Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

27architectural forms of present-day practice may have assumed a morecontemporary and seemingly enlightened form; however, there is far more todeinstitutionalisation than changes to location and physical design, and thisincludes issues related to people with an intellectual disability having their voiceand story heard.However, to speak of the historical and contemporary silencing of thedisability voice does not fully describe the extent to which people with disabilityhave been and are excluded across secular and theological arenas of society. Assignificant as it is in itself, the loss of voice points to an even broader loss forthose of the disability community. For when the narratives of people withdisability are not heard – either for institutional or other socio-politically derivedreasons – and where the contribution of people with disability to contemporarysecular or theological debates is discounted, it is not only the voice of people withdisability that has been silenced, it is their identity. Furthermore, where thesilencing of communities of people with disability occurs, the community identityis also silenced. When people with disabilities within institutions and othercongregate settings are denied access to each other’s narrative then personalunderstanding of identity gained through interpersonal interaction is denied. 22Not only do people with a disability lose the right to speak and be heard, accessto a first-hand understanding of who these people are is also lost. Identityunderstanding then becomes a second-hand discourse of being talked about bythe able-bodied.Therefore, as one of the very few chaplains in Australia offering pastoralcare to people living with intellectual disability in the institutional context, Iclaim a unique capacity to reveal a measure of the identity of these silencedpeople through authentic description of their narrative and lived context 23 It isFor further discussion of this term see 3.2.4 Mini-Institutions.22 Darling, Rosalyn. "Toward a Model of Changing Disability Identities: A ProposedTypology and Research Agenda." Disability & Society 18, no. 7 (2003): 881-95, 889.This issue is also acknowledged from an historical, institutional perspective in,Schweik, Susan. The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public. (New York & London: New YorkUniversity Press, 2009).23 Further reference to the importance of narrative, both in terms of epistemology, methodand pastoral practice is included in chapter 5. Claims to authenticity will be justified in thischapter.