Dear John
A group of lecturers at our university have been running an accredited
university module for people with learning difficulties for a couple of
years. We intially specialised in working with people who had multiple
disabilities often with sensory impairments/ limited communication. The
module was based around building a personal portfolio and
students tended to work effectively using visual media such as
photography and video to communicate aspects of their relationships and
perspectives on the world. It was our view that our inference of
people's internal states or their perception of the world is too
often dependent on verbal or written language. People without speech
still have valuable things to contribute but are often devalued because
they don't fit an academic model of knowledge.
Students shared their ideas in mixed groups of disabled and
non-disabled students. When we began writing up our experiences in
running thees programme we developed concepts to describe group
identity and interaction which were best expressed in discourse more
commonly associated with Christian religious communities (terms like
'revelation' 'communion' 'celebration') than the usual terms
associated with group psychology. This was because we wanted to reflect
the quality of these interactions. It seems that many of these labels
you are struggling with are not relvant as the ideology on which they
are based is a clincal/academic alien to the experience of the students.
One of my colleagues, Mike Foster is also writing an article on access
to religious practice for people with learning difficulties in nursing
care (or lack of it). Get in touch with me direct if you want any
further information
On Wed, 26 May 1999 07:34:05 +0100 John Swinton <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Dear All,
> I have found the recent discussion on the language surrounding children
> with Special educational needs very helpful. I am in the process of writing
> a short monograph on adults with learning disabilities and religion,
> exploring, amongst other things, the meaning of genuinely inclusive
> community and how such an ideal might be worked out within religious
> institutions and beyond. One of the things I am looking at is how best to
> communicate with those who have no words. From the perspective of many
> religions this is an important question, bearing in mind our dependance on
> words to communicate the essence of what we are trying to say. However, I
> am struggling with terminology to describe people who have no linguistic
> capacity. Terms such as 'profound' or 'severe' learning disability, whilst
> making the point, seem to me to be so value laden and open to
> misinterpretation that I am reluctant to use them. If anyone can share a
> few thoughts about this I would be very grateful.
>
> Best Wishes
>
> John
>
>
>
> Rev. Dr. John Swinton.
> Department of Divinity with Religious Studies
> King's College
> University of Aberdeen
> Aberdeen
> AB24 3UB
> Tel (direct line): +44 (0)1224 273224 (+ voicemail after 7 rings)
> Fax: +44 (0)1224 273750
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
----------------------
Andy Stevens
Anglia Polytechnic University
[log in to unmask]
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