Working With Real People
The idea that individuals with intellectual disabilities are just people, only more so, takes many by surprise. The general public wants to be 'nice' to the disabled, they just don't know what to do around them. My counsel is to do whatever you do around your friends.
This statement and the comments in my last post are verified every time I have the opportunity to hang out with other individuals with intellectual disabilities. Yes, my diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome does allow me membership in that most exclusive of all groups, the"retards', or as I like to see it, those who are most human. We don't have to let culture and society dictate what it means to be human--we just are.
I volunteer at a work place for individuals with intellectual disabilities. For the last several months I have worked one on one or with a small group of clients. One gentleman, "Bert," loves electronics. However, his cerebral palsy does not allow him to do more detailed work like testing appliances, so I help him wrap electrical cords with rubber bands. This is a real job that needs doing. He is always asking for a stiffer or longer cord to wrap because he wants more money and thinks he will get more money if he does harder work.
In another department I work with a small group--two ladies and a gentleman. In this department the main work is shredding documents. One of the things that come with the documents are stickers--all different kinds of them. The problem is that the stickers can be shredded but the slick backing they come on cannot. So, the stickers must be removed and placed on paper. A real job. What I do is help these three people do a real job. For one of the ladies, "Amy," I simply fold back the liner from the stickers so she can pull off a sticker and stick it on the paper to be shredded. She does this as fast as she can move. She does not stop during the entire time I am there and gets impatient when I don't have stickers ready for her. Her only comment will always be "Mama is picking me up" or "the van is picking me up." She will say this many times over the hour and an quarter that I work with her.
The gentleman sitting next to her, "Marty," just likes to have a good time. He loves to laugh. I take the stickers off the backing and put them on the edge of his wheelchair tray where he is to take them and stick them on the paper on the tray in from of him. The task is completely within the range of his abilities. Most of the time he needs to be prompted physically each time to pick up a sticker. That is unless I stick the sticker on his nose or his ear or his forehead or all of them at the same time. This he thinks is the funniest thing in the world. He will laugh himself silly taking each sticker off and putting them on the paper. Some times he will attempt to use both hands simultaneously to double his laughs. Every now and then he will sneak his hand over to Annie's tray and grab her wrist and both would laugh like they had a private joke.
The third individual, "Annie," is relational in every thing she does. She has very limited movement of her hands and arms, so in the beginning I put the stickers loosely of the paper in front of her and had her press the sticker down with her hand. The second time I worked with her she showed me that she could pick up the sticker from the edge of her wheelchair tray, just like Marty could. She has become so adept at her job that I have a hard time keeping up with her. However, as I said that she is relational, she wants to be talked to, looked at, touched frequently to making it worth her while. Sometimes she wants me to put stickers on her hands for a laugh.
Each of these four individuals are just like all the workers we have all run across wherever we have worked. We have all seen the ambitious worker who wants to climb the ladder of success, willing to do harder work to make more money. There is the worker who clocks in and works, day in and day out, and talks about going home all day. Then there is the worker who is every one's friend and doesn't mind a flirt now and then. And there is always the funny guy who thinks they are lover boy and may sometimes need to be prodded to get the job done but is always ready for a laugh, even if it is at his own expense.
Like I said, just people, only more so.
This statement and the comments in my last post are verified every time I have the opportunity to hang out with other individuals with intellectual disabilities. Yes, my diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome does allow me membership in that most exclusive of all groups, the"retards', or as I like to see it, those who are most human. We don't have to let culture and society dictate what it means to be human--we just are.
I volunteer at a work place for individuals with intellectual disabilities. For the last several months I have worked one on one or with a small group of clients. One gentleman, "Bert," loves electronics. However, his cerebral palsy does not allow him to do more detailed work like testing appliances, so I help him wrap electrical cords with rubber bands. This is a real job that needs doing. He is always asking for a stiffer or longer cord to wrap because he wants more money and thinks he will get more money if he does harder work.
In another department I work with a small group--two ladies and a gentleman. In this department the main work is shredding documents. One of the things that come with the documents are stickers--all different kinds of them. The problem is that the stickers can be shredded but the slick backing they come on cannot. So, the stickers must be removed and placed on paper. A real job. What I do is help these three people do a real job. For one of the ladies, "Amy," I simply fold back the liner from the stickers so she can pull off a sticker and stick it on the paper to be shredded. She does this as fast as she can move. She does not stop during the entire time I am there and gets impatient when I don't have stickers ready for her. Her only comment will always be "Mama is picking me up" or "the van is picking me up." She will say this many times over the hour and an quarter that I work with her.
The gentleman sitting next to her, "Marty," just likes to have a good time. He loves to laugh. I take the stickers off the backing and put them on the edge of his wheelchair tray where he is to take them and stick them on the paper on the tray in from of him. The task is completely within the range of his abilities. Most of the time he needs to be prompted physically each time to pick up a sticker. That is unless I stick the sticker on his nose or his ear or his forehead or all of them at the same time. This he thinks is the funniest thing in the world. He will laugh himself silly taking each sticker off and putting them on the paper. Some times he will attempt to use both hands simultaneously to double his laughs. Every now and then he will sneak his hand over to Annie's tray and grab her wrist and both would laugh like they had a private joke.
The third individual, "Annie," is relational in every thing she does. She has very limited movement of her hands and arms, so in the beginning I put the stickers loosely of the paper in front of her and had her press the sticker down with her hand. The second time I worked with her she showed me that she could pick up the sticker from the edge of her wheelchair tray, just like Marty could. She has become so adept at her job that I have a hard time keeping up with her. However, as I said that she is relational, she wants to be talked to, looked at, touched frequently to making it worth her while. Sometimes she wants me to put stickers on her hands for a laugh.
Each of these four individuals are just like all the workers we have all run across wherever we have worked. We have all seen the ambitious worker who wants to climb the ladder of success, willing to do harder work to make more money. There is the worker who clocks in and works, day in and day out, and talks about going home all day. Then there is the worker who is every one's friend and doesn't mind a flirt now and then. And there is always the funny guy who thinks they are lover boy and may sometimes need to be prodded to get the job done but is always ready for a laugh, even if it is at his own expense.
Like I said, just people, only more so.
posted by Arthur Seale at 11:28 PM
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