My interest in this study is how these special needs affect family functioning and family dynamics. Special needs present different types of challenges for the individual, for spouses, parents, siblings, children and sometimes extended family members. Often special needs present different dynamics in the family and these challenges affect the functioning of the family.
So, one of the good ways to take care of society is to take care of family. In this form of theater, therefore, the actors distance themselves from the emotions of the characters (Emunah, 1994). One of the exercises that I used to get to know the family situation or dynamics with siblings was the activity of drawing a family.
Each child or adolescent draws their family and begins to tell everyone who the members of the family are. It is the duty and responsibility of the facilitator to create an environment that will make it easier for the participants to get involved.
Therefore, practice as a research method has the potential to expand the research field by combining and using the strengths of the two worlds. To extend the trajectory of this study, I studied the general pattern of the effects and adjustments that other family members must make to cope with the internal and external effects of a member with special needs in the family. I specifically focused on the Theater of the Oppressed (Boal 1979) a method that enables participants to analyze and communicate their familial and social reality.
After these practical workshops, I continued to analyze and evaluate the data (observations) collected during the practical processes by writing, reflecting and analyzing my experiences. 10 weaknesses of the Theater of the Oppressed method, as well as my own strength as a facilitator. In the second part of the chapter I record my first steps in my attempt to move towards a drama model; a theatrical intervention with siblings of children with special needs in Norway.
Subsequently, the Theater of the Oppressed is discussed, focusing on and defining the Spectacle Actor, Simultaneous Dramaturgy and Forum Theater. I close with the concept of the Joker/Difficultator or the Facilitator; focusing the relationship between the facilitator and the spectator in an intervention.
CHAPTER TWO
EXAMINING SPECIAL NEEDS AND THE USES OF DRAMA
These experiences are unique to each family and can affect various aspects of family functioning and family dynamics. However, in the case of a spouse or sibling, the situation changes the dynamics of the effect of special needs. In order to identify and/or understand special needs in the family, one needs to explore the dynamics of the family, the relationships that exist between family members and the interaction between them.
Growing up with a sibling with a disability mainly affects the siblings because of the changes and adjustments in the family that the disability necessitates. And in certain situations, parents have no choice because of the demands of the condition. These individuals fall into the category of special needs because of the adjustments families must make in the context of family functioning.
But I would argue that there are a number of similarities in terms of the effect these identities have on family functioning. She played the role of the older sister who has a disability in the short play. This type of behavior may have something to do with the fact that most of the attention at home is given to the child with the disability.
The question I have is whether the experience of drama brought about any changes in the siblings' lives at all. Each pair or group demonstrated different kinds of reactions to the proposal in the action of the drama. However, in the literature surrounding the effects of disability on the family and specifically siblings, there is evidence that caregiving is one of the challenges that siblings – especially girls – face.
Most of the siblings in this group expressed different feelings and emotions about their identity. This exercise was the reverse of the tableaux, in which the participants use their own bodies to capture a moment. I became uncertain about the effect of the experience of the exercise and what this effect might be on this little girl.
In my opinion, interest is characterized by the attendance of the participants in the workshop. By this I mean the observance of the rules of the game so that the participants are emotionally and physically involved in the activities.
CHAPTER THREE
DRAWING ON THE TRADITIONS OF APPLIED THEATRE
Since then, there has been a change in the perception of the theater and an expansion of the role of the theater in society. But what differentiates audience participation in participatory theater from mainstream theater is audience participation in the performance. As a method, the techniques of the theater of the oppressed are used all over the world in healthcare, therapy, social care, prisons,
Freire's analysis of the social situation is based on Marxist ideas of dialectical materialism, in which the oppressor oppresses the oppressed. 40 think about the world they are living in, and he paid less attention to the emotions of the audience. In the theater of the oppressed, the audience is activated; the transition from a passive spectator to a spectator who actively interferes with the action on stage.
Because Theater of the Oppressed is about oppression, I will use these techniques to address the needs of parents and siblings. In the Theater of the Oppressed, everyone who feels that they have something to contribute to the action is allowed to. Furthermore, Theater of the Oppressed is not a rulebook to be followed slavishly.
In the process, theatricality takes its course: the audience and protagonist play with the images of the event developed by the theatrical event and give it a new life. At the end of the improvisation, the proposal/solutions are always given back to the protagonist. In the 1960s, Boal and the Arena Theater of Sao Paolo developed a joker system as a special technique in the Theater of the Pressed (Boal.
Participants must feel not only involved in the process, but also ownership of the story. Where an absent character is needed in the scene, the joker is always there to step in, but is always on the audience's side. In the process of exploring potential solutions to various oppressions, practitioners combine various elements of the theater of the oppressed.
Therefore, in order for anyone to use theatre, one must take control of the means of production - that. In The Theater of the Oppressed, he arranged the tools and techniques in four systematized stages.
CHAPTER FOUR
TOWARDS A MODEL OF THEATRICAL INTERVENTION
In the next stage, the narrator takes the role of the protagonist in the story. According to the rules of the Theater of the Oppressed, the antagonist cannot change his wishes, otherwise this is a magical solution to the problem. His contribution was more in trying to change the behavior of the antagonist in the show.
At the same time, I wanted to explore which aspect of these techniques best suited audience participation. Boal illustrates the way in which morals, authority and the oppression of society are entrenched in the smallest components of the community, the family and the everyday routines. It is very important to bear in mind that the participatory theater process involves communication between the theater practitioner and all the participants.
As a facilitator, I must be aware of the power dynamics in the process and try to share the power between the participants and the spectators as well as myself as a practitioner. The condition oppresses the individual and the individual may consciously or unconsciously oppress other members of the family. In the best situations, the audience drives the trajectory of the play and interacts with the actors in rewriting the play.
Then the participants critically analyze the situation and thus identify the source of the suppression. In the Dramaturgical Forum, the two processes are brought together to take advantage of the dual effects of the two previous processes. In the case of Dramaturgical Forum, I propose that the spectator retain both the roles of offstage spectator and actor onstage: and be able to use them at the same time.
Their participation is still important and can be used by the actors on stage to change the direction of the scene. Where the audience in Forum Theater is expected to stand up and assume the role of the main character on stage, that decision is negotiated in the Dramaturgical Forum. It is also important to be careful with the applied theater practitioner's personal opinion about the situation, in the presence of siblings or during the sessions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fatigue, well-being and parental self-efficacy in mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Adolescent siblings of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder: Testing a diathesis-stress model of sibling well-being. How to apply the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to rehabilitation management in clinical practice.
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: A unifying model for the conceptual description of physical and rehabilitation medicine.
