Making a Difference

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Making a Difference

• What Attitudes, Skills And Knowledge Are The Keys
  To Making A Difference?

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Making a Difference

• With
• Nora J. Baladerian, Ph.D.

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Making a Difference

• For the Online Conference
• September 9, 2004

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Purpose of Training

• Expand knowledge and skills to more effectively
  intervene with children and adults with
  disabilities.

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Barriers

• Barriers to Effective Sensitive Interviewing of
  Individuals with Intellectual and/or Cognitive
  Impairments/Differences

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Barriers

• Lack of information about mental retardation
  other (Developmental) Disabilities

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Barriers

• Cultural and informational differences due to
• Segregation
• Exclusion, and
• Disability

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Barriers

• Unexamined myths and stereotypes that result in
  prejudice, fear and negative attitudes.

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Barriers

• Devaluing
• Dehumanizing
• Distancing

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Barriers

• Limited or lack of personal contact with
  individuals with similar backgrounds

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Barriers

• Belief that individuals with mental illness or
  communication differences cannot be effectively
  or reliably interviewed.

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Attitudes

• Attitudes as Feelings
• Attitudes as beliefs
• Attitudes as myths
• Beliefs as stereotypes
• Translation of our thinking into action
• Attitudes, beliefs feelings can change

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Attitudes as Feelings

• Our attitudes are built by observing then
  mimicking our teachers
• Parents
• Siblings
• Neighbors
• School teachers
• Peers

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Attitudes as Feelings

• We internalize and externally demonstrate what we
  have been taught
• To look down on others for their difference to
  us.
• To group others and ourselves, then value one
  above the other.

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Attitudes as Feelings

• We learn to actually FEEL that one IS better than
  the other only because of values we have chosen
  to adopt from our disability-negative society.
• We learn to actually BELIEVE that our feeling is
  accurate or right.
• We are not told that we can develop our own
  personal set of values,

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Attitudes as Feelings

• We are not told that we can develop our own
  personal set of values.
• We DISCOVER that we can develop our own personal
  set of values, such as, All people are
  important. It does not matter whether or not
  they have a disability, are of a particular
  gender, race, religion, ethnic heritage.

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Feelings Drive our Behavior

• How we feel, regardless of our awareness of the
  feeling, drives our behavior.

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Feelings Drive our Behavior

• We may unthinkingly use words of facial
  expressions (looks) that are painful to the
  individual with a disability.
• For example, talking ABOUT the person with their
  family or assistants instead of talking TO the
  person.

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Feelings Drive our Behavior

• We may fail to do as much or equal service to
  our clients who have disabilities.
• For example, not offer them a brochure or reading
  material under the assumption that they will not
  be able to benefit from having it.

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Attitudes Us and Them

• We have developed a strongly ist
  societynegative valuing and feelings about
  others
• Sexist
• Racist
• Able-ist

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Attitudes Measuring Value

• Those who are valued most in our society are
• Men or women?
• Tall or short?
• With or without a disability
• UNLESS balanced by
• Great wealth
• Great intellect

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Attitudes Pygmalion

• Our culture highly values fluency of speech,
  clear speech production, and a good vocabulary.
• This is then quickly translated into perceived
  intellection prowess.

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Attitudes Pygmalion

• If such prowess is lacking, there often occurs a
  lesser valuing of the individual.
• Those who have mental retardation or other
  disabilities that effect their speech or language
  skills cannot meet these standards.
• Yet, they certainly are able to effectively
  describe what has happened to them.

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Attitudes As Beliefs

• Attitudes ARE beliefs, reinforced over time by
  repetition, along with feelings.

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Attitudes As Beliefs

• Attitudes can be negative or positive.
• Attitudes, built on false information, demean
  both the holder of the attitude and the person(s)
  toward whom the negative attitude is directed.

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Attitudes As Beliefs

• Translation to Crime Victims with Disabilities.
• They take too much timewe cant allocate THAT
  MUCH time to JUST ONE victim
• They need too many resourceswe cannot afford an
  interpreter!

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Attitudes As Beliefs

• Translation to Crime Victims with Disabilities.
• They need more than we can providewe dont have
  an accessible room for the interview.
• They create too much troublewe cant make our
  facility ADA accessible just for a few people!

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Attitudes As Beliefs

• Translation to Crime Victims with Disabilities.
• We cant train all of our staff to use the TDD
  for Deaf or Hard of Hearing crime victimsor
  those with Speech impairments.
• We cant take the time to learn all the rules
  about Relay services or Speech-to-Speech options.

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Examples from Children

• These attitudes are more obvious, perhaps, in
  watching kids who have learned these
  disability-negative attitudes.

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Examples from Children

• Taunting, teasing making fun of other kids
  because of their disability
• Physically attacking and killing kids with
  disabilities
• Using epithets such as you retard or You spaz

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Examples from Children

• These behaviors contribute to the attacked child
  beginning to feel unworthy, unwanted and less
  than those who attack
• Not to mention unsafe.

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Beliefs as Myths

• There are ideas that we have been taught, or as a
  society casually create, that through repetition
  and absence of a balancing discussion on the
  other side of the coin, become part of our belief
  system.
• Here are some that may have a negative impact on
  our effectiveness.

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Beliefs as Myths about People with Disabilities

• Cannot remember
• Make up stories to get attention
• Will never be a credible witness

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Beliefs as Myths about People with Disabilities

• Cannot understand enough
• Cannot be understood by the interviewer
• Are not really necessary as a witness

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Beliefs as Myths about People with Disabilities

• They are just going to change their story later,
  and therefore are unreliablethey were lying then
  or they are lying now.
• They just cannot distinguish the truth from a lie.

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Beliefs as Myths about People with Disabilities

• They cannot understand the consequences for
  lying.
• They dont have a sufficient or correct
  vocabulary to describe the abuse.

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Beliefs as Myths about People with Disabilities

• Alternative methods of communication cannot be
  usedthey are not reliable.
• The individual is just plain not bright enough to
  repeat their story.

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Crazy Thinking

• This describes the process by which negative
  attitudes in combination with belief in myths and
  stereotypes can create an action plan that is
  completely without merit in resolving a problem
  AND would never be considered for a similar
  individual or circumstance but for the disability.

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Crazy Thinking

• Just add the word disability to any discussion
  and things change in a hurry.
• Examples
• My boss is really a terrific guy. Fun, funny,
  creative, intelligentAND available for a
  keynote. By the way, he has Cerebral Palsy
  uses FC. Would that make a difference?

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Crazy Thinking

• Example
• Questions are asked about consent to sex for a
  victim of a violent rape that was so vicious that
  surgery was required to repair wounds inflicted
  upon her.

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Crazy Thinking

• Example
• A suggestion that an adult with mental
  retardation receive treatment at a Childrens
  Advocacy Center for the sexual assault she
  suffered after all, shes just a big kid since
  she has a mental age of 7.

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Crazy Thinking

• Example
• A suggestion that an adult with mental
  retardation receive Sex Education (instead of
  psychotherapy) as treatment for the gang rape
  he experienced.

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Crazy Thinking

• Example
• Parent of a teenager, along with the professional
  case management team, had him sterilized because
  they feared he may become gay.

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Crazy Thinking

• Example
• Young teenager removed from his home, school and
  neighborhood for patting the clothed and diapered
  bottom of a 2 year old in full view of the
  parent. Sexual assault charges let to placing
  him in an institution for 2 years far from home,
  to learn appropriate sexual conduct.

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Crazy Thinking

• IT IS UNLIKELY that any of these plans would ever
  occur to anyone unless there was a severe mental
  disability. Certainly, they would not be
  implemented.

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LanguageP.C. or Respect?

• The language we usewords and phrasesshow our
  feelings and attitudes. To demonstrate respect
  and high regard for others, it is important to
  use the words those of that group have agreed
  is most pleasing to them.

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LanguageP.C. or Respect?

• Racially and ethnically, we have adapted to
  changes over the decades in preferred language to
  use such as Latinos or Hispanics, and Blacks or
  African-Americans, rather than terms that in the
  past had been preferred.
• Likewise for people with disabilities, it is
  important to keep up as changes occur.

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LanguageP.C. or Respect?

• People HAVE disabilities, not ARE disabilities!
• Thus one would say, the young man who HAS Down
  Syndrome
• One would say, Johnny, who has cerebral palsy
• If there is no need to mention the
  disabilitydont!

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LanguageP.C. or Respect?

• If the boss gets a cold, one would not say, The
  boss IS a cold, one would say, the boss HAS a
  cold.

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LanguageDos and Donts

• Use People First language
• Avoid any permutation of the word retarded
  except as a diagnosis
• Dont say handicapped, cripples, lame, deaf
  dumb
• Say, people who have disabilities and people who
  are Deaf

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LanguageDos and Donts

• Use powerful images such as uses a wheelchair
  NOT wheelchair bound or the wheelchair guy.
• Dont GROUP people with disabilities. There are
  probably more differences among those who have
  disabilities than compared to those who do not!

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Why is this so important?

• Negative attitudes towards people with
  disabilities has been identified as the most
  significant barrier for those with
  disabilitiesmuch more so than the disability
  itself.

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Why Training is Important

• So similarities and differences wont get
  overlooked.
• To improve the experience of crime and abuse
  victims with Disabilities.
• To expand skills, knowledge and cultural
  understanding of members of this population.

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CREDO

• C - Compassion
• R - Respect
• E - Empathy
• D - Dignity
• O - Open to needs of the victim

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Overview of Disabilities

• In the United States, the Department of Labor
  estimates that there are 54 million individuals
  with disabilities, representing
• 20 of the population
• 10 of these have significant disabilities that
  impact their participation in normal activities
  of daily life.

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Overview of Disabilities

• Characteristics of Disability
• Congenital OR Adventitious
• Hidden OR Overt
• Chronic OR Temporary
• Progressive Degenerative OR Static
• May have episodes of presence OR remission.

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Overview of Disabilities

• Sensory
• Communication
• Mobility Impairment
• Intellectual
• Social (Personality or Autism Spectrum)
• Psychiatric (Bio-Medical, thought disorders)
• Medical such as Neurological, Endocrine etc.
• Orthopedic
• Respiratory

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Overview of Disabilities

• Having a condition in one category does not mean
  the person has a disability in another category
• One MAY have conditions from several categories
  or within a category
• Each individual may express the symptoms of the
  disabilities differently

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Asking the Right Questions

• In our desire to do a good job , it is of
  critical importance to recognize when we are
  entering an area that is outside our knowledge
  and/or skill or expertise.

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Asking the Right Questions

• Having the personal and professional integrity to
  recognize when additional resources are needed,
  in the form of information or professional
  consultation can assure an excellent effort was
  made EVEN THOUGH the outcome may not be what one
  would have wished.

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To summarize

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Attitudes

• Those beliefs and feelings about individuals with
  disabilities should be cleared of old negative
  cobwebs and replaced with positive feelings and
  an open mind about the individuals abilities,
  hopes, dreams, hobbies, skills, attitudes and
  daily life.

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Skills

• With our understanding that the biggest negative
  in working with children and adults with
  disabilities is our cultures negative attitude,
  your skill in demonstrating CREDO throughout your
  contact with crime victims with disabilities
  supersedes any knowledge gap that may arise.

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Knowledge

• Your knowledge that there are several categories
  of disability,
• That a disability may express differently in each
  individual and even sometimes differently within
  the individual

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Knowledge

• Helps to guide one in asking the questions of
  those knowledgeable about the disability AND how
  this affects the individual
• To be prepared for proceeding with managing the
  case.

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Resources

• Learning more about myths and stereotypes
• Learning more about disabilities
• Finding people resources to be on your team or
  to be available for consultation when needed

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Thank You

• We will take your questions now.
• We will be sending an evaluation to you to
  complete 5 minutes before the end of the hour.
• We will notify you of the live Chats to delve
  more deeply into this subject
• You will be automatically placed on the forum for
  classroom discussion.