This newspaper article could be the basis for a useful exercise for an SRV workshop or in a college class. It touches on a class of societally devalued people and related service structures that will likely become more prominent in certain places; namely, people with ‘acquired brain injury.’ At least in the US for example, the number of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain injuries is growing, and so are the number of related services as well as government funding for such services. Those of us teaching Social Role Valorization and PASSING related material should be aware of these developments.
Some questions that could be used with workshop participants or college students include:
• What valued social roles are named or described in the article? What good things of life might these valued roles open the door to for a societally devalued person?
• How is the PASSING issue of grouping and competency raised in the article?
• Identify the images and language used in the article, and the ways in which they communicate either similarity to or difference from other people?
• Are any non-programmatic issues discussed?
• What expectations and mindset does the mother hold?
If you come up with other questions, send them along and we’ll post them.