Viewpoint: Do famous role models help or hinder?
By Mark Brown Editor, One in Four magazine
14 May 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22514215... The media retains a fondness for presenting exceptional disabled people as inspirational.
"Look," they say. "Here is a person who has achieved so much. Do not lose heart, you too can overcome your disability if you follow their example."
This may at first seem a benign point to make but, I wonder, does it do more harm than good? ...
Sociologist Richard Sennett tells of how so-called inspirational figures can challenge people's self-respect rather than encourage them. He outlines it in his 2003 book Respect: The formation of character in an age of inequality.
Sennett grew up in the projects of Chicago where his mother was a social worker. He excelled at cello and gained a scholarship which led him to New York, shifting to sociology after a condition reduced his ability to play.
Years later, when invited back to his old neighbourhood to give a speech of hope to excluded young people, Sennett spoke alongside an electrician, a secretary and a young doctor who had worked his way up from nothing.
The secretary told of learning shorthand and getting a job with a union official, the electrician of how he broke into his trade. The young doctor told of his journey, saying: "If I can do it, so can you if you believe in yourself."
Despite his story appearing the most inspirational to outside eyes, the audience heckled the doctor - they didn't appreciate his message.
Sennett wondered why this was and realised that the young doctor's story had challenged the self-respect of those listening. "Whereas the secretary showed the young people what to do, the young doctor told them who they should become," reasoned Sennett.
Exceptional figures are important but so too are those with whom we feel real affinity and who can show us practical steps we can take in our own lives.
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28 May 2013, 1:50 pm
