Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

55inviting a variety of oppression discourses to emerge. I speculate as to what thediscourse might have been if indeed they had been finished and enabled toassume their intended place around the tomb of Pope Julius II.Slaves.And I keep thinking of the lives of those beleaguered and ever-bound2.2.2.3 A Contemporary Metaphorical Perspective: Who DoWe See?Discourses concerning the Slave metaphor raise penetrating questions asto perspectives on people with an intellectual disability living in institutionalaccommodation today. These questions are as follows:What is the nature of the oppressive burden that people with anintellectual disability experience living in an institutional context today?To what extent is that burden a part of who they are as a person livingwith a disability, and to what extent is it imposed by their lived context?To what extent are people with an intellectual disability stigmatized bythe labels that individuals and institutions place on them?To what extent do such labels limit their capacity to view themselves aspeople of worth, and to achieve their own goals and ambitions?However, most pointedly, these questions are not simply there to be askedof others who live and work in this institutional environment. These questionsapply to the pastoral carer who seeks to pastorally engage with people with anintellectual disability in this context. Therefore, as a pastoral carer, I consider mycapacity to oppress and to acquiesce to the oppressive nature of institutionallyimposedrelationship. I reflect on my capability to prejudicially construct labelsand stigmatize, and my capacity to let my pastoral focus be diverted from thosewith whom I seek to offer caring relationship towards those more widelyregarded as admirable.I am also compelled to consider who it is I view when I look upon thosewith whom I offer care. To what extent are they to me simply figuresrepresenting oppression, or human beings with whom I can engage pastorally,Sala, Michelangelo, 170.Wallace refers to this same figure as The Block-Head Slave.Wallace, Michelangelo, 96-97.This ascription is shared by the website author to which the plate that prefaces this chapter isattributed.