L7MBASC21OC Exploring Disability – Human-rights based approach, organisations have had to review their relationship with service

PART 1: ESSAY 80%

Since moving towards a more human-rights based approach, organisations have had to review their relationship with service users and their methods of service delivery.

Discuss this statement with reference to how developments in Irish social care have impacted on the quality of life of service users.

In your answer, consider the following:

• The historical development of service delivery in Ireland;
• The medical and social models and the universalist approach;
• O’Brien’s five valued experiences and service accomplishments;
• The role of legislation and government policy;
• The influence of language and stereotypes;
• Relevant examples from your own work practice and organisation.

The word count for the essay is 2,000 words.

PART 2: REFLECTION ACTIVITY 10%

Reflection is a crucial skill for all social care professionals. In order to ensure that you are using the best possible practice, it is necessary to constantly reflect on your experiences and look for ways to professionally develop.

As outlined in the module, our use of language is vital in shaping societal attitudes towards people with disabilities. This reflection activity aims to consider your use of language in relation to, and in your communication with, people with disabilities.

For this activity, you are required to reflect upon two examples of the language that you have used when either talking to or talking about service users. Try to select a positive and a negative example here if possible.

Reflecting on your use of language in each example, consider the following:

• What type of image was I portraying of the service user through the language I used?
• Did this language highlight the abilities and capabilities of people with disabilities?
• Or did it reinforce the focus on disability to the listener?
• Was this language respectful and empowering to the service user?
• If I was speaking to a person who had no knowledge or experience of people with disabilities, would my language have reinforced any stereotypes or societal attitudes?
• What, if anything, would I change about the language I used in this example?

The word count for the reflection piece is 1,000 words.

PART 3: ONLINE ASSESSMENT 10%

Stereotyping and the social model

You are required to take part in a group discussion here, based on Stella Young’s TED talk.  The purpose of this activity is twofold:

1. To engage in a group discussion, analysing the attitudes of society towards people with disabilities and the impact of these attitudes.
2. To develop your referencing and research skills by locating a relevant article to support your discussion using one of the College’s library resources – such as Emerald or ESBCO.

You are required to:

1. Provide one posting outlining your reaction to the video:

• What is your reaction to what Stella Young has to say about her experiences
  as a disabled person?
• Can you think of other instances where the ’inspiration’ stereotype is used in relation to disabled people?
• What other stereotypes are commonly used and where? And what is the impact of these stereotypes on people with disabilities?

2. Provide one posting in which you critically discuss the relationship between the use of stereotypes in relation to disabled people and the social model/universalist approach to disability.

You need to address the following requirements here:

• Be sure to use work-based or practice examples to support your postings.
• Ensure you make the minimum two original postings here and respond to at least two other posts in each discussion.
• You are also required to locate and use an article from ESBCO or Emerald on any topic that is relevant to a point in your discussion. (Please note: this article does not need to support all of your posts. It just needs to relate to at least one point in your original discussion (Post 2)).
• Provide the full reference details of the article, using the College’s reference style. You can reference the article at the end of the relevant posting.

(Note: It takes time and practice to effectively use databases such as EBSCO and Emerald to locate relevant journal articles. You will need to try a number of different search terms to locate the article – for example, the term ‘inclusion people with disabilities’ will yield different results from ‘exclusion people with disabilities’, ‘person centred planning people with disabilities’ and ‘medical model of disability’. Consider the different areas and concepts related to community inclusion and narrow your search terms accordingly).