Homelessness and Intellectual and Physical Disabilities

Today’s class we talked about two different cultural areas that we are going to come into contact with through our work as Child and Youth Workers. I gained so much out of today’s class from both speakers. The first area we spoke about was youth that are homeless or living in poverty and the issues that they face. The second area was about people with disabilities. Both areas are so important to our field of work.

Youth Who are Homeless or at-risk

The reason I originally got into this field was because I wanted to work with children and youth that were facing issues of homelessness or poverty. Throughout the entire course, we did not get much of a chance to learn about poverty, except for the odd assignment where I elected to use homelessness and poverty as a topic. I am so glad that one of our peers took the initiative to have a guest speaker on the topic because I learned so much in the hour and a half she was here. Although this is an area I have been passionate about, and a class I went into thinking I already had a good knowledge of the community, I now realize just how much I did not know. The biggest thing I learned from the class was the idea that we need to work as a wrap around type service, working with families, mental health counselling and other community agencies. Sandy’s speech really gave me a much better understanding of what I would be doing if I choose to pursue this area of child and youth work.

News clip about teenagers who are homeless

This clip taught me that in order to be successful in working with youth, or any person, that is facing homelessness we need to consider:

·  wrap around services, that is working with homeless and at risk youth on many different areas of their lives such as helping them to obtain clothing, jobs, housing, basic needs, counselling and health insurance, among many others.

·  meeting the youth where they’re at. If we want to work with youth that are homeless we need to go to them, not expect them to come to us (although this is typical in many areas of child and youth work, it is of great importance in working with issues of homelessness).

·  We need to teach homeless and at risk youth self-advocacy (again, this is something that is common throughout our field however it is particularly important in working with homeless and at risk youth). We need to teach self-advocacy so that homeless and at risk youth can grow to be successful individuals and gain the self-esteem and knowledge to know where they want to go and what they need to do to get there. Self advocacy gives youth the power to stand up for what they believe in and go against any barriers they may come across.

·  It is not absolutely necessary, but I think setting up some role models for youth would be of great importance to those that are facing issues of homelessness. Setting them up with mentors that have lived on the streets and have “beat the odds” would give them hope for the future. This video clip got me thinking about mentors for the youth since there were so many young adults that overcame homelessness and were now raising families or enrolled in post secondary education.

This clip also shared some shocking statistics. I was surprised when it said that 40% of homeless culture is 14 – 25 years of age. That is very young. But the reasons the video gave made sense as to why. I just always assumed that the majority would be older men and women. Apart from the youth that are homeless, there are many adults that have been homeless since they were young teens. Some of the many reasons youth become homeless, as described by this clip include being kicked or thrown out by family, leaving due to family conflict, substance abuse (either self or parental), sexual orientation, no job, abuse or foster care issues. As Sandy told us in class however, there are as many reasons as there are youth, this list just goes to name a few.

Voices of the Homeless 

I really like this clip because it actually gives homeless people a name and shows them as individuals. There is a lot of stigma surrounding homelessness, and it is much more difficult for people to stigmatize other people if they know something about them. This made me think of what Colleen said about when people stigmatize others they put them into the form of animals first (for example what the Nazis did to the Jewish culture). I would assume they do it because they feel guilt on some level. Anyway, the first step in preventing people from doing that is giving them a name and listening to their stories, and this video does just that.

Invisible Homelessness

Another thing that Sandy talked about was ‘invisible homelessness’ that is where people are not identified as homeless. People who are invisibly homeless would typically be on friend’s couches for an extended period of time. The following is a public service announcement targeting the issue of invisible homelessness. There are many reasons why a youth may not be able to “go home”, but if you notice youth constantly sleeping over, there is help.

Youth who have a Developmental or Physical Disability

We have talked a bit about knowledge and comfort level coming into these classes. For the most part I have been extremely open minded and even passionate about some of the areas we have had the opportunity to learn about. I am not going to lie but working with children who have a developmental or physical disability has never been something I have wanted to do. This area of our field is something I have no knowledge of whatsoever, and I am also a bit uncomfortable about it. I am however very respectful, and non-judgemental. I would not have ever wanted to work in this area of study in the past. After listening to Colleen speak that outlook changed. I have a much better understanding now. In fact, I told my friend off about using the ‘R’ word right after the class. After listening to Colleen I am actually interested in working in this area. I also like that she refreshed the people first language, although we learned about it in a lot of our classes in the past, I think it is really important to review because I was a bit foggy on it, and it is definitely something we need to be using on a daily basis, not only at work but in social interactions as well. I feel like if I am talking to friends using people first language would really help to eliminate a lot of the judgements and stigma, and that goes for any group of people we will be working with. Colleen had a lot of interesting ways of teaching us about working with children with physical or developmental disabilities. I liked her idea of “Universal Design”, which is where everything is made to be accessible to anyone. We were talking about the accessible ramp being crowded and she had commented if they made it in universal design it would all be ramp and then it would not be as crowded. This is a great idea and not something that had even crossed my mind in the past. 

r-word.org

r-word pledge

This is a website about the impact of the r-word on people with an intellectual disability, whether it is used towards them or towards someone does not have an intellectual disability. This site talks a lot about people first language and features an online pledge you can take to stop the use of the r-word and stand of for people with an intellectual disability. It also has tips for people to use after they have taken the pledge. The site recognizes that telling friends or family not to use the r-word and why can be uncomfortable and difficult, so it gives examples of how to carry out that conversation with others. It also talks about which times you should walk away, especially to protect your personal safety. The pledge states “I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.” And then the site gives you ways to keep your pledge. 

The View discusses the 'r-word'

There appear to be opposing viewpoints regarding this issue however some good points that are brought up. Barbara Walters compares it to the n-word and Whoopi Goldberg disagrees with her. I understand what Barbara Walters meant by that comment. It reminded me of the public service announcement that Colleen showed us in class. The comment below is from the YouTube page the video clip came off of. It is written by an African American woman who agrees with Barbara Walters in comparing the r-word and the n-word, I felt that it was important to include since it is a very powerful statement.

“I think people should take this word as seriously as the N-word. I am of African decent, and my son has cerebral palsy. When kids at school call him the R-word, I can tell he feels hurt, worthless, and like he's a less person. Which is how I personally feel when I am called the N-word. I think this is serious. Other African Americans may not think so, but perhaps you would if you had to walk on crutches your entire life and couldn't play sports or run with your friends, then people made fun.”

We are More Alike than Different

The people in this clip show us that just because they are born with a physical or developmental disability they still have dreams and hopes like the rest of us, they can live regular lives, and they are more alike than different from anyone.  Also, like what I said above regarding people who are facing stigma due to being homeless, this video helps to give people a name, face and story, which works to eliminate stigma as well! I think the ending of the video clip is just adorable too!

Twisted institution that still operates today!

I literally could not sit through this clip it was so disturbing, but I felt that I need to share it. The issue of people being put into institutions like this seems like it would be a thing from the very distant past. If this is going on in Serbia, I am sure it is going on in other areas of the world as well. This is just wrong, and something needs to be done about it!