Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

237“Yeah … Peggy lick my face.”“You love Peggy, don’t you?”“Oh yeah.” With growing excitement she takes hold of my arm.I feel spare lunchtime ebbing away and it isn’t until the themes areenthusiastically articulated three or four times that I feel able to prise my armfree, and bid Gladys goodbye.Reflection and AnalysisAs I proceed to my office I begin to realize how poorly I have treatedGladys. These random conversations are among the most natural conversationsone can have in this place. They are not connected to any appointment. They’reoutside of a clinical context required by the requisite health professional or me.The conversation is often initiated by the person with an intellectual disability, asopposed to the professional addressing a medical concern.I feel they come closest, within this setting, to the amiable conversationyou might have with your neighbour over the back fence. You know how it goes.“G’day Frank, how’re ya roses goin? Mine are getting aphids. Damnbeggars. You getting aphids?”OK, so there’s no persistent “Hey there!” and there’s no grasping of arms,but there is the gravitation to familiar themes and the desire to share simpledomestic details or enquiries with someone who will listen. And I only listened,albeit with an eye on my watch, after Gladys’s persistent “Hey there!” woredown my resistance.I don’t feel proud of myself. I rail at myself regularly, and sometimes atothers, over what I call the ‘five-minute therapies’ offered by the medicos,usually signifying little beyond required medical conversation and prescription.Yet here I am just as palpably showing a lack of genuine interest in the personalagenda of another who simply wants to be heard. And I reflect as to whether ornot I was particularly disrespectful of her pleas because her intellectual disabilityveiled her capacity to discern my behaviour as disrespectful. And all she wantedof me was a genuine listening ear for a few minutes. I know I need to claim timefor myself but would my day be ruined if my lunch is reduced from 30 to 20minutes?This story reminds me that as a professional pastoral carer working in thisinstitutional setting I have to juggle my administrative responsibilities and more