#because the accommodations that enable me to participate in society fully in this area are so standard as to be invisible

[obstinatecondolement]

It feels like every day I read attempts to debunk the social model of disability that fundamentally misunderstand what the social model of disability is and who the people who developed that model were, including what the nature of their disabilities was, and I want to scream.

But I don't, because yelling at people on the internet is basically pointless. Instead I check to see that I'm not mutuals with whoever reblogged said misunderstanding and vague about it.

[rutgerssocialworkabroadmexico]

Day 8 - Merida

Today we had another early start and I had to get up at 7am to be ready in time for our two fieldwork visits. First, we visited a public middle school and got a tour from the school’s social worker and security personnel. We were able to visit classes in three different grades and interact with the students. We gave a little background information about ourselves as students and even got to ask them what their favorite subjects were. The school is currently undergoing remodeling, and while the staff was embarrassed about its appearance, the construction shows us the progress and growth the school is making. In Mexico, the school and grade systems differ greatly from that of the United States. They begin in primary school, which they attend for the first 6 years of schooling. Then, they move on to secondary school, like the one we visited, which is similar to grades 7, 8, and 9 in the U.S. After they complete secondary school, they proceed to high school for three more years, which is similar to grades 10, 11, and 12. The school we visited had uniforms that reminded me of the ones I wore in catholic school. The school’s social workers focus on the problem of integration of parents into education and the parents’ involvement in order to help their kids thrive in school. The social worker explained that the parents need to let their kids know that attending school is obligatory. The social workers also try to allow the parents to be a part of the education of the students. The school social workers take on different forms. They combine the roles of mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and doctors into one person. They also allow the students to know that they are important to society and to the school, which gives the kids value. There are two different school sessions, so there is one social worker in the morning, and another in the afternoon. This public secondary school has been federally funded for 46 years. There are 200 days of school in the year, however they implemented Saturday school for students who are behind in their work and education. One thing I was extremely surprised by was the lack of health classes. Since the kids at this school are between the ages of 12 and 17, sexual education is crucial during this age range. Despite its importance, there are no formal health classes. Instead, the social workers implement group discussions with external institutions and form a committee that will facilitate group discussions based on current students’ situations. Before we left, we had the opportunity to interact with the kids and take many pictures, which was so much fun. Then we proceeded to the van for our second visit of the day. Our second visit was to la Instituto de la Mujer, which is a center for women which offers psychological services, social work, and lawyers on site. There are no medical services offered on site, but they link the women in need with external agencies to address their needs. The first area we toured was the specialized services for violence and the female victims of violence. This area features the facility’s social workers, lawyers and psychologists.The services here are dedicated to focusing on 5 different areas of violence- physical, psychological, economic, patrimonial and sexual violence. Patrimonial violence is a type of violence where women can’t house themselves because of previous violence. This specific area also includes legal documents, such as birth certificates, and individual data that is from the marriage. The psychological area focuses on treatment and support for women who experienced violence and provides four forms of service. The first form is group, which starts with a workshop that explains what violence is. After 3 sessions of informational sessions, they move on to group therapy. The other forms of service are individual, emergency services (for those who have been here multiple times and are identified as at risk) and accompaniment. Accompaniment is where the psychologists and lawyers go with the women to file police reports and attend hearing and court dates, in order to provide them with support. The women’s house isn’t a shelter, but rather provides services and references to women. The center has several programs and departments. The first department we learned about was development for women in communities with gender perspectives. This department focuses on community work like preventing violence. The department is made up of a team of 15 people varying from anthropologists, teachers, social workers, psychologists and communicators. This committee also has a member who is fluent in Maya language, so the team can work on reforming women in the Mayan communities towards violence prevention. The department has community intervention programs for securing and exercising women’s rights that features lots of different workshops within the program like women’s rights, violence prevention, promoting gender equality and self-care. One aspect I liked about this department is that they also work with men to make them conscious that they could possible be perpetrators of violence and try to facilitate the men to recognize their masculinity. They discuss the themes of violence within masculinity and the role of fathers, so the men can see how they relate to these ideas. The work they do with men is more based on experiences so they can reflect more before introducing concepts of violence. They also utilize role playing in some exercises. The department director explained that the hardest part is being able to talk about their fathers. I think it’s very important that they not only educate women on violence, but the men as well. It’s hard to prevent violence by focusing solely on the victim, but by also priming the men to recognize violence themselves they can stop the violence before it happens. This program locates communities in need of services and the staff go there to see what type of services they need. This program is much more participation based than discussion based. Another department of the center helps women obtain employment opportunities. This helps them secure jobs with a variety of companies and enable the women to be more self-sufficient and independent. In order to fully utilize these employment opportunities, the women must be emotionally prepared, autonomous and strong so they can maintain employment. The program also has a focus on workshops, such as reinforcing empowerment, maternal roles and women in businesses. The women in business workshop teaches economics to women with businesses or women who want to start businesses, which is an important part of them gaining more independence. The center has three administrative offices. These offices hire staff, manage salaries, and work with financial means. The center is a Merida municipal government organization, but they also handle federal financial resources. As a municipal government organization, they receive most of their funding from the city of Merida. We also visited the department that is in charge of connecting women in need to an external shelter. The women must first go through other services offered by the center, such as counseling and therapy, before going to a women’s shelter. The center does an evaluation to reveal the danger (based on violence) and vulnerability (based on socioeconomic status and culture) of the women, and from this evaluation they detect need for a shelter, then communicate with the external organization that is in charge of the shelter. The shelter’s address is confidential to ensure the safety of the women and children who stay here. The shelter provides social and psychological services, lawyers and medical services. They accommodate the women by providing a room with a bathroom for the women and their kids, and a communal space that includes showers and a kitchen. The women can participate in meditation, yoga classes, massages, gardening, and even a program focusing on economics. The shelter is the only one in Merida and can house eight families at a time, and currently houses four families. The families here receive clothes, food, medical attention, and support. The programs offered through the women’s center reinforce the various rights of women, and are definitely strongly rights-based and empowerment focused. The last department we visited was called the programs and projects strategized in violence and gender. This department works with men and women towards equality within the municipality. They create projects that promote gender equality and focus on Mayan communities. The department also works on skills training of gender equality for men, women, and municipal authorities. The department recently made their first ever magazine called “El caminar de las mujeras” and we were the first to read it as it hadn’t even been released yet. It was quite obvious that the center’s employees work here because they love what they do. The programs at the center were extremely comprehensive and deeply embedded in the community. The center was extremely professional and they have a strong network with other communities, which makes their work very efficient. After the visit, we returned to the hotel and a group of us went out to have a late lunch at a Yucatec restaurant followed by gelato. I enjoyed a low maintenance evening and look forward to my free day tomorrow.