The social fabric of voluntary and community initiatives:On crafting space for meaningful relationships

The publication The social fabric of voluntary and community initiatives reflects on the role that voluntary and community initiatives can play in pressing societal issues. How do they contribute to such a social fabric? The publication is based on the ethnographic research of the University of Humanistic Studies. The most important insight is that voluntary and community initiatives do not simply strengthen social fabrics but perform the ongoing work of crafting space within these fabrics for something meaningful to emerge. Simply bringing people together does not automatically add value to people’s life. Among the support and activities in for example community centers, attention is needed to foster meaningful relationships. The publication is a special edition associated with Growing Older Together a development program of NOV (Association of Dutch Volunteer Organizations) in which older people are the resource to improve health and wellbeing

The social fabric of voluntary and community initiatives:On crafting space for meaningful relationships

The publication The social fabric of voluntary and community initiatives reflects on the role that voluntary and community initiatives can play in pressing societal issues. How do they contribute to such a social fabric? The publication is based on the ethnographic research of the University of Humanistic Studies. The most important insight is that voluntary and community initiatives do not simply strengthen social fabrics but perform the ongoing work of crafting space within these fabrics for something meaningful to emerge. Simply bringing people together does not automatically add value to people’s life. Among the support and activities in for example community centers, attention is needed to foster meaningful relationships. The publication is a special edition associated with Growing Older Together a development program of NOV (Association of Dutch Volunteer Organizations) in which older people are the resource to improve health and wellbeing

‘I can’t just go up to a person to ask what’s going on.’: How Dutch urbanites’ accounts of non-engagement enhance our understanding of urban care

In the context of increasing appeals to informal care in Western welfare state policies, questions concerning urban sociality acquire new significance. This paper aims to contribute to the emergent thinking on ‘urban care’ by situating it in policy debates concerning care responsibilities between citizens. We used small-scale focus groups among urban residents in The Hague (the Netherlands) to inquire into the accounts urbanites give of engaging or not engaging with perceived care needs of a stranger. Informed by Goffman’s ‘civil inattention’, we found that accounts of non-engagement highlight urbanites’ orientation towards maintaining friendly social interactions in the face of strange or worrisome situations. Urbanites feel that they should respect people’s choices even if these might hurt them. They fear that interference might be humiliating and they attribute to themselves the task of sticking to normality, while family members, friends or professionals might take on the task to intervene. This careful non-engagement, contrasted with long-standing accounts of urban indifference, enhances our understanding of urban care

COVID-19 IDD: A global survey exploring the impact of COVID-19 on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers

Background: This protocol outlines research to explore the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers. Evidence suggests that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience disparities in healthcare access and utilisation. This disparity was evident early in the pandemic when discussions arose regarding the potential exclusion of this population to critical care. Methods: An anonymous online survey will be conducted with caregivers, both family members and paid staff, to explore the impact of COVID-19 on this population in terms of demographics, living arrangements, access to services, the impact of social distancing, and also carer wellbeing. The survey will be developed by the research team, many of whom are experts in intellectual disability within their own jurisdictions. Using back-translation our team will translate the survey for distribution in 16 countries worldwide for international comparison. The survey team have extensive personal and professional networks in intellectual disability and will promote the survey widely on social media with the support of local disability and advocacy agencies. Statistical descriptive and comparative analyses will be conducted. Ethical approval has been obtained for this study from University College Dublin’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HS-20-28-Linehan). Dissemination: Study findings will be prepared in a number of formats in order to meet the needs of different audiences. Outputs will include academic papers, lessons learned paper, practice guidelines, reports, infographics and video content. These outputs will be directed to families, frontline and management delivering disability services, national-level policy makers, healthcare quality and delivery authorities, national pandemic organisations and international bodies

Geven en nemen?: ‘Over wederkerigheid en andere patronen van contact tussen burgers met en zonder beperkingen in de samenleving’

De RIBW Groep Overijssel en Frion, hebben het Centrum voor Samenlevingsvraagstukken van de Gereformeerde Hogeschool in Zwolle, gevraagd een onderzoek uit te voeren dat inzicht geeft in wat ze kunnen verwachten van aandacht, hulp en steun van mensen uit de buurt, wijk en verdere contacten in de samenleving voor de mensen die zij begeleiding bieden. Bestaan er al contacten? Hoe zijn die contacten te typeren? En, een heel belangrijke vraag: Wat kunnen de RIBW Groep Overijssel en Frion doen om contacten tussen burgers met en zonder beperkingen te verstevigen en te bestendigen nu die sociale steunnetwerken van steeds groter belang zullen worden? De zorginstellingen willen een antwoord krijgen op deze vragen om verder vorm te geven aan de integratie van mensen met beperkingen in de samenleving en de ideële doelstelling van vermaatschappelijking (zorg door de samenleving) waar te maken. In het onderzoek stond de volgende onderzoeksvraag centraal: Welke patronen van geven en ontvangen worden aangetroffen in contacten tussen mensen met een beperking en hun medeburgers die elkaar ontmoeten en welke factoren blijken van belang voor het duurzaam worden van contact

Urban encounters limited: The importance of built-in boundaries in contacts between people with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities and their neighbours

People with intellectual disabilities or psychiatric disorders who live in ordinary neighbourhoods often have little contact with fellow residents without disabilities. Recent research suggests that we should not strive for warm contacts based on familiarity and shared values between utterly different groups in urban areas. Daily life between people with and without disabilities is described as a process in which boundaries are negotiated. This study builds on that observation. It was based in a middle sized town in the Netherlands and consists of a survey among people with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities and neighbourhood residents (not being support staff or relatives of people with disabilities); semi structured interviews and participant observation. We found that fruitful encounters between different groups depend on built-in boundaries in contacts. Positive encounters occur when roles are clear and boundaries do not have to be negotiated because they are given. Both parties benefit from boundaries and fixed roles: people with disabilities do not need social reflexivity or intricate social skills to find their way in the situation; people without disabilities can end the contact without being rude. In line with previous research we also found that positive neighbourhood contacts are usually light and superficial and result in conviviality rather than long term relationships