Effective communication with people with disabilities - Essay Example

? Effective communication with people with disabilities Introduction: Learning and developing good communication skills with others is very essential in our daily lives. These skills go a long way in helping people cope with different situations and possess the ability of handling different situations. According to Carlopio and Andrewartha, Supportive communication is a method of communication that involves very distinct means and methods of communication to ensure that information is passed on correctly. The main objective of supportive communication is to ensure that a healthy relationship exists between the persons involved in the communication, and at the same time, solving the problem or conflict that exists (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). Supportive communication is used in many types of interactions, such as between managers and employees, students and their teachers, or even parents and their children. Friends, business partners can also use supportive communication as it is effective when it comes to their interactions. For persons with disabilities, supportive communication is a very useful tool of communication as it ensures proper communication takes place (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). People working with persons with disabilities need to learn the techniques of supportive communication as it can result in more effective communication. Working with persons with disabilities can be challenging but using supportive communication brings a lot of benefits which make communication so much easier. The use of supportive communication ensures that the message is delivered as accurately as possible in the most effective manner (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). It also improves the relationship between the parties involved in the communication. Supportive communication is also a very effective tool for reducing misunderstanding that occurs in communication especially when it involves persons with disabilities (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). Key principles, ideas or theories of the practice approach Effective and supportive communication with people with disabilities is based on several key principles. Two of these key principles are human rights and normalization. Human right has different definitions. One of the definitions is that, rights are moral or legal permissions or entitlement (Ashby & Ashby, 1997).. In the theory of justice, rights are of vital importance and therefore everybody should be on the forefront to advocate for equal treatment and respect of human rights. In the past, different people were granted different rights according to their ranks. Some people had more rights than others due to their authority in the society or hierarchy. The origin of rights is in the pre-capitalist societies where a right was defined as a system of socially regulated freedom. There are different types of rights; they include civil rights, political rights, and human rights (Ashby & Ashby, 1997). These rights must be met in order for people to live in harmony. However some laws across the globe have not been in the forefront to advocate about human rights especially concerning persons with disabilities. All humans are equal despite their physical, mental or developmental condition (Owen & Griffiths, 2009). According to the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), all members of the human family deserve inherent dignity and equal inalienable rights. Article 34 calls for the establishment of a committee that will handle all the cases on the rights of persons with disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006). According to article 9 on accessibility, every person with disabilities has a right to live independently and contribute entirely in all aspects of life. This is possible through by the help of the state parties on taking the right steps in ensuring that persons with disabilities have access to information and communication on an equal basis with other people. On the other hand, article 21 allows persons with disabilities to air their opinion and expressions. This article also gives persons with disabilities the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas just like any other person by use of all forms of communication of their choice (UNCRPD, 2006). The Principle of Normalization is about the experiences, methods, and ideas that individuals working with mentally handicapped persons have or develop as they interact with their patients. This principle also means incorporating every person with disability and their pattern of life together with their condition of their lives. These conditions are in line with the normal circumstances and the ways of life in the society. Another definition of normalization principle is the recognition of persons with disabilities, collectively with their disabilities, thus presenting them similar conditions that are offered to other people (Nirje, 1969). The main idea when applying this principle is to allow persons with disabilities live a normal life as much as possible, their disability notwithstanding (Stahl, 2004). The application of this principle should be to all mentally disabled persons regardless of their age, degree of retardation or where they live. Application of the normalization principle allows individuals to be able to adapt to changes in the social scene and also allows people with mental and physical disabilities to live lives that are very close to the patterns of the general society (Horejsi, 1979). Normalization principle also advocates for persons with disabilities to be allowed to make choices in their lives and their preferences. In line with this principle, Article 9 of the UNCRPD advocates for the enabling of persons to live independent lives where they can be able to participate in all aspects of life. In addition, this article contains measures to make the lives of persons with disabilities easier. According to this Article, State Parties have the responsibility of ensuring that access to transport, communication and information systems as well as other facilities and services available to the public, are also available to persons with disabilities. Principles, key practice actions and implementation procedures of effective and supportive communication There are a number of principles that attempt to make communication with persons with disabilities efficient and friendly. Most people are afraid of or avoid communicating with them and this poses a challenge especially in the work environment. The primary goal of these principles is to promote the intellectual development of persons with disabilities and improve their self-esteem (Sands & Wehmeyer, 1996). Following these principles prevents conflict between individuals and persons with disability. Supportive communication is centred on eight principles, one of them is congruence principle (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). The right way to communicate is to link both verbal and non-verbal communication. For persons who have hearing impairments, it would be good to use a person who understands sign language to help with communication. Another tactic to use is to talk clearly and write down the issues which are not understood properly. According to the congruence principle it is essential to match what one is thinking of, to what he or she is feeling. On the other hand, incongruence is one problem that has affected communication between individuals and persons with disabilities. This is the gap between what one is aware of and what he or she is undergoing (Whetton & Cameron, 1998). For communication with persons with disabilities to be effective, one needs not to have assumptions as to what they need. It is important to articulate the issues that they present without ignoring some of their needs which may seem quite taxing. Supportive communication also operates under the conjunctive principle (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). This is joining of the previous message with the current one. This makes the flow of the sentences to be smooth thus promoting good communication between individuals and persons with disabilities. However, this smooth flow can be affected in three ways. These are, being interrupted by other persons or while catching one's breath, extended pause, or interruption by a person who unilaterally introduces the next topic of discussion (Whetton & Cameron, 1998). Communicating with persons with disabilities should be in a manner that supports them, rather than reproaching them (Egan, 1986). Another strategy of effective communication is that it should focus on the problems that are facing the person with a disability and look for solutions to those problems rather than dwelling much on the individual’s features. This means that effective communication is supportive. Individuals should not centre on the characteristics of persons with disabilities because in most cases this tends to lower their self-esteem. When this is guaranteed, the people with disabilities will feel valued and accepted in the society. Communication with persons with disabilities should perfectly match with our experiences, engagements, emotional state and views (DH, 2001). For example, one's feelings might be absolutely different from what one communicates to other people. An individual might be feeling overjoyed and cheerful but the content of his or her words does not match that. This makes it very difficult for the disabled person to understand the message that this kind of person is trying to pass. Descriptive communication should be used to prevent judging persons with disabilities and their behaviour. It should also ensure that it does not negate the uniqueness of the persons with disabilities (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). For instance, when communicating with a person who is visually impaired, one needs to learn to announce their presence when they enter the room. Individuals also need to avoid shouting when addressing persons with visual impairment as well as the use of directional words such as right or left. Communicating with persons with hearing impairments is most effective when an individual uses a sign language interpreter, or writing something down to ease communication. In some cases, the people communicating with the persons with disabilities may dwell on their power and supremacy (Firth & Barber, 2011). This may give the impression that the other person is incompetent and inadequate which ends up hurting their feelings. This makes them to be silent and not to contribute to the discussion. Therefore, this kind of behaviour should be avoided. Validation of communication should be encouraged since it helps the disabled to feel treasured and acknowledged. In addition, another principle explains that when communicating with the disabled people, negative statements should be avoided (O’Brien, 1997). . This helps avoid statements that may cause problems. Area of work I am interested in: The area of work that I am interested in is a certified occupational therapist. Occupational therapy is the use of treatment to recuperate, progress, or sustain daily activities of persons with mental, physical or developmental disabilities. The key role of this profession is to focus on enhancing participation and activities that are of great help to the client. Nature of my future work: In the future as an occupational therapist I would like to take care of school-going children with disabilities, it is of utmost importance that I use supportive communication when interacting with these children. This may be done by assisting these children to obtain basic skills when it comes to writing, by helping them to learn how to write. This will advocate for persons with disability to achieve the goal of obtaining an education (Goodley & Ramcharan, 2010). For example, when talking to these children and the sports that they would be interested in, I should present evidence to support my ideas and encourage them that they are as good as any other students who do not have disabilities. In addition, these children need to be encouraged to join the gym so as to enhance their muscles and also to develop a positive attitude towards their own bodies. It is also my responsibility to inform them of the risks involved but also be quick to offer acceptable and alternative solutions to these problems. As an occupational therapist, I would also ask the students to offer their ideas and, or alternatives to what they think they should do, as well as things they should avoid As an occupational therapist I will use the validating not invalidating strategy while dealing with persons with disabilities (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008). This would really help me in relating with my clients because they will have a sense of belonging since they feel that they are valued and wanted. This can be achieved by either holding their hand while talking, doing nothing else while listening to them. I will also use the validation strategy to sort through the emotions of the client (Hall, 2012). In addition, it is also essential to try and guess what the person with disability is thinking because these people tend to have different abilities to know what they are feeling. For example, some clients confuse excitement and anxiety while others confuse happiness and excitement. Furthermore, there have been cases where some of the clients hide their feelings because others have continuously shown a lack of proper reaction to their sensitive problems (Hall, 2012). As an occupational therapist I will use radical genuineness strategy so as to understand my clients feeling on a very deep level (Hall, 2012). This can be achieved through sharing that experience as equals with my client Barriers to, or difficulties in, using this practice approach: There are certain barriers that are evident in relation to using this approach with people with disability. When these barriers have been noted, it will help me as an occupational therapist to come up with solutions that would help in fostering good relationships and effective communication with persons with disabilities. Sometimes, therapists tend to use harder terminologies when communicating with people with disabilities (Collins, 2009). As a result, their clients may find it hard to comprehend the ideas that occupational therapists are trying to explain and thus making it difficult for these clients to follow instructions and advice. This makes the therapy process to take longer and this causes recovery of clients to take a long time. It is quite difficult for clients to follow the right prescription because of lack of effective communication. This may lead to an overdose or under medication which could be potentially dangerous to the lives of clients. Some of the family members of persons with disabilities have little or no knowledge at all of what their loved ones are suffering. Therefore, when it comes to explaining what is happening to their family members, it consumes a lot of time. Ways in which barriers and difficulties can be overcome: According to Pereira (2011) to have a better relationship and effective communication with persons with disabilities, one should come up with a few steps to guide other occupational therapists that one works with. These steps will aid my colleagues and me in designing the teaching and learning activities that will be favourable to both our clients and their loved ones. These steps are, outlining the learning objectives, developing the introduction of each therapy session, planning the specific learning activities, developing a conclusion and a preview of how the therapy session will conclude, as well as creating a realistic timeline for persons with disabilities can be able to achieve their goals (Bloomberg, West & Severe, 1998). These key steps will help members of the staff in managing the activities of persons with disabilities when they come for therapy. The lesson plan does not have to be an exhaustive document for it to be effective. It is not possible to describe each student’s response or questions but the plan will provide a general outline of the teaching goals. Barriers to effective communication with persons with disabilities can also be overcome by the use of the eight principles by Carlopio and Andrewartha. One of the key principles to use is the congruence principle. This principle states that to achieve effective communication one should link both verbal and non-verbal communication. For instance someone who understands sign language should be present when communicating with a person who has hearing impairments. Another principle to consider is the conjunctive principle. This principle overcomes the barriers to effective communication with persons with disabilities by joining of the previous message with the current one thus making the flow of the sentences to be smooth (Carlopio & Andrewartha, 2008) Conclusion: As humans, it is required of us to learn how to interact positively with people with disabilities. One of the ways we can do this is by communicating properly with them. Some people are physically impaired and need some assistance to be able to move around (Nankervis, Hamilton & Neville, 2001). They use devices such as crutches, wheelchairs or walkers. 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