OCTOBER13, 2016
VCU WEBCAST
Services Provided By: Caption First, Inc.
> GEORGE TILSON: Hello, George Tilson here. It's nice to be back with you again, along with Dr. Michael Ward, who is newly retired and looking ten years younger already. Mike presented a webcast on selfdetermination and employment about two years ago with Michael Wehmeyer. I really appreciate your being here, Mike. Our session today is on social capital, which is a concept that's been dissected, studied and written about since about 1900, if not before. It has been covered in a wide range of disciplines, including economics, education, history, medicine, sociology, human rights, and politics.
Social capital seems to have had a resurgence in the literature lately, especially as our society has undergone significant shifts demographically and culturally and politically. It has become a hot topic with regards to people with disabilities and others who are striving for full participation and increased opportunities in the broader community. We thought it warranted its own VCURRTC webcast. Before we dive into our session, it's useful to note that over the past three years the VCU Center on Employment of People with Physical Disabilities has provided information, resources and research on best practices for helping folks achieve their desired career and life outcomes. To date the center has presented over 20 webcasts and conducted a number of studies that cover the waterfront on issues ranging from assistive technology and accommodations, to job search strategies, selfdetermination and selfadvocacy, to financial and benefits management and ways to live what Chris Coleman calls an unconfined and full life.
Check out the webcast Chris did with Nancy BrooksLane in this series.
All of this got Mike and me thinking about what it takes to implement these practices. How do we ensure that effective strategies are actually put into place for a person, and do people with physical and sensory disabilities use these techniques or tools to overcome obstacles and achieve their aspirations?
> MICHAEL WARD: In preparing our talk, we found a lot of crossover in many of the themes that have emerged in the field of disability research.
Just to give you an idea, let's take a quick tour through these themes.
Empowerment and autonomy. Selfdetermination and selfadvocacy. Inclusion. Natural supports. Informed choice. Personcentered planning approach. Selfefficacy and collective efficacy. Customized employment. Quality of life. Civil and human rights and personal responsibility. Accommodations, access and assistive technology.
> GEORGE TILSON: The list goes on. All of these concepts are embedded in this notion of social capital. In fact, we find it impossible to read about and reflect on social capital without encountering these other topics.
There are many definitions of social capital in the literature, but we would like to start with a basic one that we have come up with. Social capital refers to all of the connections we have to other people, in every aspect of our lives, throughout our lifetime.
Other words to describe these connections are relationships and networks, people who have a lot of social capital experience more opportunities, greater happiness, and achieve more of their desired outcomes than those who have very little social capital.
We had the opportunity to interact with a number of people with disabilities about what social capital means to them, and how they have acquired it. A common theme was making themselves known to others, being the kind of person that others wanted to be around, and contributing to every relationship, whether friends, colleagues, neighbors, romantic partners, acquaintances, and other contacts in their communities.
Neil Jacobsen is a former senior vicepresident of Wells Fargo Bank in charge of their information technology. He says and I quote: "My wife and I have been married for 33 years. We have a 29yearold son. I've always been very active in the disability movement. I have cerebral palsy. I use a powered wheelchair. I have a significant speech impairment, and I need ten hours a day of personal assistance services to help me with my activities of daily living. I know firsthand the importance of social capital.
"At Wells Fargo, my area was a highly skilled technical area. We did information technology for the bank. Often, when I attended meetings with people I didn't know, I observed their eyes grow wide, and their body grow tense as they looked at me, not knowing what to make of this odd looking guy in a wheelchair. I always took on the responsibility of making them feel at ease. I'd crack a joke about my New York accent, or engage them in chitchat. I knew that unless they felt comfortable with me, our work could not proceed."
For people with physical disabilities who have speech that is difficult for others to understand, the challenge of building social capital is one that has to be overcome in creative ways, whether through the use of assistive technology, augmentative devices, personal assistants, social media and the Internet, and like Neil, with a healthy dose of good humor.
Ed Bartz is the managing editor for the online CapAbility Magazine. He writes: Being a person born with a severe physical disability, communication has always been the most significant of all the obstacles I've faced. Since I was a youngster, my intellectual ability has always been questioned due to my oftenunintelligible verbal communication. Thankfully, through technology, various communication devices and lots of speech therapy, I am now quite skilled at communicating my thoughts, and more importantly, my witty and sarcastic ways.
> MICHAEL WARD: I agree with Ed and Neil. As a person with a speech impairment and a accent, I learned early on that I had to make myself understood, and I had to make other people understand me, whether they wanted to or not. They often had information that was critical to reaching my goals. And it was of the utmost importance that they communicate with me. This required my being assertive, determined, and persistent.
> GEORGE TILSON: Again that theme of selfdetermination is interwoven with social capital. Another theme is reciprocity. Or put another way, relationships are a twoway street. You have to put something in to every relationship you have.
> The biggest single thing I have done to increase my social capital is to put myself out there. I volunteer and take on tasks that I know I can do, but perhaps professionally I haven't had the opportunity. I try to fill a role that fits me and that I can be most successful in doing, whether that be professionally or even with friends and neighbors.
I want to invest myself in whatever project is happening, somehow. I may not be able to build a deck or put up a fence, when it comes to neighbors or family, but if I can prepare food or bring drinks, set up music, or do some small thing to help be a part of a project, I will.
> GEORGE TILSON: Chris is a filmmaker who has his own business. He was featured in the webcast I facilitated called The Opportunity Game.
When it comes to opportunities, Alexandra Dixon has devoted her life to being an active participant in many community causes. She says building social capital means you have to get out there, be there, show up.
Here is a quote she wrote to me. Speaking of showing up and social capital, in college I did an internship. A few years later I volunteered for a political campaign. A few years after that, I attended an opening of a new women's shelter. Someone came up to me and asked, did you work on so and so's political campaign? I remember you. She asked if I would serve on a commission. It happened to be the statewide independent living council. Well, this changed the course of my life. Alexandra's quote is a great illustration of the fact that social capital is comprised of three different types of networks: Bonding, bridging and linking. These have been cited by a number of sources including the University of Minnesota's Extension Center for Community Vitality, and Michael Woolcock of the World Bank and Harvard University.
> MICHAEL WARD: Bonding networks are characterized by the close ties that help people get by on a daily basis. They are primarily homogeneous connections with family, friends and neighbors, who share similar beliefs and life circumstances. These are people we know well and with whom we share things in common. You might say we have an affinity with these people.
> GEORGE TILSON: Most of us are members of a bonding network which provides us with a sense of belonging and solidarity, like I have with Mike. Those who lack a bonding network may be extremely isolated and vulnerable. Homeless or elderly people, and many of those with disabilities, can find themselves without such support.
In some cases, there can be a down side to bonding networks. For example, some groups become so insular that they may reject the perspectives of or even exclude those they see as outsiders. An example of this in our field might include organizations that serve people with disabilities in segregated facilities or programs that don't see communitybased, competitive employment as an option.
Another example might be a group of people with particular political views who are disinclined to even consider the ideas of those with different political affiliations. In the most extreme cases of negative bonding networks, societies have to grapple with the phenomena of gangs and cults.
> MICHAEL WARD: But for most of us, bonding networks are an essential part of our lives.
In fact, as Chaz Kellem tells us:
> My biggest piece of advice for building your social capital is to start where you are. Start with the people who are closest to you, and expand from there. Ask them to introduce you to people they know, and so on.
> GEORGE TILSON: A bridging network consists of connections with others who are outside one's bonding network, making it heterogeneous in nature. Typically, these are people we don't know well. The advantage of a bridging network is that it links us to external resources and gives us access to more opportunities than we might otherwise have. It's also an avenue for disseminating information. For example, a bridging network has very valuable, is valuable to someone looking for job contacts, ideas and leads or wants to gain new experiences.
> Before I started my own business, a statewide group I was volunteering with needed a new logo, website and video work done. I volunteered my time and energy to do those things, which led to an increased role in the group. That in turn led to more videos. The connections and time I put in there led directly to my first secured contract for video production for my business. One of the group's stakeholder agencies needed videos produced, and knew of the videos that I had done for the group. I maintain a working relationship
(no audiowebcast link says it is not active and to return later. I keep trying to connect.)
> I knew my boss before becoming her employee, because her husband is head of a committee, in which I sit as secretary. I also knew her son.
> GEORGE TILSON: Alexandra goes on to say the lines between professional connections and personal ones can be very blurry. Mike, you were telling me a story about a high school kid who wanted a job in a warehouse, but wasn't having much luck.
> MICHAEL WARD: A good friend lived next door to this young man. His dad was on a community volunteer committee with the manager of one of these big box stores. The friend's dad spoke to the manager about what a good worker Joe was and he was rehired. What's the difference between these two types of networks?
Bonding social capital constitutes a kind of sociological super glue, whereas bridging social capital provides a sociological WD40, Robert Putnam says.
> GEORGE TILSON: It's the collective value that comes from the social networks or groups.
> MICHAEL WARD: Exactly.
> GEORGE TILSON: That make it possible for an individual to achieve things they couldn't on their own. The sociologist and physician Dr.Nicholas Christakis says these networks offer benefits not just for us as individuals within a network but for the community as a whole. More concepts emerge from this, trust, reciprocity, altruism and generosity. Something you have heard me say, Mike, people do business with people they know, they like and they trust. The same holds true for people we hang out with socially.
> MICHAEL WARD: Frankly, to me, a big part of social capital has to do with how well you get along with other people.
> GEORGE TILSON: To quote Neil, social capital is the ability to be liked. It is by far the most important asset anyone has in both their professional and personal lives. All other assets and attributes can be acquired or compensated for if a person knows how to be liked, knows how to engage with people, and notion how to appear to be alive, engaging, excited about life, I know that all the technical stuff can be learned if the social capital is there. Conversely, without social capital, technical skills are often useless.
Here is Alexandra again.
> I think I have a lot of social capital because of who I am naturally. I'm naturally an extrovert. I love talking to people and hearing their stories. I'm also very involved in my community. I learned that when you show up, people ask you to do things. When you do things, more people get to know you. It is sort of a snowball effect.
> Social capital has been so very important to my success in life. After I received my Bachelor's and Master's degree, it was very important to have a solid network around me. These are professional and personal networks. Some of them cross over. But what is most important is having quality people in my life, and being a quality person myself. You really have to be someone that others respect. That respect is like a magnet. It attracts people. Relationships are critical. It is not just who I know, but who knows me.