Theory of human flourishing for therapeutic recreation

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
James B. Wise, PhD, CTRS
Keyword(s):  
Personal Narrative ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Therapeutic Recreation ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Constituent Elements

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of a theory of human flourishing and to outline how the theory can guide therapeutic recreation specialists as they strive to improve the lives of people with disabilities and illnesses. According to the theory, a flourishing life is marked by excelling in one or more leisure practices, authoring a coherent personal narrative, formulating and pursuing a meaningful telos, negotiating traditions, and acting virtuously. These constituent elements are described and then quad rugby is used to illustrate how a particular leisure practice contributes to flourish through its effects on each element. The article concludes with tasks that therapeutic recreation specialists should undertake to promote flourishing in people with disabilities and illnesses.

A Personal Narrative Conveying Human Flourishing

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wise ◽  
Keith Barney
Keyword(s):  
Personal Narrative ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Therapeutic Recreation ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Living Well ◽  
Narrative Method

Human flourishing is gaining recognition and support as a central aim of therapeutic recreation (TR) services. However, missing from the extant scholarly literature are concrete, extensive depictions of people with disabilities who are living well. This is a critical omission because people need to be aware there are a multitude of avenues that lead to flourishing and that what flourishing looks like can differ from person to person. Furnishing portrayals of living well helps people grasp the diversity associated with flourishing and enables them to select and pursue a particular portrayal or meld multiple portrayals into a composite best suited to them and their environments. This article begins addressing the deficit by presenting a detailed portrait of human flourishing via a personal narrative. The text also discusses practical applications associated with using the personal narrative method and concludes with future objectives.

Holding the Future

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Freitag
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Group Homes ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Aging Parents ◽  
Adults With Disabilities ◽  
The Future ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities

Long wait lists for services and a dearth of people willing to work as caregivers ensure that many people, particularly with intellectual disabilities, continue to live with their aging parents. Informed by a personal narrative of a successful future for a person with intellectual disabilities, this chapter proposes three components that are essential for success. Adults with disabilities can benefit from establishing a life outside their parents’ home. They also need place to work and inclusion in the community. The communities created by L’Arche and the Brothers of Charity, where caregivers live and work together with people with intellectual disabilities, provide one model for care. The extent of current need makes it impossible to provide this for everyone, but some of the lessons learned from “living with” people with disabilities can perhaps be carried over into existing group homes or even institutional care settings.

Welcoming the Unexpected

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Genetic Traits ◽  
Moral Personhood ◽  
The World

This chapter proposes that recognizing the lived experience of disability as an informing principle of full moral personhood is essential to understanding what is required for human flourishing, which is a concept that ultimately supports a wide spectrum of human embodied existence. An attitude of humility and welcome toward the human experience of disability can serve to guide practice, policy, world building, and technology making in the world, all of which will enable individuals to flourish in their full distinctiveness rather than within narrowly conceived definitions of physical and genetic traits thought to be advantageous. A bioethics that intentionally and ethically shapes society, instead of shaping bodies, can urge us to create a shared world inhabitable by the widest range of human users, thus also a world that promotes the cultural, political, institutional, and material climate in which people with disabilities can most effectively flourish.

Developing a therapeutic recreation identity: A graduate researcher's personal narrative of grant writing and program design

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Annalise Doyle, MS, CTRS
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
Program Design ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Therapeutic Recreation ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Grant Writing ◽  
Professional Perspective ◽  
Shed Light

This personal narrative describes the process of a graduate student finding her professional identity as a recreational therapist through the grant writing and research process. The student details her experience of designing and implementing a therapeutic Zumba® program for youth at an afterschool program. The narrative attempts to shed light on the learning processes that occur during the experience and offers advice to other students developing their professional perspective.

scholarly journals Principals’ Roles and Responsibilities in Creating Inclusive School Environments for People with Disabilities

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Rougoor
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Physical Disability ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
School Environments ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Employees With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive School ◽  
Ontario Education

Ontario education providers have a responsibility to accommodate the needs of their students and employees with disabilities (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2008). Under the 2001 Ontarians with Disabilities Act, the Ministry of Education along with school boards are required to prepare, update, and make public accessibility plans that address the identification, removal, and prevention of barriers for people with disabilities (Valeo, 2010). However, in 2012, physical, architectural, and attitudinal impediments frequently fail to meet basic accessibility and equity standards. The purpose of this paper is to juxtapose my own personal narrative as a disabled teacher candidate, with literature about the roles and responsibilities of principals and administrators in creating inclusive school environments for people with disabilities. Administrators’ roles in leadership, mediation, and collaboration, crucially influence the success of inclusive school organizations (Goddard & Hart, 2007; Irvine et al., 2010; Ross & Berger, 2009; Valeo, 2010), and directly affect the experiences of individuals therein. This paper highlights the need for principals to be knowledgeable about disability issues such as recognizing barriers, using preventative instead of reactive strategies toward physical disability concerns, and addressing challenges administrators face when trying to create integrative, inclusive school environments.

Speech-Language Pathology in the Peace Corps: Necessity and Sustainability

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Melissa A. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Special Education ◽  
Peace Corps ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
The United States ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Language Pathology

In countries other than the United States, the study and practice of speech-language pathology is little known or nonexistent. Recognition of professionals in the field is minimal. Speech-language pathologists in countries where speech-language pathology is a widely recognized and respected profession often seek to share their expertise in places where little support is available for individuals with communication disorders. The Peace Corps offers a unique, long-term volunteer opportunity to people with a variety of backgrounds, including speech-language pathologists. Though Peace Corps programs do not specifically focus on speech-language pathology, many are easily adapted to the profession because they support populations of people with disabilities. This article describes how the needs of local children with communication disorders are readily addressed by a Special Education Peace Corps volunteer.

Personal Narrative of Travels

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander von Humboldt ◽  
Aime Bonpland ◽  
Helen Maria Williams
Keyword(s):  
Personal Narrative
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