Chapter 10 - Role Play and Simulation

Abstract

In role-play exercises, learners act out roles without a specific script although they are usually given information about the characters they are to play, and the situations they are in. Role play can be used to change behavior, widen perspectives, change attitudes, improve social skills, and develop alternative solutions to problems. Perhaps, role playing is the next best thing to experience a genuine event. Role play can also be used to help learners gain skills in treating, assessing, and interviewing patients and clients, and to gain confidence when talking to groups or coping with difficult personal situations; it is used extensively in assertiveness training. The terms “simulation” and “case study” are used interchangeably. Simulation exercises are sometimes carried out in an attempt to gain insight into various disabilities, for example, the participants may be obliged to wear blindfolds or use wheel-chairs. These exercises have been severely criticized by many disabled people for being unrealistic, for trivializing and individualizing disability, and for fostering negative attitudes.