The new Autism strategy is out - I have no idea whether it is good or bad but I do know that when confronted with this extremely complex issue, the bureaucrats have consulted 2 parents. Yes 2 only?
In spite of claims to have consulted 800 parents for the Preschool Initiative, they in fact only talked directly with 60.
Again a very complex issue that any wise person would know that they would need to get immersed in to understand deeply.
In contrast KETC (a client of mine and a public TV station in St Louis) is about to launch a major online and TV project on Immigration in the US. Like the Early Years and Autism, Immigration is a very complex issue that is hard to understand without getting immersed. The barrier to understanding are our own views. So, as we began we knew that we knew next to nothing. All we had were our feelings. We had to get beyond our feelings and the preconceptions we had based on our limited knowledge and experience.
So we acknowledged that in reality we knew next to nothing about the topic. Starting as seeing ourselves as being ignorant is surely a healthy way to begin any complex work. We acknowledged that we could only get a sense by literally swimming in the real experience of people who were living the life of a new immigrant.
So for nearly six months before we have gone public, we have focused on discovering directly the immigrant experience in St Louis.
Here is the scale of our pre project consultation so far:
- Number of people we've talked to: 846
- Number of groups we’ve talked to: 195
- Community organizations: 132
- Ethnic groups: 63
On average, team members speak with respective groups every two-three weeks depending on the group.
For community conversations there is typically an initial contact followed by a scheduled conversation and then follow-up communication
Communication is regularly maintained via e-mail, calls
In addition we are finding the natural leaders in these groups and are inviting them into to act as special advisors who will also have a role online.
This is a tiny station - the bureaucrats have no excuse. There is so much knowledge out there and a great willingness to help and to make a difference. Why is all of this energy excluded?
