British Sign Language Glossaries of Curriculum Terms

Description: One type of Resilience is the capacity of an environment to return to the previous pattern of functioning following a period of disruption. For example, an electrical storm might result in a power where all the lights go out, but once power is restored they come back on as normal.

Another type of Resilience occurs when an environment cannot return to the previous pattern of functioning following a period of disruption but adapts to function in a different way. An example would be war. Where peoples' homes are destroyed they often cannot return and are forced to leave, to find new homes, seek alternative employment and create new communities. In this way people find a way to carry on with their lives, but not in the same way as before because the damage caused cannot be undone.