Youth, Disabilities and Transitioning into Adulthood
There is a long history of ignorance towards people who have been afflicted
by a disability that has led to such cruel acts as lobotomies, sterilization,
imprisonment, parent blaming and general isolation and segregation. An
introduction to the culture of disability plays a key role in transforming the
outdated ideas about disability by those without disability. It is important
that a person with a disability is defined as a person first and the disability
is second instead of being labeled as disabled where the disability defines the
person (Tower, 2003). “People with disabilities want to be treated like
ordinary people, not elevated or reduced in status in comparison to others”
(Tower 2003, p. 15). Those with a disability are stepping out of stigmatization
by redefining their disability as a culture and as having power because their
power is in difference and in great numbers speak as one voice. Yet this
culture is no different than any other race, culture or religion that is
discriminated against in our society. Those with disabilities tend to be among
the highest unemployed, at the highest rates of poverty, and facing stigmatization
that affects socio-economic status and well being.
If the ignorance, labeling and discrimination of disability are not enough, Mendes and Snow
(2014) suggest that there is a widespread deficit in preparing, transitioning and
sustaining those afflicted with a disability as they transition out of care or simply
into adulthood at the age of 18. Most care leavers were put into care due to
abuse and neglect so transitioning out of care is an important step. Transitioning into adulthood is a difficult
and scary time for all youth yet poor outcomes are all too common youth with
disabilities where difficulties are magnified greatly by their vulnerability. However,
instead of aiding them to be able to live fulfilling lives, often people with
disabilities are placed inappropriately in old age homes due to a lack of
accommodations, resources and support. Mendes and Snow (2014) suggest that
transition planning should exist in many domains of life which include things
like housing, health, education, employment and social networking. Instead,
transitions are not well planned, are inadequate, and the response to need is
repeatedly driven by crisis rather than preplanning. In fact many people with disabilities
who transition out of state care have few options and very often ask to be
reunited with their biological families, many of whom have abused and neglected
them in the past, too often resulting in incarceration or homelessness. In
addition, those who have loving families also struggle to find information, resources,
accommodation, financial assistance and general aid to ensure an independent,
fulfilling and happy life for their children with a disability. To make matters
worse, Menes and Snow (2014) suggest that many people with disabilities also have
additional mental health issues and yet they are not aided to receive needed treatment
in adulthood. As a consequence they have difficulty with simple life tasks like
cooking, shopping, finances or retaining support and medical services. Greater
collaboration between agencies is needed, especially between child protection
and disabilities services and to ensure those who are transitioning out of care
have preplanned and ongoing support and care to ensure their well being into
adult life. In addition organizations need to ensure that information about
planning for the future needs to be communicated years before children,
families and state care facilities are expected to send youths into adulthood
and the adult world.
Finally, narrative
approach which is a post modern, social constructionist approach helps those
with disabilities reinterpret their stories with new and empowering narratives.
Lambie and Milsom (2010) suggest that young people with disabilities are at far
greater risk for many things including risk taking, low self esteem, gang
involvement, substance abuse, bullying, teasing and incarceration largely due
to the defeatist language and hopelessness of their dominant negative self narratives.
One of the major goals of narrative therapy is to help clients to realize that
our knowledge and realities are socially constructed and thus are constantly
subject to change where one truth is not the truth but only one possibility.
Our job as a social worker is to help clients find the positive attributes and aspects
of who they are and the strengths they possess in their lives and help them to
retell their dominant negative narratives forged by past language, history and
culture in light of those strengths and positive attributes. Lambie and Milsom
(2010) suggest that we need to deconstruct the dominant story, help the client define
and externalize the problem, objectify and separate it from the person, look
for strengths and positive attributes and then empower the client to reconstruct
a new narrative using these once hidden and unearthed strengths and attributes to
allow them to look at their lives from a different and more positive
perspective.
I believe that
difference is important yet I also find it to be a dichotomy of concern. First,
difference causes isolation, discrimination, anger, war and strife and from the
beginnings of time has separated peoples, cultures, religions, skin color and
appearances. However, difference also allows us as a human race to grow, develop
and learn from one another. I truly wonder that if we were all the same would we,
or could we, ever evolve into higher beings? The trouble with difference is
that we place value on it instead of seeing it from a perspective of neutrality
and as a resource for all. Those very differences cause us to separate
ourselves, identify as groups, and confine ourselves from each other. Here is
the concerning and current dichotomy I feel we have; Difference can aid us in becoming
a better group of beings who together can do wondrous things and yet it also
separates us and forms division and often animosity, suffering and death.
As a social
worker, I feel it is my job, my duty and more important my moral obligation as
a human being to see all people as different and yet not divided but rather
playing different and essential parts in the whole of humanity, while advocating
on behalf of humanity to help them see this truth. Everyone is equal because
everyone is needed, everyone is important, everyone has a part to play and
everyone has strengths, value and uniqueness that need to be combined to create
a greater whole. No person is an island and no person was meant to be. We are
all connected and that connectedness needs to be nurtured and sustained and
enhanced.
So as a social
worker, how do I help facilitate this? I believe that one of the most important
skills and advocacy requirements is to ensure the well being of our children,
all of our children, and then to establish a well-defined transition into adult
hood where they are ready and well equipped for a sustained and happy life into
old age. Additionally it is important for all transitioning youth to see their incredible
worth and the worth of every other youth on our planet and that difference is not
only okay but it is necessary. We currently do a very poor job of this. If
there is one thing I have seen during my placement is the very dire need across
this province, and no doubt across this country, to ensure our children are
given the right tools, resources and support to make that important and crucial
successful transition into adult hood. We do such a great job protecting and
serving our children but we leave the vulnerable virtually abandoned when they
turn 18. The frightening result is that many of these young adults who come
from out of home care return to the same destructive lives we have saved them
from, or we leave a struggling family with very little or no support and
minimal resources left to take care of themselves and their child’s future. As
parents we would never do that to our children and yet as a society we do this
regularly to our disabled and needful children. Even those who have the means,
still struggle for resources, information and support in moving forward in transitioning
their child with a disability into a meaningful adult life. This makes me angry
as a parent and as a social worker because we seem to discard or devalue much
of our youth, who are our very future!
My belief is
that we need to aid these children in their transition to adulthood much more
than we currently do. I have found that many of our children relay narratives
which communicate low self esteem, hopelessness and a sense of defeatism which
compounds the existing transitioning problem. I feel very strongly that these
narratives need to be deconstructed, we need to search for the many strengths and
attributes found in every child’s daily living, and to reconstruct those
narratives to show these children that they are indeed special, valued, and can
accomplish great things once they have a narrative that exemplifies their
strengths, attributes and unique characteristics.
I look forward to
many years as a social worker helping children see their incredible value, strength
and much needed role in our every changing world and then help them transition
into the best people they can be in their adult lives.
References
Lambie G.W., & Milsom, A. (2010). A narrative
approach to supporting students diagnosed with learning disabilities. Journal of counselling & development,
88, 196-203.
Mendes, P., & Snow, P. (2014). The needs and
experiences of young people with disability transitioning from out-of-home
care: The views of practitioners in Victoria, Austraila. Child and youth services review, 36, 115-123.
Tower, K.D. (2003). Disability through the lens of
culture. In: International perspectives on disability
services: The same but different. Yuen, Francis K. O. (Ed.); Binghamton,
NY, US: Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press/The Haworth Press, pp. 5-22.
