceived worth – it is in the eyes and minds of others

How important or deeply held by observers are the values perceived to be violated by the person or group • How many values are perceived to be violated by the person or group • The degree to which the values are perceived to be violated by the person or group Devaluation

Unconscious devaluation • Devaluation can be conscious, but is more often unconscious • Even enlightened, kind, progressive people (including human service workers) devalue others

Devaluation matters • Devaluation explains why people don’t have equal access to the good things in life that others do • Being devalued results in the likelihood that bad things will happen to you, that you will be treated in ways that wouldn’t be tolerated for/by valued citizens

Common life experiences It isn’t the functional impacts of disability: • Reliance on a wheelchair • Lower intellectual capacity • Poor sight or hearing that pose the biggest challenge to quality of life It is the impact of the common life experiences that people face as a result of being devalued

REJECTION By: Family Neighbors Community Service workers Common life experiences

Common life experiences • Nonhuman • Menace, evil, or object of dread • Trivial, or Object of Ridicule • Object of Pity • Burden • Child • Holy Innocent • Client • Sick • Dying, dead, better off dead CAST INTO DEVIANT ROLES

Common life experiences STIGMATISED • Supported in valued-tainted locations • Grouped with people in image-impairing ways • Experience value-impairing methods and activities • Bizarre or negative names and labels to people, programs, services, logos • Personal appearance neglected • Services funded with image-tainted monies or devaluing appeals

Common life experiences MULTIPLE JEOPARDY • Being the scapegoat for anything bad that happens • Being suspected of belong to more than one devalued group • Being cast into more than one deviancy role • Being treated worse for a suspected or real offense than are valued people • Upon being vindicated, receiving less restitution, if any

Common life experiences DISTANCED Physically • Excluded: Architectural barriers • Segregated: Separate places • Confined: Prisons, nursing homes • Ejected: Expulsion, banishment • Destructed: Assault, euthanasia, capital punishment

Common life experiences DISTANCED Socially • Avoided, ignored • Degrading treatment • Even within service: badges, keys, separate dining areas, different toilets

Common life experiences LOSS OF CONTROL/AUTONOMY • Being made/kept dependent by family and services • Having to follow arbitrary rules • Having little say about things that have personal impact • Being moved about • Having one’s associations controlled • Being deprived of legal rights

Common life experiences PHYSICAL DISCONTINUITY • Often the cause of discontinuity is a result of rejection • Devalued people get moved around more often, even within the same organization • People often get moved against their will and with little notice, almost always interpreted as being “for their own good” • Sometimes people don’t have the resources and ability to cope or to stay in contact with those left behind

Common life experiences Impact of physical discontinuity on people includes: • Disorientation or confusion • Lowered performance • Insecurity • Loss of possessions • Relationship loss • Stress • Illness and death PHYSICAL DISCONTINUITY

Common life experiences RELATIONSHIP DISCONTINUITY • People often don’t have the skills or resources to stay in touch with others • People are often abandoned by others • High turnover and reassignment in service results in little continuity even with those paid to be in relationship

Commonlife experiences LONELINESS • Sometimes stressed or absent family relationships • Disproportionate number of relationships with other devalued people which doesn’t afford the same degree of social capital • Formal services rarely recognize or address this need adequately • Substitution of artificial/paid ‘friends’

Common life experiences DEINDIVIDUALISATION • Disability becomes life-defining and primary determinant in decisions • People are often not well-known for their unique identities • Vast majority of supports are provided in group settings

Common life experiences MATERIAL POVERTY • People are kept poor in order to receive necessary supports • People don’t have equal access to employment opportunities • People’s belongings are not valued or protected in many settings • People are less likely to inherit from their families

Common life experiences LACK OF TYPICAL LIFE EXPERIENCES • Lack of opportunities to learn ordinary things in the ordinary developmental sequence • Exposure to non-typical models of behavior and custom • Absence of relevant and potent educational programming

Common life experiences HAVING ONE’S LIFE WASTED • Low expectations related to a person’s potential • Few real investments made in a person’s future • Exposed to programs and experiences that have little meaning to the person • Time not well spent • Lack of potency in interventions

Common life experiences ABUSE AND BRUTALISATION • Devalued people at increased risk of physical and sexual abuse • Devalued people less likely to report or to be believed • Institutional culture provides few safeguards • Perpetrators rarely held to same accountability as others

Common life experiences AWARE OF BEING SOURCE OF ANGUISH • People often regret causing hardship on their families • People are sometimes poorly treated by carers • Respite is evidence of “burden” mentality

Common life experiences FEELING ALIEN IN THE VALUED WORLD • Lack of experience poorly prepares people for valued involvement in the valued world • People often have insecurities and lack of confidence • People often see themselves as not fitting in or belonging

Likely impacts of devaluation • Preoccupation with one’s own condition • Feeling/being/acting like an alien in the world • Sorrowing over all the good things one has missed and the bad things one has suffered • A sense of worthlessness, dislike of self • Insecurity • Fear of failure and resulting avoidance • Searching for the abandoner

Likely impacts of devaluation • Fantasy and inventions about positive relationships that don’t exist • Seeking/demanding physical contact • Testing of the genuineness of relationships • Withdrawing from contact and/or reality • Turning the hurt into resentment or hatred • Rage, perhaps even violence, at the world or self • A sapping of physical and mental energy

The relevance of woundedness • We must avoid services which continue to impose wounds on people – congregation, loneliness, low expectations, etc. • We cannot use our own valued life experiences as a framework for understanding where people are at the moment

Social roles • How we are known by others • What defines who we are • The place we hold in society • “I am a . . . (noun)” • What we become over our lifetime

Social roles A socially expected pattern of • Behavior • Responsibilities • Expectations • Privileges

Roles have a big impact • Our image in the eyes of others • Our own self-image • Acceptance and belonging • Degree of autonomy and freedom • Opportunity to make our contribution • Quantity and quality of relationships • Personal growth and development • Material possessions

Valued & devalued roles A role may be positive or valued - good neighbor, student, member A role may be negative or devalued - client, eternal child, object of pity

Social roles Roles may be: • Imposed ~ assigned by others • Chosen ~ selected and pursued Roles may be: • Inherited ~ born into • Earned ~ accomplished Chosen and earned roles are most highly regarded

Social roles Certain valued roles are expected: • Family roles ~ daughter, uncle, grandparent • Adult roles ~ employee or student • Irish citizen ~ contributor, good neighbor

Primary goals of SRV • Protect the socially valued roles held by the person • Avoid adding new negative, devalued roles • Escape or disprove negative roles that have become a part of a person’s identity

Primary goals of SRV • Enter into new valued roles (i.e., roles that most of us take for granted such as neighbor, church member, volunteer, employee, etc.) • Defend and embed socially valued roles

Common goals of service • Minding people • Protecting people • Entertaining people • Changing people • Evaluating people • Keeping people busy

From activities to roles ACTIVITY • Going to church • Working • Swimming • Cooking • Taking a class • Painting ROLE • Church member • Employee • Swimmer • Cook • Student • Artist

Role communicators - Artist • The physical environment • The people associated with a person or group • The behaviors that are expected and the activities engaged in • The language and words that are used • Other imagery such as possessions • Studio space, art galleries, • Artists, art instructor, art shop cashiers • Taking classes, exhibits, giving art as gifts, shopping for supplies • Canvas, pastels, acrylic, impressionistic, form • Art supplies, original art in home

Primary SRV strategies • Image Enhancement • Competency Enhancement

Image enhancement Image is conveyed by: • Physical appearance of the person • Physical appearance of others associated w/the person • Proper social etiquette and skills • What is said ~ words, topics • Physical surroundings • Possessions and belongings

Competency enhancement • Current functioning does not predict a person’s capacity • Teach relevant skills using: • The power of imitation and modeling • Positive role expectancies • High expectations • Strategies that reflect how a person best learns • Potent systemised instruction methods

Role expectancy and circularity • People become what they are expected to be • Self-fulfilling prophesy • Breaking the vicious cycle

Culturally valued analog “What happens for valued citizens of the same age and gender?” • Which can be encountered with at least reasonable frequency in the valued sector of society • With which most members of society would be familiar • Of which most members of the society would hold most positive expectations and images

Endeavour for Excellence