HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Health and Social Care

Health and Social Care

Introduction

Recollecting and sharing stories, making sense of our inhabits seems to be part of our humanity. For persons with learning adversities, as with other assemblies who have skilled oppression, their tales, their voices have often been marginalised and excluded. It is not astonishing thus that for some the telling of their tales has been such a mighty experience. Below is an try to focus remarks made by narrators who have been inhabitants in long stay institutions for people with discovering difficulties:

Being perceived; being listened to

Not being perceived at all and/or being misrepresented has often been the experience of people with discovering adversities, particularly those with inhabits expended in large long stay institutions. The very detail of being listened to, being accepted, is a key inspiring force.

Jean Andrews, with the support of Sheena Rolph, had her life article published. In mirroring on this accomplishment Jean wrote:

'It is significant really because then I can notify people what occupations I've had in my life. Ihold telling persons, but they don't believe it, because they don't accept as true that I was ever put in a place like that. It's so persons can realise what I've been doing. It has let people understand what I've been doing in my life, and what I've been through and one thing and another and just to let them understand that I've been shoved from pillar to mail! I mean, that's the life we used to have.'

This sentiment of being perceived, of understanding about their life, was conveyed by a participant in a former regal Albert residents' reminiscence assembly who proclaimed proudly: “I know about the regal Albert! I know about the regal Albert!”

Contributing to a sense of persona and increasing confidence

The Carlisle study Co-operative wrote an item called 'We are all in the identical vessel: Doing persons directed research.' This co-operative in 2004 comprised 8 persons, 6 of who were marked as having discovering difficulties, the other two individuals acting in a function of 'involved support'. They study aspects of the annals of people with learning adversities, and have just started a Heritage Lottery financed project to explore this history in relative to wartime Cumbria. In mirroring upon the significance of history to them the assembly writes in their article:

'We think that distributing history and familiarity presents people a widespread bond. It makes them feel stronger about battling for change. If people seem they are solely they will seem they cannot change any thing because it is too large-scale to change things alone. People's knowledge give confidence to other persons to make changes and move on, we have glimpsed this happen in our own group.'

In contemplating the reason of people with discovering adversities recollecting and sharing their histories, the reviewers of the book Forgotten inhabits contend that: 'the study of history can contribute to a sense of persona.' Part of individual persona is a sense of our own annals; and 'a sense of the annals of a group ...