Historically, the vast majority of Citizen Advocacy offices have recruited citizen advocates for intellectually impaired persons. But there has always been debate in the Citizen Advocacy culture about the pros and cons of a single office recruiting advocates either for any needy person regardless of the source of the need, or for at least persons of more than a single needy class, such as the intellectually impaired.

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The Indispensable Mindset

By John Armstrong

The SRV Journal, 7(2), 32-36

While the concept of assumptions exists as a framework for understanding what might be thought of as largely unexamined notions and ideas that result in either adaptive or maladaptive actions, especially for our topic in the lives of other people, they are apparently very hard to measure or test under experimental conditions. You might say that assumptions are too small to be seen and identified in any singular and objective sense and can only be inferred–itself a process of interpretation open to much bias–by observing the actions that assumptions generate. Social scientists have begun to refer to the construct of ‘mindset,’ a collection of related assumptions, which is then ‘large’ enough to be seen and categorised in useful ways. It would seem apparent that Wolfensberger was aware of this as he shifted focus in his later writings from assumption language to mindset language, or at least added mindset language to the teaching. The potency of this emphasis is that mindsets can be identified and named, and therefore be understood and potentially altered.

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Social Role Valorization versus drug therapies

BY RAY LEMAY

SRV-VRS: The International Social Role Valorization Journal, 5(1&2), 3-17

Reply To Levitas, McCandleless, Elenewski and Sobel

BY WOLF WOLFENSBERGER

SRVVRS: The International Social Role Valorization Journal, 5(1&2), 42-66

The attached two articles were both published in SRV-VRS: The International Social Role Valorization Journal in 2004. The articles contain much relevant material, and though some of the references are no longer contemporary, the lessons drawn out in the articles remain just as timely. My thanks to Ray Lemay for his permission to distribute these articles on our website.

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‘The Desire for Friendship Comes Quickly, Friendship Does Not’: An Exploration of Valued Roles and Relationships

BY JANE SHERWIN

The SRV Journal, 6(2), 22-31

There is professed enthusiasm–but little progress–for people with socially devalued status to have community membership and to belong. This article explores the links between the social roles that people are in, and the extent to which they are likely to experience community membership and belonging. In particular, the potential of valued roles that give two types of social participation (task and relationship participation) is explored. Implications derived from the theory of Social Sole Valorisation are outlined.

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Almost, But Not Quite There: Failing to Fully Develop Culturally Valued Analogues

BY EMMA BARKEN

The SRV Journal, 5(1), 14-20.

The Social Role Valorization concept of the Culturally Valued Analogue (CVA) emphasizes creating situations for socially devalued people that are as close as possible to what socially valued people would typically expect. The importance of adhering to the guidelines that the CVA puts forward is highlighted through reflecting on several experiences of one devalued person, including having a roommate, employment, friendship and vacation. One central theme of the article is the detrimental role that human service systems and programs can play in devalued people’s lives–while human service systems may have good intentions and rationales for the situations they set up, they will likely fail to help devalued people have access to the good things in life if they do not adhere to the principles set forth by the Culturally Valued Analogue.

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The “Happiness Issue”: A Brief Elaboration on a Common Obstacle to Social Role Valorization

BY JOE OSBURN

The SRV Journal, 4(2), 33-41

The “happiness issue” has implications to the dissemination of SRV insofar as effective SRV teaching requires knowledge of the issue, its roots and its rationales. It also requires communicating the countervailing rationales for pursuing SRV. The issue also has implications to effective SRV practice which requires a disciplined and strategic approach rooted in well-thought-out principles applied to individual people; an approach, in other words, that is likely to understand and withstand the clamoring of “happiness-invokers” in its pursuit of higher, or at least more valorizing, overall aims.

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SRV & Teacher Prep: Not Just a Course, but a Course of Action

BY T. NEUVILLE WITH C. HANNAH SMITH

The SRV Journal, 3(2), 18-25

One cannot underestimate the importance of having student teachers come to be motivated to understand and be inspired by the theory and themes of Social Role Valorization (SRV). SRV, when used as a tool for bringing heightened consciousness to the student teacher, has the potential to benefit that student, that student’s own future students, and countless others with whom each of these persons comes in contact.

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Applying Selected SRV Themes to the Eugenic Movement in Canada & the United States, 1890-1972

BY THOMAS MALCOMSON

The SRV Journal, 3(1), 34-51

This article examines the eugenics movement in Canada and the United States, from its first appearance to the 1970s, as it relates to several of the ten themes in Social Role Valorization (SRV) theory.

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An Analysis of the Client Role From a Social Role Valorization Perspective

BY WOLF WOLFENSBERGER & SUSAN THOMAS

SRV-VRS: The International Social Role Valorization Journal, 1(1), 3-8.

This article draws attention to one other role that a great many societally devalued people in contemporary society fill. It is the very problematic role of “client.” It is remarkable how insufficient is the attention given to this role, especially considering that regardless of whatever other social roles they might fill, by definition, all the people who are served by formal or paid human services fill it.

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An SRV Look at Volunteering in a Food Pantry

BY MARC TUMEINSKI

SRV-VRS: The International Social Role Valorization Journal, 5(1&2), 72-74.

An SRV based analysis of volunteering at a neighborhood food pantry, including a description of the pantry, its strengths and weaknesses, and some recommendations.

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Some Helpful Points to Keep in Mind in the Presence of People Who Cannot or Do Not Talk

BY JOE OSBURN AND JO MASSARELLI

The SRV Journal, 1(1), 26-29

The focus of this article is on people who cannot or do not communicate in the ordinary ways, such as those who do not speak or whose speech is so peculiar to the person that most others have great difficulty comprehending it. The article reviews general considerations and actions intended to facilitate positive interactions between people on such occasions by (a) helping to raise consciousness about the potential difficulties of being with people who cannot speak or otherwise communicate; and (b) encouraging people to think more about their own strengths/weaknesses, or levels of comfort/discomfort, in this regard.

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An Overview of Social Role Valorization Theory

By Joseph Osburn | 2006

In this updated article, the author gives a basic introduction to the theory of Social Role Valorization (SRV), incorporating the latest developments in SRV made by Wolfensberger since 1998. The article covers the major goals of SRV, and gives a brief history of its conceptual development. The article also includes a short bibliography for further reading.

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Some of the Universal 'Good Things of Life' Which the Implementation of Social Role Valorization Can be Expected to Make More Accessible to Devalued People

BY WOLF WOLFENSBERGER, SUSAN THOMAS, AND GUY CARUSO

The International Social Role Valorization Journal, 2(2), 12-14. 1996.

People who fill valued roles in society are vastly more likely to attain the things that society values, or to have others accord these to them, than people who do not fill valued roles. There has been much de facto consensus in human history as to what constitutes 'the good life.' The following article lists some of those things which constitute the 'good life,' and connects these to valued social roles.

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Problems Associated With Use of Physical and Mechanical Restraints in Contemporary Human Services

by Marc Tumeinski

Mental Retardation, Volume 43, Number 1: 43-47. February 2005.

The use of restraint techniques in contemporary human services is endemic and in some fields is growing. This article offers an in-depth critical analysis of this common practice in services.

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Adopting A Personalist Response Within Impersonal Service Structures

by Marc Tumeinski

This paper was presented at the “Many Faces of Abuse” conference hosted by Standards Plus in Auckland, New Zealand on August 10-12, 2005.

Abuse and harmdoing against vulnerable and socially devalued people carried out by human service workers in service settings is an individual as well as a systemic problem. The purpose of this article is not to exhaustively analyze human service abuse, but to set a context for describing a positive response to such systemic service harmdoing.

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The Dangers of Qualifying Life, How We Devalue the Disabled

by Adam Hildebrand and Jo Massarelli.

Published in Ethics and Medics April 2006 volume 31, Number 4

People with impairments are vulnerable in society, even to the detriment of their very lives. This article illuminates the particular dangers associated with Quality of Life thinking, especially in medical settings.

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Overview of PASSING: A Social Role Valorization-Based Human Service Evaluation Tool

July 1999 by the Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership & Change Agentry

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