Social Role Valorization, or SRV for short, is a dynamic set of ideas useful for making positive change in the lives of people disadvantaged because of their status in society.  SRV is utilized mainly in service to children and adults with impairments as well as elders, but it can be helpful to uplift the social situation of any person or group.  

A basic tenet of role-valorizing efforts is the notion that the good things any society has to offer are more easily accessible to people who have valued social roles.  Conversely, people who have devalued social roles, or very few or marginally valued ones, have a much harder time obtaining the good things of life available to those with valued social status.  Therefore valued social roles and the positive status that typically attends them are a key to obtaining the benefits inherent in any given culture.

SRV is easily understood and can be readily implemented by the motivated person, including by family members and human service staff on all levels.  In human services broadly, it taps into existing practices deeply rooted in social science research.

SRV was formulated in 1983 by Wolf Wolfensberger, Ph.D., as the successor to his earlier formulation of the principle of normalization (Lemay, 1995; Wolfensberger, 1972; Wolfensberger, 1983). His most recent definition of Social Role Valorization is: “The application of empirical knowledge to the shaping of the current or potential social roles of a party (i.e., person, group, or class) -- primarily by means of enhancement of the party’s competencies & image -- so that these are, as much as possible, positively valued in the eyes of the perceivers” (Wolfensberger & Thomas, 2005). 

Ref: www.socialrolevalorization.com/en/srv-theory