In many ways, the entire Western healthcare system is built around normalisation. The fact that it is the job of ‘the system’, and all those that work within it, to identify those people who are ill, sick, or suffering, and to offer them a cure, is so deeply entrenched in the way health services work that it would be hard to imagine it otherwise. But imagine it otherwise we must, or else the more problematic aspects of the approach remain hidden. Firstly, we should remember that normalisation is a social construct. What this means is that there is no object that you can point to to say “that is normalisation right there”. It is an idea; an invention, based on a set of principles that … [Read more...] about Critique of the biomedical model #4 – Standard Deviation
What is the biomedical model #6
Thus far, we’ve covered five of the main features of the biomedical model - the model that underpins so much of the theory behind the way physiotherapy functions. These have been: Specific aetiology, or the search for the specific cause of the patient’s signs and symptoms Germ theory and the belief that illness is caused by disease within the body Cartesian dualism and the mind-body split Objectivity and experimentation And reductionism, or the anti-holistic belief that the person can be understood as a collection of systems and structures In this penultimate post, we’ll look at normalisation. Normalisation is the belief that certain people, certain … [Read more...] about What is the biomedical model #6
Review of Barbara Gibson’s book ‘Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach’
There are a lot of physiotherapy books in print, but not many of them engage in the kinds of (post)critical thinking celebrated by the CPN. One exception is Barbara Gibson's superb Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach, published last year by Taylor and Francis. Earlier this week a new review of the book came out in the eminent journal Disability & Society. The review highlights the many radical and important features of the book, and celebrates Barbara's ability to 'extend[s] these discussions and bring[s] a critical eye to bear on concepts that remain under-theorised within the field'. There is a link to the review in the title of the journal above, but if you'd prefer, … [Read more...] about Review of Barbara Gibson’s book ‘Rehabilitation: a post-critical approach’
Karen Yoshida – The normality of doing things differently – 30DoS #17
This book chapter is part of an important text within Canadian Disability Studies. Rethinking Normalcy: a disability studies reader edited by Tanya Titchkosky and Rod Michalko (2009). This is the first Canadian disability studies reader from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and draws on primary Canadian but also some international scholars. The critical perspectives in this book examine not only dominant views of disability but interrogate what is meant by normal. The specific chapter makes clear that different bodies, in different spaces engage in the world in various ways that are not seen as “normal” by abled-bodied conventions but are usual to those who see themselves as … [Read more...] about Karen Yoshida – The normality of doing things differently – 30DoS #17