Dr. Tracy Austin tries to help define what a sense of belonging comprises. "...I feel safety, I feel Trust, I feel connected..."

My friends at the New Internationalist magazine (based in the U.K., but with offices around the world, including Canada) devoted a whole issue to the topic of disability in the majority world back in November of 2005. It's rare that a magazine, even a progressive political magazine, takes the initiative to explore issues related to disability.

Here's an excerpt from the editor of this particular issue, Dinyar Godrej:
"Most mainstream coverage about people with disabilities living in the global South seemed to zoom in on particular projects or ‘heroic’ individuals. There was little about day to day life. It was mostly ventriloquistic, talking for ‘the disabled’ rather than letting people speak for themselves."

For me, an important part of nurturing belonging in society is hearing the voices of folks with disabilities around the world. Kudos to the New Internationalist for devoting space to this important topic. Click here to read the issue in full.

We invited local mum, Crown resident, teacher at Nairn Academy and member of L'Arche Inverness Local Management Committee, Shona MacBryer, to share her thoughts on whay she was attracted to become involved in L'Arche Inverness Community and how she sees her role as a Local Committee Member.

A Warm Welcome...

What struck me first about L’Arche was the warmth of the welcome. It doesn’t matter whether the folk are busy or not, they always seem pleased to see you – and that’s no mean feat!

Meaningful Work and Training, at every stage in Life...

I work with young people with additional support needs and am very aware of the lack of opportunities open to them when they leave school. Facilities are often overstretched and under-staffed; the staff work very hard but can’t really cope with all the demands they have to face. The new workshop resource centre offers a great facility for people of all ages. Great things were achieved in the old workshop but I don’t think it could have stood up to another winter – or one of our summers. Those adults now being welcomed at this new facility enjoy meaningful work, producing lovely candles, plants etc and as importantly make friends and socialise. Celebrating is a big part of L’Arche life - any excuse for a party.

The retirement project will be just great – more people are living longer and the project is geared at addressing this next stage in people’s lives. I admire the attitude that the project embraces, that each of us are important at each stage of our lives.

Not just paperwork...

Being on the local committee has allowed me to become more involved in L’Arche Inverness. Balance sheets and paperwork don’t really do it for me but are very necessary for the running of the community, but underpinning all of this is the clear principle that L’Arche is all about people living and working together in community. I see tolerance and acceptance and the valuing of individuals and really enjoy being allowed to be part of it. Why not give it a go? You can get in touch with the community and find out if there is a way of belonging - as a friend, volunteer, assistant or committee member - that might just suit you.

Here is another interesting article from Jack over at Network Weaving:

"This is a 1.0 version of a formula for measuring trust in relationships. It's intended to use a formula for assessing the complex and intangible dynamic of trust.

It basically says that trust is the multiplication of weighted expectations and delivery on expectations, divided by the multiplication of expectation clarity and usefulness of feedback. It's actually based on intensive work I've done recently in client organizations on trust building between individuals, managers and departments.

And here's the process:

1. In the case of trust between two people, each person lists their 5 top expectations of each other in categories including what they depend on from each other in the areas of information, help, and outcomes. Then for each, they identify on a 1-5 scale (low-high) how important each expectation is to them - this creates a list of weighted expectations. These scores are added for a total weighted expectation score.

2. Then each person assesses how well (again on the 1-5 scale) the other usually delivers on each of these expectations. The scores are totalled for a delivery score. The two numerator scores are then multiplied for a total top number.

3. Then the other person creates the denominator number. If I'm assessing June's performance against my weighted expectations for the numerator of the equation, June is doing the denominator. She assesses on the 1-5 scale how clearly I usually communicate each of these top 5 expectations. Then she assesses on the 1-5 scale, the usefulness of feedback she usually gets from me on her delivery on these expectations. Then these two figures are added for a total and multiplied for my denominator score. I do the same for her denominator score.

4. Then the differences are calculated for a total trust score.

So now we get have a conversation about questions like:

Is there an "ideal" score range?
Are there other variables the formula needs to consider?
If the point of the process is the conversation, how are results best interpreted?

A few months ago, I was at a holiday party that the folks from rabble were hosting (www.rabble.ca). Rabble is an online news and discussion site covering and exploring important political and cultural issues in Canada and the world. I overheard Wayne MacPhail from rabble's board of directors talking about building a virtual storefront for rabble in Second Life. I had heard of Second Life, which is a virtual reality game of sorts, but I imagined folks like my little brother and his friends sitting for hours on end with joysticks in hand, shooting automatic weapons at random bad guys. After a conversation with Wayne and a little online research, I started to see the beauty of a space where "anything is possible."

Second Life is a "global community working together to build a new online space for creativity, collaboration, commerce, and entertainment." Second Life "strives to bridge cultures and welcome diversity." Part of the credo supports and nurtures "free expression, compassion and tolerance as the foundation for community" in the online world. Sounds like the perfect space to nurture belonging, doesn't it?

Further exploration revealed that there are currently over 60 non-profit organizations in Second Life. According to Wayne from rabble, the three primary reasons for an organization to be in Second Life are awareness-building, education and networking. Wayne describes the key power of Second Life as the relationships you form with other like-minded folks from all over the world. He explains that "in some ways it's the process of creating experiences collaboratively in Second Life that is more powerful than the experiences themselves."

My exploration of Second Life reminds me once again that the opportunities and spaces for nurturing belonging in society are truly endless. Check out Second Life at www.secondlife.com - and let us know your thoughts and ideas for nurturing belonging in online spaces.