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Updated 01/03/12
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Nebraska Advocacy Services, Inc. (NAS), The Center for Disability Rights, Law and Advocacy, is a private, non-profit organization designated by the Governor to protect and advocate for the rights of Nebraskans with significant physical or mental disabilities.
Established in 1977, NAS is the protection and advocacy system in the State of Nebraska. We work along with people who have disabilities to secure their rights and to achieve a vision which is supportive of the ideals of interdependence, productivity, human dignity, personal integrity and full participation for individuals with disabilities in their community.
Nebraska Advocacy Services, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation. Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by tax law and gratefully accepted.
Our new office is open in Scottsbluff !
Nebraska Advocacy Services, Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of a new office to allow us to better serve individuals with disabilities in western Nebraska.
Come celebrate the opening with us:
1425 1st Ave, Scottsbluff 69361
308-631-5367
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Refreshments & Conversation
from 3 PM - 6 PM
Brief Presentation at 5:00 p.m.
Snow Date: Thursday, March 8, 2012
Please tell how you will be affected by the proposed cuts and changes to Medicaid by completing this survey.
Contest Seeks Creative Videos That Challenge Perceptions about Disability & Employment
The Campaign for Disability Employment has announced the launch of its second nationwide video contest to promote the talent and skills that people with disabilities bring to America’s workforce and economy. A follow-up to a similar contest held in 2009, this year’s competition seeks videos in several categories to supplement the CDE’s award-winning “What can YOU do?” public education efforts. Submit your entry by March 30, 2012.
SOCIAL ROLE VALORIZATION
For Nebraska Advocacy Services, Social Role Valorization is a cornerstone of our perspective in advocating with people who experience disabilities. It is a concept for understanding relationships between people.
SRV also allows us to draw insights as to the way services are designed and delivered to people.
Social Role Valorization (SRV) is a set of approaches designed to enable devalued people in society to experience the Good Life.
The major goal of SRV is to create or support socially valued roles for people in their society, because if a person holds valued social roles, that person is highly likely to receive from society those good things in life that are available to that society, and that can be conveyed by it, or at least the opportunities for obtaining these.I
“Social Role Valorization” is a mouth full. But the reader must not be put off by the phrase. It is a social science theory developed by Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger.
The concept starts with the reality that in every culture every person has a role. In fact, at any one time, we may have several roles such as: worker, parent, child, and volunteer, home owner, athlete, student, etc.
Each role has a positive value or a negative value in the culture or society where it exists. If a person is seen in a particular valued role of his or her culture or society, he or she will be seen in a higher social status. If the role is the role is of negative value, it will detract from the social status of the individual.
For example, if an adult with mental retardation is not seen as an adult but as a child our interactions with that individual may reinforce the stereotype that adults with mental retardation are “eternal children.”
As a consequence, others may refer to adults as children (“Johnny” vs. John or “the kids”), or engage adults in children's activities which is perceived as “unusual” by other members of the society. If adults consistently engage in “unusual” activities than are expected for adults then a perception is embedded that those adults must be “unusual” in other aspects of their lives.
In other words, when the adult status of adults with mental retardation is not emphasized it is likely that interactions and expectation will perpetuate the common negative stereotype that mentally retarded adults are really are overgrown children.
The negative consequences of such a stereotype include low expectations as to the individual’s capability to be a worker, to make decisions for him or herself, or to be a home owner or even a parent. The individual’s social role is devalued.
Devaluation occurs in a systemic way based on stigma, stereotypes and prejudices that focus on a group or persons perceived to be “members” of that group.
Devaluation is a process of attributing less value to a person or group than is accorded to a typical person and group, because the person or group is perceived as having some undesirable characteristic which differentiates them from other people or groups.II
Social Role Valorization focuses on creating or supporting valued social roles for people or groups that are devalued. SRV does not decide what is “valued”.
SRV can only describe – on the basis of social science knowledge – what is likely to happen to a societally or personally devalued person, group, or class if particular courses of action are taken. What course of action is then actually adopted is determined by one’s values….In other words, SRV describes, values prescribe. III
Nebraska Advocacy Services supports and encourages increased study and growth in our knowledge of Social Role Valorization through workshops that we co-sponsor with the Value-based Training Coalition. We believe through study and increased knowledge of SRV, services and supports for people with disabilities will be greatly improved.
The next in SRV workshop in Nebraska is scheduled for June, 2012. Call our office and ask for Jenn or email her at Jenn@nas-pa.org for more information.
I Osburn, J. (1998). An Overview of Social Role Valorization Theory. The International Social Role Valorization Journal/La
revue international de la Valorisation des roles sociaux, 3(1), 7-12.
II Wolfensberger, W. and Thomas, S. (1983). PASSING, Program Analysis of Service Systems’ Implememtnation of Normalization Goals.
III Wolfensbergber, W., Thomas, S. & Caruso, G. (1996). 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. The International Social Role Valorization Journal 2(2), 12-14.
THE “GOOD THINGS OF LIFE”
If a person holds valued social roles in their community the more likely it is that person will receive the “Good Things in Life” available from that community.
While there are differences in what is valued by people in different cultures, there is significant agreement [among social scientists] as to what people desire – what they consider to be the “good things of life.”
Wolf Wolfensberger, Ph.D., developed the concept of Social Role Valorization. He has taught us the importance of valued social roles as a means of enhancing the status of individuals to combat the negative consequences of stigma, stereotyping or devaluation by society.
Wolfensberger points out that people who fill valued social roles in society are vastly more likely to attain the things that society values – the “good things of life”.
What are the “Good Things of Life”?
Here is a simple list of 17 things, not necessarily in order of importance that Wolfensberger and other social scientist have identified as the “good things of life.”
1. Family
2. A home
3. A sense of belonging to a small group
4. Friends
5. A “transcendent” life – a spiritual life that provides a sense of belonging and continuity with the larger human family and that helps us to cope with the mysteries and tragedies of life.
6. Work – meaningful work
7. Absence of imminent threats – a sense of safety and security
8. Opportunities to discover and develop our abilities, skills, gifts and talents
9. To be viewed as a human and treated with respect
10. To be dealt with honestly
11. A reasonable assurance that you will not be the victim of gross injustice – an expectation of a “fair shake” or “level playing field”
12. Being treated as an individual
13. Having a say in important decisions that affect your life
14. Access to many places where others can go – where “everyday” life happens
15. Access to many of the ordinary activities of human social life
16. Being able to contribute and having your contributions recognized as valuable
17. Good Health.
The implementation of Social Role Valorization, seeking to create and maintain valued social roles for people, can assist in making the “good things of life” more abundant.
…whether people are accorded the good things of life by others depends heavily on their social roles: how many valued roles they hold, how valued these roles are, how narrow or broad (i.e., how life-defining) these roles are, and to what degree people’s valued roles are balanced off by their…devalued roles.” *
*For a perspective on the “good things of life”, see the story on our website Home Page or the article written by Wolf Wolfensberger -- Wolfensberger, W., Thomas, S. & Caruso, G. (1996). 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. The International Social Role Valorization Journal
2(2), 12-14.
