I really like Tumblr, but needed a more interactive blog where I could get comments on my posts. So with some reluctance I’ve set up a new blog on wordpress. The content on this blog has migrated there

http://noellemccormack.wordpress.com

Do follow and comment. 

Inside My Dance is Angela Lane’s story about how being a mother of a disabled child has impacted on her life and influenced her world view. The year-long project was a collaborative process between Angela and myself, during which I, as interviewer and listener, was witness to the telling and Angela had the opportunity to examine what has been central to her experience. 

I created three voice compositions from ten hours of recorded interviews, each of which examined a stage in Angela’s life. The first part, ‘Movement’, is about the first thirty years of Angela’s life which were characterised by movement and a lack of self-belief. The second part, ‘Standstill’, is about the middle period and describes the experience of being nailed down, set in concrete and locked in to a challenging situation. ‘Integration’, the final voice composition, explores the last ten years or so and is clearly defined as a time of personal growth and increased self-confidence.

You can listen to the 5 minute voice compositions on sound cloud here:

http://soundcloud.com/noellemccormack/sets/inside-my-dance/

Inspired by Daniel Meadows digital story telling

http://www.photobus.co.uk/?id=534

and the Life Story Café at Woolfson and Tay

http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2011/12/life-stories-cafe-9-dec-2011.html

here’s a story about my relationship with the River Thames:

http://vimeo.com/34406895

In the Autumn I started a yearlong course supporting six disabled people to tell their stories. We spend every Monday together. I planned to have structured reminiscence sessions in the morning and time for the group to work on their own projects in the afternoons. However, once I met the group I realized that wasn’t going to work.

They are so polite and quiet and private.

Each week we start the day taking it in turns to say how we are and then share any work that’s been done. I set homework every week because a lot of what the group need to research has to be done at home. A typical task is ‘who is important to you in your life? Can you find photos of them, describe why they are important, and ask friends or family to help?” I write this at the top of a blank sheet of A4 paper and include a Makaton symbol or a photo appropriate to the task.

It’s amazing what comes back each week. Some are working on their own and don’t have any support from home. One woman doesn’t have a single photo or momento of her past. This is really hard for her and is a challenge for me as I’ve become reliant on photos to make books and films. Gradually as we’ve got to know each other and she’s feeling safer she is telling me lots of detail about her past and we’ve been able to use the internet to find the places where she’s lived and gone to school. She’s printed off maps and photos and is getting some satisfaction from her project and a sense of rootedness. Another woman in the group was adopted when she was a baby and still has regular contact with her birth mother. Her adoptive parents wanted to support her to express her place in both her families. One man in the group cries most weeks because he misses his mother who died a few years ago and he’s beginning to feel OK about it. The group is incredibly kind and supportive to each other. When we started we made a ‘Group Contract’ and agreed to look after each other.

This Monday is our last day together before Christmas and they’ve decided to have a party. Lots of mince pies and strictly no homework. Are life story projects supposed to make people more assertive? I know my place.

I went to a talk by documentarist Daniel Meadows- a charming man who is a photographer, oral historian and teacher and whose recent work explores digital storytelling. We can (and already do) use these ideas and Daniel is very generous with his experience and skill, describing the process of creating digital stories in tutorials. I seriously recommend you check out his website.

http://www.photobus.co.uk/

And finally, some very sad news about Stuart and Andrew (who I’ve mentioned in previous posts). Both had Alzheimers and they died within a couple of months of each other in the autumn. They are missed.

This summer I was invited to work with a 63 year-old man who has Downs Syndrome and a diagnosis of dementia and depression. The intention was to use the life story process to support his identity, but also to spend time alongside him and the team at his house.

Rob had already got a book about his life that had been made about 10 years ago. He didn’t show much interest in it. In fact he didn’t show much interest in anything. The staff team were working in a person centred and respectful way with Rob and from my observations doing a fantastic job. They really missed the Rob they used to know, who was great fun, ‘up for anything’, and were struggling to come to terms with how he has changed.

I come across this a lot with people with memory loss and dementia. There’s a real sense of loss and bereavement for the people around them, workers and relatives alike. I don’t know how to deal with the resistance to let go. John Killick, an oral historian who works with people with dementia, wrote this haiku that I find helpful;

This gift I bring you

Please handle it carefully

It is the present.

Anyway, I don’t know whether Rob will benefit from the film that I made with him this summer. I think the fact that I was curious and interested in him in a benevolent way was helpful. Maybe that’s why life story projects have a positive impact on self-esteem.

When I came to say goodbye to Rob last Friday I felt the usual guilt about shutting the door on someone who had shared so much with me. However much you try to prepare someone, it’s still hard to say goodbye without leaving behind a sense of loss or feelings of rejection. Ideally the project would have been done with someone in Rob’s house, but they are very pressed for time. Hopefully the team at Rob’s house will continue to watch his film with him and over time will demonstrate to him their curiosity in who he was in the past, but also the man he is now. 

I’m spending more time with my parents lately as they are getting older. One of the activities that we all enjoy together is looking through the family photos. Last week I had a look through some photos from the late 50s and 60s. I set my little finepix digital camera to the macro setting (the one for taking close-ups of flowers or insects) and photographed the originals. Once home I did a bit of post-processing on i photo, cropping to a good size, sharpening and increasing contrast. Now the photos are on my computer I can reproduce and share them easily. Over the coming months I’m going to do the same with some photos of my parents’ families going way back. This will be a great way to spend time with my parents and find out about all the relatives in the biscuit tin.

I joined the Life Story Network today. It’s a fairly new network and connects people who are using life story projects personally and professionally. There are some interesting discussions for sharing experience and practice and links to resources and related projects.

http://www.lifestorynetwork.co.uk/  

I’ve yet to find a downside to supporting people to tell their stories. I have found that life story projects have the capacity to;

• support identity
• increase self-esteem
• provide a safe haven in the chaos of life’s challenges
• offer opportunities for reciprocated conversations through shared experience
• shift the balance of power
• improve the continuity and the quality of care
• provide a place to express loss and to grieve
• celebrate individual lives