Rules of the Game
Tear that page out of your books right now.
Rip that page out, boys.
I want to hear the sound of ripping. (Robin Williams, The Dead Poets Society.)
What do rules mean to you ?
Are you someone who has always challenged or broken rules as a matter of course? Is this part of your pervading style? Or are you someone who finds rules and regulations an important means by which you define and develop who and how you are at work?
In Peter Weir’s film, Dead Poets’ Society, Robin Williams, as the English teacher, wanted his students to be 'brave thinkers and thinking braves': to rip the pages off a book that boxed and judged poetry in this instance. In this role, Williams is the epitome of rule breakers.
Who's Rules
If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
(Katharine Hepburn)
Rules and rule breaking is an interesting thing to ponder.
What kinds of rules are you governed by and what effect do these rules have on your professional life?
We know too well our own rules and those of others come from our cultural conditioning and the predominant beliefs that surround us throughout our lives.
These are heavily influenced by the media or society as well as what happens to us and those around us. This, in turn, strengthens our held beliefs about what we can and cannot do and how we lead in our lives.
Rules for many, are there to be challenged or broken. For others, they are the means by which we construct order and get justice. The DDA, whilst flawed, has for many of us meant that we can begin to exert our rights with backing.
But there are still so many disabled and Deaf people not achieving their potential and missing out on opportunities to lead and influence.
Do we just accept this as a fait accompli? That society thinks so little about equality of opportunity and representation and that’s just the way it is, or are we about the business of pushing our sticks through the glass ceiling and showing how we can do things, even if it means doing things differently.
Re-writing Rules
‘I was always told, like other children of my background and generation, not to use my fork as a shovel with which to pick up peas. I threw that one out long ago!’ (Adrian Gilpin, Chairman, IHD)
We know it’s very difficult to influence society’s overarching rule book without falling into stereotypes of the ‘angry disabled person,’ but it may be a better use of energy to look at our own book of dos and don’ts and see whether some of this ‘conditioning’ might be standing in the way of getting what we want.
Coaching is about supporting the people we work with to explore their rule book and question the beliefs behind the rules.
It may be useful to rip out a few pages and rewrite some of the things that govern our lives, so they work better for us?
This doesn’t mean selling ourselves downstream or having to stop being outspoken and throwing bricks and sticks: these things have their place. What it does mean is being more conscious of our responses to things as they happen and thinking about what rules they tap into and the beliefs behind those rules and whether they belong to us or someone else.
Rules, Roles and Representation
Andy Serkis, a non - disabled actor, lost two stone and wore a calipher to inhabit the role of Ian Dury.
Does this break our rules about the rights of disabled actors rights to play disabled people?
Our response to this latest portrayal has been rich and varied. For me, the launch of this film got me trawling You Tube for some furtive glimpses of the real Mcoy and the beat, pulse, originality and genius of the man.
I still don’t personally agree with the lack of disabled and representation in performance roles and the systems that make it so difficult for disabled and Deaf people to train and take centre stage, but as a result of this production putting Serkis in that role, more people have been able to see and sense Ian Dury again and sample his own particular rule book and for me, that means alot.
You can read a great review of the film and people’s reaction to his portrayal at Disability Arts Online here.
Playing by the Rules
The nature of being small and a bit wonky means i gotta get big in other ways.
If i cant be seen - I sing loud, If i cant reach - I climb. If i cant keep up - I set the pace.
(Tom Mauger, Babyhead)
Dury wasn’t particularly ‘nice’ as many of those close to him can testify. Channel 4 ‘s Cast Offs, didn’t have a lot of nice in it either, but this surely was what was so attractive about it?
We know the roles that people ascribe us are often very two dimensional. It’s still about us being bitter, angry and frustrated or grateful recipients of charity unable do things for ourselves.
Programmes like Cast Offs – change much of how disabled people are seen - whole, interesting, provocative, off- beat and three dimensional.
Sync newcomer, Tom Mauger, the lead singer of Babyhead has never let the label disabled rule or leave him out. We are not the broken matchstick men and women people think we are. We need to get and stay creative here.
You can see Tom's interview here.
Rulers
The relief when somebody said to me a few years ago, don’t walk through a wall, walk around it. It works! (Bobby Baker)
Rules can be useful, if they support us to make the most of our strengths and to shine. Rules are also great if in challenging them, we get to show our strengths and argue our case effectively.
Performance Artist, Bobby Baker has always been creative in her challenge and questioning of the status quo.
Her aversion to authority and ‘headgirlship’comes directly from her experiences, but she also is the first to acknowledge that the rules that hold us back are not always best bashed against and that walking around rules and regulations and the people who write the predominant rule book is an interesting thing to explore.
Sarah Pickthall, Sync Coaching
