Edited by Ann Taket, Beth R. Crisp, Melissa Graham, Lisa Hanna, Sophie Goldingay, Linda Wilson
To be published 26th June 2013
Practising Social Inclusion presents what we know about what works, and why, in promoting social inclusion and practising in a socially inclusive way. Contributing to the growing debates on social inclusion, this book moves beyond discussion of who it is that is socially excluded and the processes of exclusion. It draws on research and reflective practice to answer the vital question of how to actually work towards inclusion and includes five sections looking at different arenas for practice: policy; programme design; service delivery; community life; and research. Relevant to all those working to promote, or researching, human health and wellbeing, this book is especially suitable for practitioners, students and scholars in health promotion, social work, social policy, public health, disability studies, occupational therapy and nursing.
What opportunities are there in your daily
life (as practitioner or researcher or citizen) for promoting social
inclusion? Which do you take and why?
In what ways do you think social inclusion
is important to health promotion?
This book will be presented at the IUHPE World Conference 2013 under the session Meet the Authors.
Fantastic work! I'm really looking forward to reading this. I have a few questions off the top of my head that are of interest to me, personally, although I probably will not focus on them, but something to keep things interesting.
ReplyDeleteHow can I identify social exclusion both as a social issue and in daily life?
Where does identity come into 'social inclusion/exclusion' and how does someone deal with a person or people who are allowing or leading to their own exclusion?
What are the biggest benefits of policy change towards social inclusion and where/which policy would have the highest impact?
How are governments currently supporting social exclusion (and marginalisation) and what should be the key recommendations towards positive change?
I might be a bit off track with these and I haven't had a chance to look at the book yet (which was coincidentally published on my birthday). But what an interesting and extremely important topic! Hopefully more discussion to follow.
Hi all and thanks for this opportunity to share my thoughts on opportunities for promoting social inclusion, both as a social issue and in daily life. I felt privileged to be part of the editorial team for the book 'Practising Social Inclusion'. Its chapters brought to life the lived experiences of those who may be vulnerable to social exclusion. Many innovative and practical ways we, as service providers, can really practice true social inclusion, are described within its pages.
DeleteIn my view, social inclusion encompasses so much more than just inviting people to be involved in an established organisation, service provider or even society. It is about ensuring that the policies, practices and culture have taken into account, and are flexible in responding to, the lived experience and cultural values of all who might use them. This is especially true for those who may not belong to the dominant mainstream in any country, those who have disabilities, and those who have been criminalised, to name a few.
In Australia, for example, many institutions and service providers are set up with Euro-westerners in mind. This means that processes to access services suit those who are familiar with reading and writing from left to right, completing forms written in English, asking for things directly and in English and so forth. All these hurdles even before even receiving a service! And then once in a service, socially inclusive practice requires that values and cultural practices of all who receive services need to be understood and respected and allowed to be expressed. There are so many examples in practice where flexibility and understanding/respect need to be further demonstrated in order for the service to be truly socially inclusive.
One area where I think we can practice social inclusion in our daily life in Australia is in our interface with First Australians. This does not mean that we need to rush over to Indigenous communities and try to get them to conform to what we think they should be doing! Instead, it means becoming aware of taking responsibility for our OWN colonising practises which we may inadvertently engage in every day.
I work as an academic and one of the things I've become aware of recently is how Euro-western centred our universities are, especially in what we consider to be 'academic skill'. Assignments with the highest marks are those that conform to the rational, linear argument, saying the most in the least amount of words. This epistemology is of course located in preferred Euro-western communication styles and is embedded in Euro-western history. It is taught in Euro-western schools and it just seems 'normal' and 'right' to those who have this background. This may not necessarily be considered skilled communication by some First Australian communities however. Robin Lynn (2001) alerts us to the value of story-telling, metaphor and more circular communication amongst Murri peoples. Such communication takes enormous amount of skill, and its purpose is as much about relationship building and identity as it is about communicating a message. So one of my challenges, to be truly inclusive in my practice as an academic, is to find a way to enable students to submit (and for me to mark and fairly grade) assignments in a variety of formats and structures. My purpose would be to recognise and value skills and cultural practices which I might not necessarily use myself or be familiar with. This is just one socially inclusive practice with one population, but there are many more. It would be great to hear others’ ideas.
Lynn, R (2001). ‘Learning from a 'Murri Way.' British Journal of Social Work, 31, 903-916.
Excellent questions - looking forward to discussing at length, but first I thought I'd put up details of the different chapters in the book, so that you can see all the different people involved and get a sense of the different issues addressed.
ReplyDeleteOnly two of us (myself, Ann Taket, and Melissa Graham will be at the conference, and we're looking forward to the discussions there. I am emailing the other editors and chapter authors so that they might respond to the questions posed on this blog.
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1 Scoping social inclusion practice
Ann Taket, Beth R Crisp, Melissa Graham, Lisa Hanna and Sophie Goldingay
PART 2: PRACTISING INCLUSION IN POLICY
2 Conscience clauses: your right to a conscience ends at my right to safe, legal and effective health care
Sarah Barter-Godfrey and Julia Shelley
3 Practising inclusion in policy design for people with disabilities
Natasha Layton and Erin Wilson
4 Practising social inclusion through regulation: occupational health and safety for commercial sex workers
Beth R. Crisp and Michael W. Ross
PART 3: PRACTISING INCLUSION IN SERVICE DESIGN
5 Inclusive service development: exploring a whole of organisation approach in the community service sector
Sarah Pollock and Ann Taket
6 Increasing social cohesiveness in a school environment
Karen Stagnitti; Mary Frawley, Brian Lynch and Peter Fahey
7 Inclusive service design for young people with learning disabilities who exhibit behaviours of concern
Sophie Goldingay and Karen Stagnitti
PART 4: PRACTISING INCLUSION IN SERVICE DELIVERY
8 Working for connection and inclusion: the role of front line practitioners in strengthening the relational base of marginalized clients
Mark Furlong
9 Experiments in social inclusion and connection: cases from Lebanon
Jihad Makhoul, Tamar Kabakian-Khasholian, Michael El-Khoury and Faysal El-Kak
10 Practising social inclusion: the case of street-based sex workers and the St. Kilda Gatehouse
Rachel Lennon, Pranee Liamputtong and Elizabeth Hoban
PART 5: PRACTISING INCLUSION IN COMMUNITY LIFE
11 Promoting social inclusion of frail older people living in the community
Ann Taket, Sarah Pollock, Lisa Hanna, Emily Learmonth and Peta Farquhar
12 Enabling new students to feel that they matter: promoting social inclusion within the university community
Beth R. Crisp and John Fox
13 Community-driven social inclusion practice: a case study of a multicultural women’s friendship group
Lisa Hanna and Jan Moore
14 Practicing social inclusion: Comfort Zone - a social support group for teenagers with High Functioning Autism
Jessica Gill, Pranee Liamputtong and Elizabeth Hoban
PART 6: PRACTISING INCLUSION IN RESEARCH
15 Preventing HIV through social inclusion using community based participatory research
Suzanne M. Dolwick Grieb, Ndidiamaka Amutah, Jason Stowers, Horace Smith, Kimberli Hammonds and Scott D. Rhodes
16 Inclusive research with people with intellectual disability: recognising the value of social relationships as a process of inclusive research
Erin Wilson and Robert Campain
17 Examining the notion of informed consent and lessons learned for increasing inclusion among marginalised research groups
Nena Foster and Emily Freeman
18 The invisibility of childlessness in research: a more inclusive approach
Melissa Graham
19 Inclusion in participatory research: what were the whitefellas doing in an Aboriginal health project?
Sarah Barter-Godfrey, Sarah Pollock and Ann Taket
PART 7: CONCLUSION
20 Implementing the social inclusion agenda
Beth R Crisp, Ann Taket, Melissa Graham and Lisa Hanna