Hi everyone
I did not want to cite any post or statement in particular but was led to
wondering the other day, about individual plans and other types of
documenting systems that record objectives, goals and outcomes. In my
experience (and this is very much limited to my experience and the
particular organisations I have had contact with) the planning is based
upon the expressed goals of the people using the services. I have a
problem though with the evaluative stage of this process and the
assumptions that are made by professionals and family and basically anyone
else other that the person with the disability (sorry I should have said
from the outset - intellectual disability). Do people here think that what
we see as valuable is necessarily seen by the person with a disability as
valuable or even relevant? For instance, what assumptions do we make about
a goal such as social networking based on our own values? We see that if
the person with a disability is successfully negotiating transactions with
a range of people, we would see that as a desired outcome. I would agree
too in this case.
What if we were able to find out what the value of such social competencies
were to the person with an intellectual disability? What would happen if
they really could not give a damn about the importance of social
interaction but rather see it as a mundane means to an end for example,
buying a sandwich?
I am just using the social interaction and networking goal as an example
here. Do we always know whats best for ourselves? Is it important to find
out what the person with an intellectual disability thinks and feels about
their encounters in everyday life as opposed to the assumptions we make as
informed people about their success in meeting planned goals?
The reason I ask was because I have arranged an integrated arts project
with my Uni students and the art students of a Technical college who have
developmental disabilities and use our premises and equipment. I am getting
my students to complete reflective journals as a way of examining their
experiences and learning. I thought it would be an interesting idea to
have the students with disabilities do the same, perhaps using a
dictaphone. I wonder whether the disabled college students will recognise
the integrated nature of the project as important? The logistics involved
in obtaining this data will make it almost impossible to do this right now.
They start in two weeks and I do not have time to get ethical approval and
consent from all participating organisations. The only thing I can think
of is to do it as my own students are ie. as part of their learning or as a
subject evaluation...not sure of ethics here.
Has anyone done this type of narrative where interpretation of events is
left entirely up to the narrator? In other words no questions asked like
"how did you feel about working with the Uni students?" but rather "what
did you do today", "how did it feel?" and "what did you learn?". Does
anyone else feel that this may yield valid and useful information?
With best regards
Laurence Bathurst
University of Sydney
School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
East Street (P.O. Box 170)
Lidcombe NSW 1825
Australia
Ph+ 61 2 9351 9509
Fax+ 61 2 9351 9166
E-mail [log in to unmask]
Note: This is the e-mail address for my home as well
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There is not one shred of evidence that supports the notion that life is
serious.
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