Good for nothing
By Dr. Ranu Uniyal, poet, author, professor, and mother
Editor’s note: Dr. Uniyal writes with brutal truth of the impact of societal rejections and the wounding assumptions made by many people about people with developmental disability.
The Bangalore School of Music and the Art of Inclusion
– A personal story shared by Suja Pisharody, a parent, an advocate and SRV leader
Editor’s Note: Suja is the mother of teenage Dhruv, a talented and delightful young man who is on the autism spectrum. Both Dhruv and his mother, Suja, are deeply connected to the community across India which is passionate about person-centered planning and Social Role Valorization.
“It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done!” – Nelson Mandela
By Chitra Paul, advocate, co-editor of Talking Fingers, SRV Leader, Tarun’s mother
And Tarun Paul Mathew, student, writer, thinker, self-advocate, and co-author of the new book Talking Fingers and Chitra’s son.
What’s behind a minor miracle?
By Betsy Neuville
Sometimes, the right circumstances arise to create a powerful moment of growth and a poignant recognition of identity and personhood. For deeply wounded and devalued people, oftentimes their identity gets reduced to an impairment, or the person is simply seen as a part of a group of people. Recently, a small and shining moment was captured to shine a light into one woman’s identity.
Opportunity, Possibility, and a Powerful Role
By Dr. Naval Pant, parent, co-founder-PYSSUM, SRV leader
Social Role Valorization (SRV) teaches us about the power of valued social roles and how such roles contribute to giving people access to the good things of life. One of those good things of life is a strong self-image and a valued image in the community.
The Long Walk to Belong
By Geeta Mondol and S Ramanathan
Vision combined with action can spearhead transformational change that may seem impossible. Timaben was a resident of a state mental health institution – she ended up there somehow, when she got separated from her family, and somehow reached a place far away from where she belongs. Keystone’s Family Reunification Team, committed to finding and reunifying institutionalized persons with their families, interacted with her whenever they visited, and eventually, they built trusting relationships with her. She confided about her family and confessed that she was longing to belong. It was with her mother and siblings that she felt belonged. The Family Reunification Team learned that her family was in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and left no stone unturned to locate them.
A Brushstroke of Unity on Independence Day: Celebrating a More Just and Inclusive World
By Dr. Malay Kanti Dey and Bratati Choudhury, parents, founders – Chinsurah Sense Society, national SRV leaders
Communication Clarified
Shabnam Rahman is a rehabilitation psychologist at Crystal Minds, Kolkata and believes in co-creating safe spaces with people to explore preferred identities, possibilities, and hope through meaningful experiences. As an SRV leader she incorporates the ideas of Social Role Valorization into her clinical work. She shares this story with permission from the family.
Community Around Our Christmas Tree
By Elizabeth (Liz) Albuquerque, mother, advocate, SRV leader. According to Dan Wilkins, a community that excludes even one of its members is no community at all. And a community is important to everyone: It fulfils our need to belong, gives us a sense of comfort and security, and enhances our wellbeing and quality of life.
Dreaming Big – Making Inclusion a Reality
By Percy Cardozo and Mahima Gupta, Sangath, Goa; Percy is a psychologist and educator who is passionate about inclusive education and has developed interventions to assist schools in creating inclusive and empowering ecosystems; Mahima, her colleague, joins Percy in facilitating and promoting inclusion in schools in her role as Intervention Facilitator.