Thank you everyone for all the great feedback! And thank you to those of you who mailed me off list with suggestions and documents, I will respond when I get a chance.
It's so helpful to be able to put a question out there at 2 am when the brain has switched off, get feedback (and some sleep) and start a fresh:-)
Best wishes
Róisín
Róisín Dermody
[log in to unmask]
+353-87-9370-337
On 2 Oct 2012, at 12:28, Larry Arnold <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Well as both a trustee of a charity who are involved with what I will
> describe as the legal interpretation of "Children and Vulnerable Adults" and
> a researcher whose participants are constructed within the category of
> vulnerable adults too, I have to comply with this rigmarole of CRB check.
>
> There have been some enormous ironies in this, as I fall within the legal
> definition of that group myself, forever infantilised by convention and
> prescript. I could tell an anecdote or too about that and how it has
> impacted negatively on my research in at least one instance, you see there
> are some institutions that in wishing to maintain a hegemony and to impose
> there normalising perspective on people of my particular difference (hey
> how's that for a new and ultimately very silly "people first" euphemism?)
> would consider the last thing to be desired is any peer contact between
> "vulnerable adults"
>
> I think I should go and stand in the naughty corner right now, as I realise
> that only last week I attended an event at my alma mater unchaperoned by any
> but my dangerous peers. Good heavens inmates taking over the asylum at jolly
> old Brum!
>
> Larry
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:DISABILITY-
>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anne Cunningham
>> Sent: 02 October 2012 12:19
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Vulnerable adults
>>
>> I agree with Jenny completely. We tend to talk about actions that put
> people at risk.
>> However I'm not sure how you square that with the legal needs of e.g CRB
> checks in
>> relation to vulnerable adults, including identifying who can make someone
> vulnerable.
>>
>> Does anyone have any practical experience of negotiating a solution
> through this where
>> outside agency/legal requirements come into play?
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Anne
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:DISABILITY-
>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of jennymorris
>> Sent: 02 October 2012 12:04
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Vulnerable adults
>>
>> It's a social model versus medical model issue: to describe someone as a
> 'vulnerable
>> adult' is to make the individual the problem, rather than the context in
> which they
>> experience their impairment/illness or other characteristic.
>>
>> A social model approach recognises that someone is not 'vulnerable'
> because of their
>> impairment but because of the way society responds to them. So for
> example, a person
>> who does not use speech to communicate is vulnerable to abuse if they are
> exposed to
>> abusive people who see them as an easy target and if others do not take
> the trouble
>> understand how they communicate what they have experienced.
>>
>> Or, if someone was blind/partially sighted, they are vulnerable to injury
> if they are not
>> provided with the assistance/equipment to enable them to safely move
> around a strange
>> environment.
>>
>> 'Vulnerability' is created by others, not a characteristic of the
> individual.
>>
>> So if I was having to write such a document as you refer to, rather than
> talk about
>> 'vulnerable adults' I would try and place the emphasis on others'
>> behaviours rather than on the disabled person.
>>
>> But I know it's hard!
>>
>> Jenny
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:DISABILITY-
>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Roisin Dermody
>> Sent: 02 October 2012 02:10
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Vulnerable adults
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm involved with a sports organization for people who are blind/vision
> impaired and
>> we are updating our policy documents which include child protection and
> volunteer
>> policies.
>> For funding and insurgence purposes, we need to make reference to
> "vulnerable
>> adults", which makes me uncomfortable as I don't consider myself a
> "vulnerable adult".
>> I have worded the document in such a way so that it doesn't refer to all
> of us who are
>> blind/vision impaired to be "vulnerable adults" at all times.
>> so I need a definition of "vulnerable adults" which I can live with.
>> Can anyone suggest a definition that is respectful and maintains the
> dignity of the
>> "vulnerable adult" ?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Roisin
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Róisín Dermody
>> [log in to unmask]
>> +353-87-9370-337
>>
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