Accommodation: A humanist perspective…
Changing our thinking: consider stopping our thinking about disability (or inaccessibility as a whole) as the mental or physical barriers an individual presents with. Instead, what are the environmental and cultural factors that prevent the liberty that is due to everyone?
A few days ago, I was listening to the podcast, The Voice of Canadian Humanism. My intention was to hear from the new Executive Director of Humanist Canada, Janalee Morris[i], who is part of the host committee whereby Ottawa, for the first time, will host the World Humanist Congress in Canada, August 7th through 9th.
As the podcast host Daniel Dacombe queries about the guest's background, I heard a story with a theme that can go a long way for recovery and mental health communities, a focus for Rebellion Dogs.[ii] Her story tells the story of underrepresented populations in peer-to-peer recovery communities.
BACKGROUND:
Janalee Morris is a community organizer, educator, consultant, community leader and secular advocate. After ten years as a board member of the Rocky Mountain (Alberta) Atheists, and five years of service on the conference committee for the We Can Reason Conference,[iii] she was brought in as Executive Director, just months ago, for Humanist Canada Association.[iv]
What a busy bee; what does Janalee Morris do on weekends? Well, currently, she is enrolled in a Humanist Chaplain Training Program, which should answer that question soon—new life, marriage, grief and end-of-life counselling. Maybe Sunday community gatherings, too?
All of Janalee’s skill and experience are now being put to the test, as days are counting down to go-time for the World Humanist 2026 Congress[v].
Until June, American Atheists[vi] were going to host the annual event in Washington, DC. Nick Fish, President, reported in June, “It is no longer possible to ensure the admissibility or security of attendees,” citing a growing religious nationalism and hostility towards some of the countries that attend annually.
I was listening to Episode 33 (July 15th) of The Voice of Canadian Humanism[vii] and thinking ahead to August, as Canada plays host to International humanists. I was taken by a story that has me really thinking about the state of the addiction recovery/mental health complex as a whole.
“Curiosity and positive regard” is a resolution or mantra for me. I am trying to intentionally bring a beginner's mind about things I approach. I’ve previously sized up subjects too quickly, as if I’m on a game show and need to buzz in first to win. Honestly, sometimes I still look for fault like there’s a reward for it. A proactive approach is the basis of this story. A better attitude begets better results.
While the Humanist Canada Executive Director may have been on the show to talk about the upcoming event, the host started out with some of her personal background. Morris talks about her early days in the Canadian prairies and her new irreligious community.
DON’T FIGHT THE DARKNESS—SHINE A LIGHT
Working in a camp for kids and adults in Alberta, one camper—Carmen—stood out to Janalee Morris.
“She had had encephalitis[viii] when she was younger, and that had left her unable to really bend her body or use her muscles. She was nonverbal, although she did officially have two signs and it was one finger for yes and two fingers for no. Although we all knew that when she held up her middle finger, we knew that that was her third way of communicating to us.
But she loved horses. We knew this about her, and this was a topic of conversation that we could bring up with her. And we had horse riding as one of the activities. But of course, she couldn't bend. She didn't use a wheelchair; she used a stretcher to get around.”
Why this story is such a good example of being a good human is what Janalee and her fellow counsellors did with these bits of information. They asked, “Where does the inaccessibility or disability lie? Is it because of how Carmen is? Or is the barrier systemic?”
The systems that provide care for people with addiction or mental health challenges: academia, institutionalized care, professional therapy and peer-to-peer care. This story that our Humanist Executive Director is in the middle of telling has me thinking about those who fall between the cracks. Are they incapable of fitting the system, or is the system—unintentionally as it may be—designed to exclude certain populations? Shouldn’t everyone who wants access get access?
Janalee Morris offers these two questions that give context to issues:
- Who is the system designed for; and
- Who is it designed by?
The aim here is not to cast blame. Morris is seeing the system for what it is, with thought towards how best to alter or improve the system to better meet everyone where they are at.
Back to the camp: Carmen couldn’t bend her knees as I would do if I were sitting in a saddle, with my feet in the stirrups. Janalee and co looked to problem-solving.
“So we made a saddle that would work for her.” Janalee talks of walking Carmen around the camp on the back of her horse. "And I've never seen a smile so big. And it really reinforced in me this idea of the social model of disability, which says that a disability is not inherent within the body or the mind of the person experiencing it. A disability exists in the environment. So the disability occurs when someone cannot engage or participate in an activity, or employment, or education. And so it's our responsibility to create an environment where people can participate.
There's no reason that [Camen can’t] go horseback riding. It's on us to make that happen.”
CHALLENGING EXCLUSION IN SOCIETAL STRUCTURES
Looking at the accessibility of the 12-Step Model fashioned by Alcoholics Anonymous, we see that faith healing, while easily ignored by some non-theists, is a barrier to integral living for others. When we ask these key questions, “Who was AA designed for and who created it?” clarity and reality come to the forefront. The original book and program were written by a man who had a belief that alcohol use disorder rendered him helpless, no human power could relieve his alcohol problem and that, having found the awe and hope from a white-light experience, the latter was attributed to solving the riddle of the former.
This solution, while never intending to exclude women, youth, atheists, people of colour, or the LGBTQIA+ community with addiction, was created for and by white male, early 20th-century hetero-normative Americans. This is both who AA was designed for and who designed it. Right-sizing this situation, just as was found in Carmen’s case, helped the next generation of members broaden AA’s gateway. The inalienable freedom to accept or reject AA philosophy assured underrepresented minorities the right to speech, participation and redress.
Inaccessibility felt by women, queers and heathens was a barrier created by the system, not the individual in need of help. The solution came from those who could both share their truth and listen to others, help create affinity spaces of people with addiction whose lived experience was relatable. This created the same life-changing community that worked for the founders.
AA’s second generation wrote and approved the book Living Sober (1975)—a secular approach to AA sobriety. Agnostic & Atheist meetings started by non-believers removed the religious readings and rituals that were erroneously thought to offer more advantageous outcomes. Women’s meetings, Young People, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and neurodivergent meetings followed, along with avocational-specific meetings for healthcare workers, pilots, first responders, lawyers, etc. The need for a plain language interpretation of the book Alcoholics Anonymous became abundantly clear; members of AA collaborated with experts to approve and print The Plain Language Big Book in 2024.
As Janalee and her saddle-adapting team proved, when the individual can’t bend to an existing system, change the system to meet the individual where they are at.
What is more humanist than adapting systems to accommodate humans who want the benefit of what’s on offer by a particular system? Once the wider gateway is created, how can we unsee its value?
Janalee Morris applies a sober and human-first look at problems and solutions. “Who was the system built for? Who was the system built by?” When asked about her past, we hear about a young Catholic enthusiast. Janalee asked her parents and the church if she could be an altar boy. At the time, such blasphemy was unthinkable. Catholic dogma brought Janalee to feminism first. Apostasy would follow as the myth and ritual gave way to a “rational awakening,” giving birth to another freethinker.
“You know, they weren't evil people. They weren't saying, ‘I'm going to build a system where all women are oppressed!’ They just built the system for what was on their radar at the time. And those things are built in. This requires a lot of effort to expose, so that we are aware of them and to try to implement change. It takes a critical viewpoint in order to try to deconstruct some of those things …We can build an environment where the maximal amount of people, the maximum diversity, can be included in an equitable way within that system.
We're really seeing that embraced by people advocating for themselves and by a system that's starting to recognize that not everyone has to act or respond in the exact same way, that we actually need to build a system that is more diverse than that.”
Humanists are making their way to The Westin Ottawa, coming from around the world, August 7-9, as a collaboration of several international humanist organizations. Visit the links below for program information. The values of humanism are:
- Critical Thinking
- Ethics
- Dignity
- Responsibility
- Care
According to the American Humanist Association, “Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good.”
If you are new to Humanist podcasting, Janalee was also recently a guest of Freedom of Thought by Humanists International.[ix] This might be another “Follow” for you.