Connecting-The-Dots....Conference
Sixth Annual - 2009
"Survival to Triumph"
The 6th annual Connecting-the-Dots.... Conference was held on May 30, 2009 at Highwood High School, High River. Gordon Otto (www.parentsnschool.com), the facilitator for the event, provides this summary:
Curse of Knowledge
In Chip and Dan Heath's bestseller “Made to Stick”, a book about how to
make ideas take hold, they talk about the “Curse of Knowledge”, or what
happens to our human thinking after we know something and how hard it
becomes to imagine what it was like not to know it. That knowledge has
“cursed” us, and “it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge
with others, because we can't readily re-create our listeners' state of
mind.”
Ongoing attempts at communication suffer from enormous information imbalances. “You can't unlearn what you already know,” Chip and Dan write. But fighting back against that Knowledge is absolutely vital in making the message live for those who do not already possess it.
How that Curse of Knowledge operates to hamper communications is illustrated by the “Made to Stick” authors by reference to psychological research conducted between “tappers” and “listeners”. The tappers were asked to tap out one of 25 well-known tunes (like “Happy Birthday to You”) by simply knocking on a table. The listeners job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped. (You can try this at home.)
In the psychological research, listeners guessed only 2.5% of the songs. Listening is hard.
But here is part of why it is hard.
Before the listeners guessed, the researchers asked the tappers to predict the odds that the listeners would guess correctly. They predicted the odds were 50%.
Why did the tappers BELIEVE they were getting their message across 1 out of every 2 times, but the message only GOT ACROSS 1 time out of every 40? Because the tappers knew the song they were tapping. It was playing in their heads. All the listeners could hear were taps on a table.
The tappers could not understand how the listeners could be so dumb. “Curse” people with even just a little bit of the knowledge others have, and the tunes might be more readily picked up.
What conferences like the SNAPS Conference are about is sharing the knowledge so that different people can better understand what the other is “tapping”.
At SNAPS Conference 2009 -- “Survival to Triumph”
- from Mohinder Bajaw of the Public Guardian's office we learned of the changes upcoming to the Dependent Adults Act (newly minted as the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act) which is being revised with a view to "individual specific" guiding principles (ie., each case is its own case) with a view to the individual's rights, guided by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And we learned also how easy (and prudent) it is to put a personal directive in place TODAY so that your family might more easily manage guardianship/trusteeship issues down the road.
- from Dr. Alex Hillyard, CEO of Calgary PDD, we learned that government is hard at work on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities, and a big part of that work is balancing interests toward a sustainable and enhanced future.
- from Sylvia Loewen, a Nursing Instructor at the University of Calgary and adoptive parent, we learned more about resiliency and proudly being yourself through life (for you and as a model for your children).
- from Angie Bricker, educator and behaviour support specialist, we learned strategies for healthy home and school relationships, the importance of maintaining quality communication and informing yourself about your child's schooling, and how by sharing generously with our childrenʼs schools understanding about our children, we will be shared with back understanding about our children as learners.
- from Anne Scapaticci, Registered Nurse, we learned about our own mental health and the value of helping ourselves be flexible, resilient and able to adapt -- and with her guidance we built our own “personal life rafts” and learned what to keep stocked inside it.
- from Dr. Anne Hughson and Bruce Uditsky, Professors in the University of Calgary's Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies Program, we learned the importance of empowering ourselves and strategies for such empowerment: the value of champions, the value of knowledge, the value of knowing who may know, the value of courage to discover our inherent power, and our natural power as a parent. We learned that advocacy, and the need to advocate on another's behalf, is inevitable if you love or care... and not to let mere uncertainty “stop you up” in that important work. And we learned that the stakes in the “game” are not equal... we as parents are the senior partner in our children's lives.
And Bruce and Dr. Anne also taught about the importance of and long history of “collectivities” of parents, families, advocates and champions in the evolution of care and life and rights and inclusion for persons with developmental disabilities.
To draw further on what they described, I refer you to business author Seth Godin's new book titled “Tribes” which describes the forces and dynamics of people and communities with similar circumstances, common histories, and what Bruce and Dr. Anne described as the same “heartfelt purpose”. Tribes represent a collectivity with a noble history and something to be reckoned with, whose purpose includes keeping their common history valued and their contribution continuing.
In the important work of altering society away from “yesterday's thinking... by our purposeful footprints today”, collectivities and tribes are way better words than “alone”.
For your advocacy and ideas on inclusion and community living to stick... stick together.
Gordon Otto
May 30, 2009
In Partnership with: Okotoks FCSS, High River FCSS, MD of Foothills FCSS, Turner Valley FCSS, Black Diamond FCSS, Claresholm FCSS, Okotoks United Way, AACL, Family Voices of Calgary, Okotoks Healthy Families Resource Centre, Highwood High School - FSD#38, Donna Kay Music, Sheena's Sweets and Such!, Wellsite Consulting.