1. Resilience - going beyond an
introduction
Philip J Connolly
RNIB Group

2. There are no silver bullets - but
are there?
Is it not possible that if scientists can find
fractions of subatomic particles they can
also find the qualities that rebuild minds
and in turn develop stronger communities
and transform the prosperity of economies
too? However this time the discoveries will
come not from a reductionist approach but
from a systems analysis approach that
looks at the interplay of human factors.

3. Resilience - types
• Two types of resilience - both taken from studies
of the natural world
• One - the time taken for a system to return to
equilibrium (stability) following a disturbance
event - concerned with dynamics close to
equilibrium
• Two - the amount of disturbance that a system
can absorb before changing to another stable
regime - concerned with dynamics far from
steady state
• many other definitions exist too

4. Two relevant definitions
• The magnitude of disturbance that can be
absorbed before the system changes its
structure by changing the variables and
processes that control behaviour
(Gunnderson and Holling, 2002)
• The capacity of a system to experience
shocks while retaining essentially the
same structure, function, feedback and
therefore identity (Walker et al, 2006)

5. Resilience and disability
• Austerity measures likely to have the effect of reducing
both benefits and in response to tighter labour markets
possibly support too - note the capping of the Work
Choice and Work Programme
• Possible focus on young and non-disabled but this
ignores the economic and social contribution of disabled
people both real and potential
• Resilience is a human quality transferable to
organisations and systems, reaping its benefits depends
upon better understanding of all people but especially
the disabled who have had to find new ways of doing
things others take for granted

6. The transferable nature of resiliency
• Hope released by Pandora - according to Greek
mythology
• Positive feelings and support groups increase immune
system functioning - As long as humans experience
adversity they will experience hope
• Leibniz (1710) coined the word optimism
• Hope is what people have and optimism is what people
believe - optimism strengthens resilience
• Emmerson (1841) self-reliance - ability of people to take
control of their lives
• Wiseman (2003) luck related to how lucky you feel -
measureable
• Seligman (1990) seven year study "Resilience not an
inborn trait, it could be acquired"

7. "Along came coping"
• Lazarus (1960s) defined coping - a person's
ability to successfully handle constantly
changing demands and difficulties
• Resilience combines hope, optimism, positive
attitudes and the ability to imagine a desired
condition in a way that motivates and guides
their purposeful coping actions.
• NOTE - the ability to think pessimistically is still
an important attribute - to prevent optimism
becoming unfounded or utopian

8. Achievement thinking
• McClelland (1969) study of why some college
students succeed but others don't despite
having higher IQs
• They daydream about how they would feel about
reaching a certain goal
• They pick moderately challenging goals
• They engage in both optimistic and pessimistic
thinking
• They seek prior advice from experienced people
• Achievement thinking can be learned - because
of the cast system McClelland chose India to
test this proposition successfully

9. The promotion of serendipity
• Walpole (1754) defined serendipity thus - using
wisdom to convert an unexpected event,
accident or mishap into good fortune. It is a high
level resiliency skill.
• Do single persons possess good time
management skills?
• Do blind people benefit from the trust of
strangers or the failure to note the inhibiting
disapproving glance of others?
• Do ex-offenders have empathy with those in
gangs but who have not yet committed a serious
offence?
• Serendipity not to be confused with synchronicity

10. The biological nature of change
• Biologists discovered that cells carry a
"knowledge" that allows them to be different
kinds of cells than the ones already formed - it
as if they know what function has been assumed
by the differentiated cells that came before
them.
• Embryonic development is influenced more by
the morphogenic field of its complete body than
by the physical structure of its chromosomes
• (Sheldrake, 1981)

11. Lessons about the nature of systems
• If energy input is increased beyond what a closed,
simple system can absorb, the system will either
disintegrate or reorganise into a more complex open
system
• The above process does not happen in a linear step by
step way possibly because complex living systems self-
organise to harmonise with the energies they take in
• Open non-linear systems need disequilibrium or they will
deteriorate - he described a closed system as being
blind to outside events. He found that an open complex
system can take into account differences in its way of
functioning and will become adaptive to outside
conditions (Ilya Prigogine nobel prize winner 1977)

12. Resilience in the literature on blindness
• Individuals who adapted well or poorly to the loss of their
vision can be differentiated on the basis of the Cattell 16
PF assessment in 81% of minimally depressed and 75%
of social independence - Greenough, Keegan and Ash
1981 - personality key
• In the case of a college student totally blinded in an
accident who achieved a remarkably rapid and effective
adjustment the following factors were noted: 1) the
person's extroverted optimism, 2) the support of a
cohesive family, 3) a family united by shared values and
beliefs, 4) the ability to find meaning and purpose in
adversity, 5) hospital staffs unequivocal
acknowledgement of the irreversibility of the injury and 6)
the involvement of the rehabilitation counsellor
Hoehn-Saric, Frank, Hirst and Seltser, 1981

13. Highly resilient uniquely
complex self forming humans
• You become resilient by continuously learning your best
way of being yourself
• The bifurcate point - when external demands cannot be
resisted - if you can avoid being crushed beyond
recovery you will emerge a different, better more
effective person. The brain remains plastic in its ability to
reorganise throughout one's lifetime (Davidson, 2000)
• Businesses are facing non-stop change - prompting new
forms of organisation and leadership (Wheatley 2001,
building resilient organisations -
wwwResiliencyGroup.com)

14. Business resilience - an historical
perspective

15. Business Resilience
• IBM's definition - "The ability of an
organization's business operations to
rapidly adapt and respond to internal or
external dynamic changes - opportunities,
demands, disruptions or threats - and
continue operations with limited impact to
the business."
quoted from www.ResiliencyGroup.com

16. Characteristics of resilient
business planning
• Proactive inclusion of the business operations staff in
resilience planning
• Concern with ensuring that the business never goes
down
• Can accommodate incidents with the minimal impact
• Can absorb the impact of an event whilst maintaining
service to customers
• Business procedures already being performed in multiple
locations by multiple people
• Ability to withstand local failure without going to back up
facilities
• Taken from "Business Resilience Management TM 2008

17. Some early thoughts on Government
support for individual disability resilience
• Increase the Access to Work funding without
reducing the quality of individual support
packages
• Add vocational rehabilitation (employment
retention to the list of reasonable adjustments
and make knowledge of Government specialist
disability support itself a reasonable adjustment
• Ensure initiatives aimed at training, self
employment and micro enterprise includes
provision for the additional costs of assistive
technology

18. Disability Resilience Network - suggested purpose
• sets new value in the attributes of disabled people
• to emphasise coping strategies and adaptation instead
of loss
• develop new arguments and evidence for the inclusion
and integration of disabled people in national and local
economic strategies
• dovetail our own language and outlook with that of
Government and industry as they also seek greater
resilience
• help define the concept whilst it is still fluid to mean an
active response to loss and not a blitz type spirit of
making do
• to bring new potential allies into play in resolving the
exclusion of disabled people e.g. industry and commerce

19. Suggested year 1 work programme
• 1) Promotion of the concept and establishing existing
research and evidence base
• 2) Identification of and affiliation with leading researchers
• 3) produce a draft set of articles and memorandum for a
resilient society supportive to and of the aspirations of
disabled people
• 4) increase the formal organisation of the network e.g.
membership records and "resilitators" i.e. ambassadors
• 5) Produce a pamphlet on resilience and disability
• 6) hold seminars with decision makers around the
pamphlet

20. Suggested year 2 work programme
• 1) work with people with existing commitments to
undertake research to build an evidence base for
resilience focusing upon the transfer of its defined
qualities from people into structures and organisations to
their performance benefit
• 2) identify the prospects for a resilience centre and draw
up a proposal capable of attracting the interest of
funders or grant making bodies
• 3) seek the associate membership of key trade bodies
with the network
• 4) produce second pamphlet on resilience and stigma,
include some new parables for the 21st century

21. Additional suggested year 2 activities
• 4) seek the support of the Para-Olympians as
"resilitators" after the games
• 5) hold seminars with theologians

22. Suggested year 3 work programme
• 1) benchmark good practice in resilient organisations
and especially the value of disabled people over and
above their individual productivity to the business culture
and representation of the organisation
• 2) link to universities with resilience studies in degree
courses especially in business and/or disability studies
• 3) submit funding proposals for a resilience centre
possibly hosted in a UK university
• 4) third resilience and disability pamphlet focusing upon
the value of customised technology to the adaptation of
disabled individuals

23. Additional suggested year 3 activities
• 5) hold seminars with the assistive and medical
technology industry
• 6) pilot resilience with newly disabled people to monitor
its effectiveness in supporting adaptation and coping
strategies

24. Suggested year 4 work programme
• 1) assuming funding proposals are successful establish
the resilience centre with a sustainable research budget
and begin wider dissemination of research findings
especially to the disability advocacy movement and to
industry
• 2) approach television programme makers for
commission of programmes exploring resilience and
disability
• 3) fourth disability and resilience pamphlet focusing upon
the cultural aspects of resilience
• 4) hold seminar with cultural industry and arts and trend
leaders

25. Suggested year 5 work programme
• 1) begin to document the value to business of the
resilient approach i.e. flexibility in response to changing
external demand and market environment
• 2) fifth disability and resilience pamphlet on lessons for
industry
• 3) seminar with business leaders from FTSE 100
• 4) publish the results of the pilots and identify successful
elements to inform political lobbying

26. Suggested year 6 work programme
• 1) identify Government support for resilience to flourish
and to do so to the advantage of disabled people
• 2) sixth disability and resilience pamphlet focusing upon
government role
• 3) seminar for Government decision makers i.e. officials
and ministers
• 4) market research the support for resilience both in the
general population and especially within both the
disabled population and our own client group

27. Suggested year 7 work programme
• 1) awards for disabled individuals contributing to the
resilience of their communities in austere times
• 2) seventh disability and resilience pamphlet focusing
upon community resilience and the role of disabled
people
• 3) seminar with community leaders
• 4) win Government support for a Resilience programme
that provides new infrastructure for disabled people to
both contribute to society but also for society to benefit
from them

28. The suggested network and work
programme
• Open to your own amendment and
modification
• Open to you and your organisation's
involvement and to an extent of your own
choosing
• Open to you to promote through articles in
your own journals and websites, seminars
and conferences, artistry and creativity,
influence and networks

29. Thank you
• philip.connolly@rnib.org.uk
• 0207 391 3266