Purpose, Satisfaction and Joy
in the Lives of Students with Deafblindness and the People Who Care
February 12-14, 2009 - Austin, TExas
Sponsored by
Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Texas Deafblind Outreach
Purpose, Satisfaction and Joy in the Lives of Students who are Deafblind
& the People who Care
Dr. Linda Mamer, Deafblind Specialist
Provincial Outreach Consultant
for Students with Deafblindness
10300 Seacote Road, Richmond, British
Columbia, Canada, V7A 4B2
604-668-6579
NOTES AND QUOTES
PURPOSE:
• Purpose is the anticipated result which guides decision making in choosing the appropriate actions within a range of strategies in the process (a conceptual scheme).
• Purpose is the aim, the intention and needs to be one of our guiding questions at each stage of programming, curriculum development.
We must ask:
• “What is our purpose here?”
• “What is the worth of this activity, program for the individual with deafblindness?”
• Each person on the team must be part of the brain-solving and problem- solving and the answering of these questions. This is critical.
With a Purpose, you can more clearly address the 4 elements of Intervention:
- Anticipation
- Motivation
- Communication
- Confirmation
“There is a fundamental human need for guiding ideals that give meaning to our actions.”
Roger Fisher, Harvard Law professor.
“One needs something to believe in, something for which one can have whole-hearted enthusiasm.
One needs to feel that one's life has meaning, that one is needed in this world.”
Hannah Senesh
“Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
Helen Keller
What was Annie Sullivan’s purpose, aim, intent with Helen
Keller?
David Brown heard Dr. van Dijk say, “it is not about getting the right answers; it is about asking the right questions.”
As a team, do we ask the right questions?
BELIEF
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.
When we truly believe in something, we commit to it, we become unshakeable in our belief. This is often based on past experiences that lead us to feel confident.
As professionals entering into the family of an individual with deafblindness we may know what we can do to help the individual. This world will be new and unfamiliar to the family. We are often asking the parents to make a “leap of faith” with us into what can work for the child. The leap of faith may not happen right away, as the parents are still trying to cope with all that is going on.
What was Annie Sullivan’s belief in Helen?
Why are beliefs important in the field of deafblind?
What beliefs do you hold?
“To succeed, we must first believe that we can”
Michael Korda
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
Anatole France
“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
SATISFACTION
• Satisfaction is the fulfillment of a need or desire and the pleasure obtained by such fulfillment.
• What does satisfaction look like for individuals who are deafblind?
• It often can look like motivation. What is motivating for them? If something is motivating for the individual and we utilize it, then they will hopefully enjoy the activity and feel satisfaction and, possibly, pleasure from the activity.
• What satisfaction would Cameron receive from Bella’s Biscuits?
• How did the team and the family find motivation to continue with Susie and her toileting training?
As professionals, we must not be satisfied until the realistic goals are achieved.
David Brown says
“Time: when working with children who are congenitally deafblind – it takes time and if it doesn’t take time, you are not doing it properly!”
“Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.”
Samuel Smiles
(Scottish author, 1812-1904)
“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”
Winston Churchill
PASSION
• Passion is an emotion, feeling very strongly about a subject or person, usually referring to feelings of intense desire and attraction, a person be very passionate or strongly interested about something.
• What did Laurel’s passions allow us to do?
Are you truly passionate about what you do?
"Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you."
Bill Cosby
“When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.”
Helen Keller
JOY
• Joy is the feeling of happiness, extreme cheerfulness.
How can we look for joy, happiness in the individuals who are deafblind?
How can parents feel joy, happiness?
“Joy is the feeling of grinning inside.”
Melba Colgrove
“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”
Richard Wagner
“Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• “The joy in life is to be used up for a purpose and I and to be used when I die.”
George Bernard Shaw
HOPE
• Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.
• Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.
How can we encourage the feeling of hope in families?
“Once you choose hope, anything's possible.”
Christopher Reeve
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Dale Carnegie
Quotes from Helen Keller:
“Usefulness, I believe, is the highest joy of man’s life.”
“A person who is severely impaired never knows his hidden sources of strength until he is treated like a normal human being and encouraged to shape his own life.”
“People wonder that I know joy and contentment when the wide realm of sunlight, color, song and laughter is barred against me. Well, I have always observed that those who express surprise at my enjoyment of life are those who use their senses imperfectly.”
More Quotes from Helen
Keller:
“My spirit was indeed in prison before my teacher came to me. But her love and the power of knowledge set me free, and I have lived happily in spite of my deprivations. I am seldom conscious of them, and I am never really in the dark.”
“Life is made up of joy and sorrow and in the long run we all get our share of each.”
Resources
This website has many examples from the Intervenors and school teams who support students with deafblindness across the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is a place to learn, to share, and to network. It is of most interest to people who work with school-aged children.
This is a blog from an young adult who is deafblind, his Intervenors and family. Since his graduation from high school, he is developing a business in a variety of areas, including hand-soap – in the shape of a hand! His graduation is highlighted in the blog – here is an excerpt “Cam and Reese - Reese is also a good friend to Cameron. He read a great poem and spoke about how important Cam's friendship is to him. Cam gave out Grad pictures and he got some very thoughtful gifts. The classroom kids made him a set of beads, each kid has their own bead to symbolize them. They also gave him a great class picture signed and another class picture with all the staff”.
Additional Websites:
DB-LINK, The National Information Clearinghouse on Children Who Are Deaf-Blind
- the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
- Deafblind International
- Sense - the National Deafblind Association in the UK
- the Canadian Deafblind and Rubella Association
- the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation
- California Deaf-Blind Services
Deaf-Blind Perspectives newsletter
(for the article by Misner, A.L. and Rosano, S.)
McInnes, J.M., Treffry, J.A, (1982) Deaf-Blind Infants and Children: A Developmental Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Opening definitions (purpose, belief, satisfaction, passion, joy and hope) are from Wikipedia.
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Outreach
1100 West 45th Street
Austin, TX 78756
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2009 Texas Symposium on Deafblindness – Mamer
Purpose, Satisfaction, & Joy