Kindred Spirits 2012

Shared Knowledge

Mole (Laura) Chapman

Welcome• Powerful language.

• Professional purpose.

• Validating experience.

• Evidence based knowledge.

• Not a add-on.

Without certain groups represented in the room, we miss out on the voices we need to hear in order to change.

Context of Professional Services

• Pressure from society and education.

• Worth of human contribution.

• Failure to secure employment.

• Negative attitudes towards marginalised groups.

• Need to value the individuals voice

• Appearance of engagement: A divided response.

From mindscapes to landscapes

We would be foolish to assume that it’s easy to achieve a fairer society.

If it was easy we would have cracked it, and we would all live in an equitable world.

• It is not.• We have not.• We do not.

COMMUNITIES OF BELONGING

Locality

Community

outsiders Insiders

6

Personal

Social

Professional

Community

Circles of friends / dialogue

Dialogue as community intervention • 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

Perceived Inequality

High InequalityLow social mobility

Deprivation and povertyDeprivation and poverty

Low InequalityHigh social mobility

The wider the perceived inequality - the unhealthier the community

“The first thing to recognise is that we are dealing with the effects of relative rather than absolute deprivation or poverty” Fullan

Disability Equality

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.

"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.

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 most marginalised people; those

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

Shakespeare, 2006, p. 77.

15

Towards a user led practice and community

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)

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 participants with equal access.

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

(Chapman, L. 2006, pg 4. Unpublished)

Growth and Capacity building

Culture Change

• Tackling inequality is best understood as a practitioner’s ethical commitment to realise every child’s rights in full.

• Cultural change takes both time and innovation: it is neither immediately available nor instantly achievable.

Culture Change

WelcomeToleranceSingle /otherDeficitBarriers Rigid rulesComplianceImprovement

InvitationAcceptanceDiverse Assets BoundariesFlexible ValuesCommitmentTransformation

Chapman, L, 2010, pg. 26

Principles

• Equality • Equity • Diversity• Balance• Fluidity• Ethical practice

Chapman L., 2010, pg 20

Co-Production

On 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

Reflective Practice

Plan

DoReview

What do you know?What can we learn?

What has changed?

Plan

DoReview

New ideas New practice

New outcomes

Reflective Practice

Equity: what’s fair?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.

• Avoid ‘them’ and ‘us’.

• Validates: active and engaged participants.

Meaningful relationships

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

Professor John West-Burnham

Implications for personal and shared practice?

Personal meaning • What do I understand by

inequality? • How do I promote wellbeing

and health and happiness?• How do I connect to the

whole?• How do I strengthen my own

understanding?• How do I enable others to

grow?• What can I do to take more

responsibility?

Shared understanding • How do we tackle hierarchy?• How do we work together?• How do we value others?• How do we address common

language?• How do we enable individuals ?• How do we involve people and

other groups?• How do we share leadership?

Multi-Agency Teams

• Respect for equality and wellbeing though joined up service and shared resources

• Personal meaning - acknowledge different models• Shared understanding - develop shared language• Leadership - identify management and personal

responsibility

Good bye!

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