Why are we telling stories?

We all tell stories for different purposes and reasons to a variety of audiences. These stories are told in a range of different settings which influence the way we construct our telling. There is no 'normal' in an audience and because of this, we need to broaden our awareness of the different ways storytelling can be used. We need to move away from the view of storytelling as being strictly for enjoyment and pleasure (which has its place). However to understand storytelling as a means of therapy, healing, and relief.

It is reported by the Human Resources and Skill Development Canada that in 2006, "4.4 million Canadians (14.3%) reported having a disability." This prevalence helps to illustrate our point that disability is everywhere which we need to embrace. Even when we look around our own classroom, there are visible and invisible disabilities; even within our own group there are a range of disabilities. By having told stories to people with disabilities we have directly experience the relation between storytelling and disabilities. The point below exemplify why we are telling stories.

There is a wide range of research that has been done that directly demonstrates how storytelling can positively influence people with disabilities. For example, with stroke survivors, storytelling is most commonly used as a therapeutic tool.

One of the websites we found, highlighted many benefits and uses of storytelling. The following points were taken from the article:

Storytelling and Health Care: Applied Storytelling with Stroke Survivors by Andre Heuer (N.D.)

• "creates a sense of belonging and support."
• "enables the patient to integrate their experience in a meaningful way."
• "provides a means to deal with loss and grief."
• "improves cognitive skills including memory retention, decision-making, and organiza-tional skills."
• "supports patients in relearning verbal and written skills."
• "develops inter-personal and intra-personal skills."
• "improves perceptional and interpretative skills."
• "provides a means of re-establishing personal identity."

 This website talks quite thoroughly about therapeutic uses of storytelling to people who have suffered a stroke. If you are interested in reading more about this topic visit Dr. Andres' website. 

When our group went to tell our fables at a center for people with brain injuries (such as stroke survivors) we experienced the use of interpersonal skills in a variety of ways. Such as:

• The way that they welcomed us into the center and interacted to us as new faces/ strangers.
• Made us feel comfortable to open up to them and tell our story.
• Communicating in a positive manner especially when giving us feedback on our fables (when asked). This process helped them to further strengthen their verbal communication and memory retention (as they had to remember details about our story). 

More can be found about our experience on our who benefits page.

Stroke is just one of thousands of disabilities although we used it to help emphasize our point and bring to life why we tell stories. There are many factors such as

• Setting
• Age
• Disability 
• Life experience
• Interests
• Lesson objectives/ Goals of the telling (What do you want your audience to take away)

These factors play a huge role in the process of choosing and telling a story. It is important to make sure that throughout this process you examine these factors to ensure an effective and meaningful telling. 

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Resources for this page:

Heuer A. (2001) Storytelling and health care: Applied storytelling with stroke survivors. Retrieved from: http://www.andreheuer.com/index.html

Human Resources and Skill Development Canada (2010). Canadians in context- people with disabilities. Retrieved from: http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=40