The UK social model of disability (SSM) originated within a political context, which is both a strength and a weakness. Good social research has been conducted prior to, and outside, the confines of the SSM. The SSM is above all a brilliant tool for mobilising change. But it can be applied over‐zealously. Since the 1990s, various critiques of the SSM have been developed, exposing contradictions and inadequacies. Equally, some of the parallels between disability and other social movements may need to be tested. Identity politics and psychology explain some of the fervour of SSM debates. To move forward, a social theory of embodiment is required.
The Tree of Life is a four-part process which involves drawing trees and then there is a second part of the methodology which is about the Forest of Life. So, Tree of Life begins with inviting people to draw their tree. And each part of the tree represents something specific about their lives, their roots, where they come from, their history, their heritage, their ancestry, the ground where they live, who they live with, what they like to do when they're at home, favourite places, favourite songs or dances. The trunk – the skills and their knowledges, the things they're good at, the things that people tell them they're good at. The leaves of their tree – most important people in their lives, people who care for them and support them. And then the branches – your hopes, your dreams for both the near and the distant future. And then the fruits are the gifts that you've received and that you've been given. And so, people are invited to come up with a tree and then they are supported to tell stories around these aspects of their lives by somebody who has been trained, who knows how to help them to thicken their stories, because we want people to stand firmly in the second stories of their lives and the alternative stories – the stories about your hopes, your dreams, your skills, the people that are important to you, your aspirations in your life. HOW TO REFERENCE USING ASWDNET STYLE Ncube-Mlilo N. (2024). Tree of Life Model and other Africa-centred interventions. African Journal of Social Work, 14(3), 149-154. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v14i3.6 Visit journal website: https://ajsw.africasocialwork.net
Father Paul Michel, a Canadian missionary on the poor Caribbean island of Ganae, rescues a little local boy from abject poverty, and sets him on the road towards a dramatic and dangerous future as a revolutionary priest and, later, as the first democratically elected leader in a land of dictators.
