Disability Services: Community Engagement Student Placement Report

This report reflects on a student's placement experience within a disability community, focusing on community engagement activities facilitated by 'Your Side Disability Services'. The placement involved various activities, including yoga, karaoke, lunches, and shopping trips, aimed at fostering social inclusion and community participation for individuals with disabilities. The report identifies challenges such as transportation logistics and explores the theoretical underpinnings of community engagement, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and person-centered approaches. It also addresses the ethical considerations and personal impact of the placement on the student's values and assumptions, emphasizing the need for compassion, respect, and a focus on individual capabilities rather than limitations. The report concludes with suggestions for improving community engagement within the organization, advocating for social models of disability and addressing systemic inequities to promote a higher quality of life for people with disabilities. The student developed skills such as compassion and understanding the barriers faced by disabled individuals.

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Disability
Name:
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

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Introduction
While on placements as students we were given tasks to serve a community of people. In our
activities we chose people living with disabilities, community engagements and building
strengths and capabilities by the disabled. A community living with disabilities is delicate to
handle as some may get injury threatening accidents in the cause of their movements. Although
disability does not necessarily mean inability to perform normal duties, most of them actually are
limited in the taking care of themselves and require a lot of help (Annamma, 2015). The help
includes movement and pushing of their wheelchairs from one place to another and lifting them
up. However, the following should be considered in handling a person with disability in a
community
Use language with consideration
Some terms that are considered appropriate often vary from one group of people to another and
from one generation to another. A good general rule to follow is to consider the person before the
disability. For example, a person with a disability is not a "handicapped woman" or a "crippled
man". Similarly, Sister Jaramillo is also not a "handicapped" or a "cripple". Better refer to the
person first and, if necessary, later refer to the disability (Bachen, 2018):
For members with disabilities, their family members or the people responsible for their care
Be patient as other members learn about disabilities and overcome misconceptions. Understand
that most members of the Church are willing to receive guidance on how to help and include

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those with disabilities. Keep in mind that other people who care could also get inspiration on
how to help.
 The kinds of disadvantage observed, and /or the client needs addressed during the
placement.
There are many disadvantages faced by people living with disabilities. They mostly include
movement from one place to another. This also includes intellectual disability. The current
concept of intellectual disability establishes that the person has a series of limitations to be able
to function autonomously at an individual and social level in a specific context. It implies
significant limitations in the level of intellectual functioning of the person. Disability is
evidenced basically when the person interacts with their environment (Davis, L.J., 2016).
Therefore, the level of consequences will depend as much on the limitations of the person, as on
the barriers or obstacles presented by the context in which he finds himself. It is more difficult
for people with intellectual disabilities to understand and understand what is happening around
them.
In addition, they find it more difficult to communicate and express their wishes and needs. It is
important to understand that intellectual disability is not a mental illness. There are many
different types and causes of intellectual disability. Some originate before a baby is born, others
during childbirth and others because of a serious illness in childhood. But always before 18 years
old. People with severe and multiple disabilities (very important limitations and the presence of
more than one disability) need support all the time in many aspects of their lives: to eat, drink,
wash, groom, dress, etc. An important part of people with intellectual disabilities have support
needs that are considered limited or intermittent (Howe and Straus, 2016).

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Like any of us, they are people with particular needs, attitudes, abilities and tastes, who therefore
want different things in their lives and also need different supports. What are the causes of
intellectual disability? There are four categories of factors that can occur before, during or after
the birth of a child. Is about:
 possible connections between the activities undertaken in the placement and
theoretical ways of understanding community engagement issues. (You need to
reference theory about community engagement and how that worked in reality).
At yourside disability services,
The disability has been, in recent years, a topic of interest not only for health professionals but
for institutions that have the responsibility to respond to the needs of these people. This is based
on statistics that over the years have set trends that are not entirely underestimated, especially
when the last census of the National Department of Statistics in Australia shows a figure in
which, of every 100 Australians , 6 have a permanent limitation, with conditions of restriction
that impact the satisfaction of their basic needs. Therefore, the goals of nursing care are focused
on helping people to make the most of their residual capacities, to maintain an optimal state of
health and to adapt to a lifestyle that was modified by the new condition (Werner, 2016).
This nursing care was traditionally offered in hospital centers and rehabilitation services.
However, the costs of long stays and the complications that derived from these in terms of
adaptation and social inclusion of people with disabilities, motivated the development of policies
aimed at promoting early discharge and developing strategies that would lead to the reintegration
of the people to the community. In such a way that the areas of care were modified and generated
the need to develop new services for the care and rehabilitation of these people.

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This first reflection puts us in front of a problem, which has been recognized by the different
states and its response has been in accordance with its sociopolitical and economic system. The
variability in the forms of care are linked and evidenced in the social security plans as a service
that offers guarantees in relation to complementary programs but at the same time imposes
restrictions, according to the regulations in force.
The complexity of the situations that arise in the care of people with disabilities and their
families cannot be addressed by a single discipline, they require work in interdisciplinary teams,
which is characterized by cooperation to achieve the proposed goals (Vehmas and Watson,
2014). This type of work requires a solid disciplinary training in each one of the members, in
such a way that they know the domain of their profession and their individual contribution to the
achievement of a common goal that is the rehabilitation of the patient and social inclusion.
 Suggestions for improving community engagement in the Placement Organisation.
While disciplinary knowledge is fundamental, when establishing a program, it is essential that
students agree to approach the problem from a common theoretical perspective. The programs
that currently exist are framed in rehabilitation models such as those focused on symptoms,
which are developed in hospitals and special education centers; the rehabilitation based on the

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community, centered on the medical model of promotion, prevention, treatment and
rehabilitation, with community participation (Lalvani, 2015).
In this sense, today the development of policies and programs becomes an axis of interest on
which the research actions should be oriented, in which the participation of the community
allows to advance in the different fields so that the people in condition of disability can achieve
the same levels of quality of life as those who are not in this situation and thus minimize social
exclusion. investigated the inequities to which people with disabilities were subjected. They
found that the indicators related to quality of life, such as health, education, employment,
political participation, recreation and general satisfaction with life were so low, that the
proposals should aim to achieve well-being from the areas of sport and physical activity, which
had been documented for the population that did not have disabilities (Kulick and Rydström,
2015.).
The impact of the placement on the student’s own values, assumptions and attitudes
relating to ethical workplace practice and social responsibility.
Although the results obtained are important, the placement showed the need to take social
models as a starting point since they demand responsibility for the environment in the process of
social inclusion. Historically, this has been fought with education, legislation and politics .
.

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Is intellectual disability cured? Intellectual disability is NOT a disease but, in some cases, it is a
consequence of an illness. Therefore, it is not something that "heals". Intellectual disability refers
to an important limitation in the functioning of the person, not to the limitation of the person.
And the limitation in the operation is a consequence of the interaction of the limited capacities of
the person with the environment in which he lives. Furthermore, intellectual disability is not
static, because with the right supports a person with intellectual disability will improve in its
functioning and its adjustment to the social, physical and cultural context in which it lives.
The impact of the placement on the student’s own values, assumptions and attitudes relating to
ethical workplace practice and social responsibility (Siebers, 2017)
Smile and be spontaneous.
Focus on the capabilities of the person. Do not focus on disability to the point of no longer
seeing the person.
Talk to the person with the disability (or those responsible for your care, if appropriate) about
how you can be included in the activities and what makes you feel comfortable.
Be respectful. Offer help if they ask for it or if it is obvious that it is needed. Do not move
wheelchairs or other devices to get around without the owner's permission.
When speaking with a person with hearing impairments, speak slowly and directly. Do not
assume that a person with a hearing impairment or a speech disorder also has an intellectual
disability.
Be patient.

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Consider the feelings of the person when talking with others. Would you like to hear from you
what you are about to say about the person?
Remember to speak without raising the tone of voice unless the person has a hearing impairment.
Raising the tone of voice does not facilitate understanding.
The skills developed through the placement.
There are various skills developed through the students placement. They include
Compassion- it is a life skill to cater for the disabled and to feel for them. Almost everyone faces
hardships and difficulties at some point. However, for people with disabilities, barriers can be
more frequent and have a greater impact.
There are often multiple barriers that can make the performance of people with disabilities
extremely difficult, and even impossible. Below are the seven most common barriers. Often,
several occur at the same time.

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References
Annamma, S.A., 2015. DisCrit: Disability studies and critical race theory in education.
Teachers College Press.
Bachen, C., 2018. Giving voice: mobile communication, disability, and inequality.
Davis, L.J., 2016. The disability studies reader. Routledge.
Goodley, D., 2016. Disability studies: An interdisciplinary introduction. Sage.
Grue, J., 2016. The social meaning of disability: a reflection on categorisation, stigma and
identity. Sociology of health & illness, 38(6), pp.957-964.
Howe, B., Jensen-Moulton, S., Lerner, N. and Straus, J.N. eds., 2016. The Oxford Handbook of
Music and Disability Studies. Oxford Handbooks.
Kulick, D. and Rydström, J., 2015. Loneliness and its opposite: Sex, disability, and the ethics of
engagement (p. 376). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lalvani, P., 2015. Disability, stigma and otherness: Perspectives of parents and
teachers. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 62(4), pp.379-393.
Siebers, T., 2017. Disability aesthetics. In Disability, Space, Architecture: A Reader (pp. 81-90).
Routledge.
Vehmas, S. and Watson, N., 2014. Moral wrongs, disadvantages, and disability: A critique of
critical disability studies. Disability & Society, 29(4), pp.638-650.

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Werner, S., 2016. Measurement Methods to Assess Intellectual Disability Stigma. In Intellectual
Disability and Stigma (pp. 15-27). Palgrave Macmillan, London.