social media for social change: challenging the discourse of disability and difference
DESCRIPTION
Social Media for Social Change: Challenging the Discourse of Disability and Difference presentation to the annual conference of the College Association for Language and Literacy (CALL) May 25, 2011, Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada.TRANSCRIPT
Please come in, find a seat, and buckle up! I’m looking forward to starting this journey with you!
LiveWorkPlay: a happy
accident!
Social Media? Marketing? Me? No no no, I work for a charity!
The work of charities is change. Change is a marketing task!
Helping our community welcome people with intellectual disabilities to live, work, and play as valued citizens.
A community where everyone belongs.
People with intellectual disabilities will progress as self-advocates and contributing citizens […]
A transformative journey…
Found guilty of a crime Against society
Found guilty of
having an intellectual disability
Not about fixing people with intellectual disabilities
Exclusion is everyone’s issue we must all work to change it
Social Services Social Change
Our motivation to transform from social services to social change through citizen engagement, social
capital, and community capacity: putting the social in our services!
(Or, creating developments in developmental services!)
Social Services Social Change
Decisions = Paid Staff and/or Family Education = Day Program/Special Ed Recreation = Segregated Program Employment = Sheltered Workshop Home = Institutional Setting Relationships = Paid Staff and/or Family
Decisions = Self-Directed Education = Learning In Community Recreation = Playing In Community Employment = Authentic Work/Volunteerism Home = House or Apartment Relationships = Family, Friends, Lover, Neighbours Unpaid Support, Paid Support
TRANSFORMATION
A Transformative Journey
- Keenan Wellar
- nickscrusade.com
This is the model that continues to dominate human services despite overwhelming evidence that it is more expensive and less effective…
- nickscrusade.com
Help the person but don’t blame them for barriers they did not create!
Communication is what one does with words and what they do to us. — J. Samuel Bois, The Art of Awareness
When we find our similarities, the differences can be put into place and we can push our relationships to the next level…quite simply similarities can override differences. The Essence of Interdependence Al Condeluci, Ph.D. (1999)
Difference as “Special”
- http://tilltheshortbus.blogspot.com/
80-90% of mothers who receive a pre-natal diagnosis of Down Syndrome children abort them
80% of doctors who have had to communicate a pre-natal diagnosis of Down Syndrome admit to having no training whatsoever as regards people with intellectual disabilities in society
- Canada Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) genocide: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a
national, racial, political, or cultural group
Retreat from the language of justice to the language of caring is perhaps the most worrying sign of the contemporary decadence of the language of citizenship. The practice of citizenship is about ensuring everyone the entitlements necessary to the exercise of their liberty… welfare is about rights, not caring, and the history of citizenship has been the struggle to make freedom real, not to tie us all in the leading strings of therapeutic good intentions. - Ignatieff M (1989) "Citizenship and Moral Narcissism" Political Quarterly
Communication is what one does with words and what they do to us. — J. Samuel Bois, The Art of Awareness
International Union for Conservation of Nature
MORE
Family Friends Colleagues Co-Workers Classmates Neighbours Spouse
AS NEEDED
Workers Staff Doctor Psychologist Psychiatrist Social Worker - Julie Kingstone
We don’t want to be the one star in your sky!
We want you to have a whole universe of stars!
The relationships and friendships that people have in their lives!
Research shows Social Capital is related to:
• Healthfulness • Happiness • Longevity
• People getting jobs • People finding others to live with • People being more tolerant, respectful, kind, helpful • It leads to people resolving problems more easily • It enhances physiological/psychological functioning • That pro-social behaviors increase
What is Social Capital?
Using a simple measurement tool incorporating acquaintanceship, friendship, and covenant relationships, average Social Capital for people with disabilities is about 30 (150 is typical)
- Al Condeluci
He who would be a leader, let him first become a bridge
Social media can build bridges that ignore the limits of time and space…
Done right, it is the Pittsburgh of social capital bridge building!
Website and Partner Websites
715 Views of Moira and Caroline [So Far]: Important Events Analytics
Who Is Watching?
Social media analytics bring surprising levels of understanding and transparency to relationships
Expecting a mob of social media supporters to magically appear?
“Charity begins at home”
Some non-profits may fear that social media resistance is futile…
Those who are in proper mission-oriented focus will understand it as a new universe of opportunities…
The practices and attitudes of the non-profit community often alienate potential recruits
WHAT IF THE SOCIAL CHANGE YOU BELIEVE IN LOSES OUT TO ANOTHER VIEW BECAUSE YOUR VOICE IS NOT IN THE CONVERSATION?
THE NOTION THAT THE NON-PROFIT COMMUNITY IS A NON-COMPETITIVE COMMUNITY IS BOTH DANGEROUS & FOOLISH
Traditional Media:
Not What It Used To Be
Background Research Could Be Wikipedia
The Assignment Editor Is Watching
For Tweets And Facebook Updates
The Reporter Has Only Minutes
For The Story
Your Target Audience Might Not Be Watching
Can I easily generate wide interest in the issues that impact the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and their families?
After 17 years of trying – and watching others try – that’s a NO.
So I find the audience using whatever means necessary.
Social Media has opened and continues to open many doors.
The perfect social media storm…social capital
paying off (in this case, as actual capital)
Andrea and I are interested in training with a team of LiveWorkPlay members to participate in this fun event
either by walking or jogging the 2K, 5K, 10K, or half marathon.
Social Media “Loss Of Control” Can Be A Great Thing!
For some,
social media is understood as a tool, a job, a skill, a choice…
For others,
social media is understood as the most profound confluence of human discourse the world has ever seen… - Keenan Wellar, CALL 2011
When pursuing social change – whether it is a community where everyone belongs, or another desired social transformation – how leaders (both individuals and organizations) choose to understand social media will have profound consequences.
Find out more than you’d ever want to know about me including contact info at http://keenan.wellar.ca
You will also find a link to this presentation!
If you were upset or otherwise unhappy about this presentation, please let me know. If you benefited in some
way, please let the world know!
Twitter: @KeenanWellar Facebook: fb.me/kwellar