A post by James Douglas July 15, 2015 on The Awl website last week titled 'The Pixar Theory of Labor' (link) made some interesting connections between the ethos of Pixar movies (Toy Story, Wall-E, Brave, Monsters Inc., and the new Inside Out, for example) and a productivist culture. What was really interesting for me reading this post though, was how much Pixar's movie motives are shared by physiotherapists. Douglas's thesis (and it's well worth reading the whole piece because it's very funny as well as being very insightful), is that Pixar trades on characters that are striving to achieve; Pixar has created a stable of films for children that is founded on narratives of … [Read more...] about What do Pixar movies and physiotherapy have in common?
What work is
Something reflective for your Easter weekend. Happy holidays everyone. What work is - by Phllip Levine We stand in the rain in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work. You know what work is--if you're old enough to read this you know what work is, although you may not do it. Forget you. This is about waiting, shifting from one foot to another. Feeling the light rain falling like mist into your hair, blurring your vision until you think you see your own brother ahead of you, maybe ten places. You rub your glasses with your fingers, and of course it's someone else's brother, narrower across the shoulders than yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin that does not hide the … [Read more...] about What work is
War’s waste – physiotherapy and the disabled war veteran
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation have always been inextricably linked. Although they represent discrete fields, their histories have often been closely intertwined. Physical rehabilitation as an organised discipline has its origins in World War I. Beth Linker, in her excellent book War's waste: Rehabilitation in World War I America, describes how it became necessary to change American attitudes to the retired Civil War veteran who had been considered heroes and, as such, exempted from work. But as the cost of meeting their social welfare costs grew, the government realised it needed a solution, and found its answer in the emerging rehabilitation sciences. The idea of the noble war … [Read more...] about War’s waste – physiotherapy and the disabled war veteran
Research update – the body, disability, gym, theory, diagnosis and habitus
From the latest edition of Social Science and Medicine, Volume 120 , Pages 1-438, November 2014 The unfinished body: The medical and social reshaping of disabled young bodies Janice McLaughlin & Edmund Coleman-Fountain Medical interventions mark the disabled young body as in need of repair. Such interventions are incorporated into stories of embodied identity. Transitions to adulthood are influential to approaches to fixing the body. Ongoing intervention leaves the body always unfinished and open to remaking. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.09.012 No time for the gym? Housework and other non-labor market time use patterns are associated with meeting physical activity … [Read more...] about Research update – the body, disability, gym, theory, diagnosis and habitus