Combining history and an analysis of policy today, this book exposes the contradictions in America's disability policy and suggests means of remedying them. Based on careful archival research and interviews with policymakers, the book illustrates the dilemmas that public policies pose for the handicapped: the present system forces too many people with physical impairments into retirement, despite the availability of constructive alternatives.

Counselling is a practical activity. The aim of this book is to offer a practical framework to enable those who work in the health profes sions to develop a range of counselling skills. It will also offer a theoretical grounding that may serve to inform counselling practice. The book is aimed at any of those people who work in the health professions: nurses, medical staff, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, soeial workers, teachers of various sorts and voluntary workers. It does not seek to provide information speeific to the work of those groups but aims at demysti fying counselling and making the skills involved available to them all. The book assumes that the professional working in a particular group will already have their own body of knowledge regarding their work. This book will supplement that knowledge and extend the range of caring skills. Throughout the book, practical examples of the prineiples under discussion are offered. These help to make the abstract concrete. They also serve to apply the skills described to a variety of health-care settings. A problem arises over gender and trying to avoid sexist language. I have been unable to find a solution to it and have referred to the counsellor as she and the dient as he. No sexism is intended but the usage may have made for darity and ease of reading."

Although most communities of disabled people have moved to the social model, in which society needs to be "cured," much research about disability has stayed well within the bounds of the medical model, in which the disability must be "cured." This collection of 12 essays varies in its approach between both, covering classification of the condition of elders, running assessments of people for assistive technology, taking a community-based approach in research about health and disability, peer mentoring (whether to enforce the medical model or not), alternative and complementary medicine among the disabled, the training of parents of children with chronic conditions, self-management of long-term health conditions, stress in family caregivers of people with cancer, experiences of Germans with myasthenia gravis, and socio-psychological aspects of obesity in children and adolescents. Readers should verify data independently and check for more timely references.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was first signed into law, there was immediate concerns. Critics were worried that the law was overly accommodating, and would allow people with minor disabilities to take advantages of the act unjustly. The book examines U.S. national disability policy within several contexts: research and statistics, efficacy of the law, education, health care, long term services and supports, youth, employment, welfare, transportation, housing, technology, international issues and homeland security. This wide range of issues gives critics and advocates of the nation's disability policy the tools to improve understanding of how the policy has affected the country.

Statistics show that one of every five Americans suffer from a disability. Whether the disability be mental or physical, proper care is required for that person to live a healthy and independent life. This book covers many areas where state and local levels of government interact on programs for Americans with disabilities. This includes government funding for health care providers and benefit plans, on placing the elderly or mentally challenged in proper facilities, institutions, and housing programs, and various financial programs created for the disabled.

Between 1902 and 1934, the United States confined hundreds of adults and children from dozens of Native nations at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, a federal psychiatric hospital in South Dakota. But detention at the Indian Asylum, as families experienced it, was not the beginning or end of the story. For them, Canton Asylum was one of many places of imposed removal and confinement, including reservations, boarding schools, orphanages, and prison-hospitals. Despite the long reach of institutionalization for those forcibly held at the asylum, the tenacity of relationships extended within and beyond institutional walls. In this accessible and innovative work, Susan Burch tells the story of the Indigenous people-families, communities, and nations, across generations to the present day-who have experienced the impact of this history. Drawing on oral history interviews, correspondence, material objects, and archival sources, Burch reframes the histories of institutionalized people and the places that held them. In so doing, Committed expands the boundaries of Native American history, disability studies, and U.S. social and cultural history generally.

Social Competence of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children addresses the development, assessment, and promotion of social competence in children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH). Most children readily develop social competence through the mutually dependent development of social skills and social relationships. Why then write a book on the social competence of DHH children? Hearing loss, with its resulting communication challenges, has the potential to impede the development of social skills and restrict social relationships. In this volume, Shirin D. Antia and Kathryn H. Kreimeyer highlight multiple strategies that teachers, families, and community members can utilize to promote the social competence of DHH children. The authors approach this topic by first describing the development and expression of social competence in infants, as well as in preschool- and school-age hearing and DHH children. Socially competent children display a flexible repertoire of social behaviors that are appropriately utilized in varying social situations and which further children's social goals. Since social competence develops initially through interactions between infants and their caretakers, a primary consideration for children with hearing loss is that the infant and caretaker share a common communication approach to facilitate early interaction. As infants become preschool age, opportunities for interactions with other children increase and social interactions revolve around play. The development of interactive and of pretend play requires children to communicate with one another to assume roles, share fantasies, and solve social conflicts. DHH children must develop communication skills to participate in interactive play, and hearing children may need guidance to successfully engage with DHH peers. For school-age children, the importance of peer acceptance increases; DHH children need supportive situations both within and outside of school to interact with peers, develop friendships, and refine the social behaviors that promote peer acceptance. The authors present a variety of practical ways to assess the social competence of DHH children. They emphasize the role of assessment in identifying social strengths and needs to establish a basis for any necessary intervention. They then present ways to promote social competence, with a separate focus on strategies appropriate for young DHH children and for school-age DHH children. For both age groups, the authors address the role of families, professionals, schools, and communities in helping children develop the skills needed to become socially competent individuals. This book will be a valuable resource for the parents and families of DHH children, for the general and special educators who teach these children, and for the researchers who describe development and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to promote the social competence of DHH children.

The majority of people with learning disabilities are likely to die whilst living in a service setting. This book, written by practitioners in the field, offers practical advice, and aims to raise the awareness of everyone involved in enabling people with learning disabilities to be treated with respect and dignity as they approach death.

This book explores the challenges of applying disability theory and policy, including the social model of disability, to madness and distress. It brings together leading scholars and activists from Europe, North America, Australia and India, to explore the relationship between madness, distress and disability. Whether mental health problems should be viewed as disabilities is a pressing concern, especially since the inclusion of psychosocial disability in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This book will appeal to policy makers, practitioners, activists and academics.

This 1982 book examines the changes in hospital care in New York that occurred around the turn of the twentieth century. It represents a fundamental departure from traditional medical history, which has usually emphasised 'progress' through science and technology. Professor Rosner identifies the economic, political and demographic pressures that brought about a reshaping of the health care system, and analyses the dramatic reorganisation of hospitals that took place. He also discusses major scientific advances such as the discovery of anaesthetic properties of ether, nitrous oxide and chloroform, and the consequent increase in surgical solutions to medical problems.

Ableism, a form of discrimination that elevates "able" bodies over those perceived as less capable, remains one of the most widespread areas of systematic and explicit discrimination in Western culture. Yet in contrast to the substantial body of scholarly work on racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism, ableism remains undertheorized and underexposed. In this book, James L. Cherney takes a rhetorical approach to the study of ableism to reveal how it has worked its way into our everyday understanding of disability. Ableist Rhetoric argues that ableism is learned and transmitted through the ways we speak about those with disabilities. Through a series of textual case studies, Cherney identifies three rhetorical norms that help illustrate the widespread influence of ableist ideas in society. He explores the notion that "deviance is evil" by analyzing the possession narratives of Cotton Mather and the modern horror touchstone The Exorcist. He then considers whether "normal is natural" in Aristotle's Generation of Animals and in the cultural debate over cochlear implants. Finally, he shows how the norm "body is able" operates in Alexander Graham Bell's writings on eugenics and in the legal cases brought by disabled athletes Casey Martin and Oscar Pistorius. These three simple equivalencies play complex roles within the social institutions of religion, medicine, law, and sport. Cherney concludes by calling for a rhetorical model of disability, which, he argues, will provide a shift in orientation to challenge ableism's epistemic, ideological, and visual components. Accessible and compelling, this groundbreaking book will appeal to scholars of rhetoric and of disability studies as well as to disability rights advocates.

"One of the most accomplished, physically challenged athletes in the world." -Sports Illustrated "Roger Crawford is an inspiration to me." -Dr. Wayne Dyer How do you become an award-winning, Division 1 college athlete despite a disability affecting all four limbs? The answer has inspired countless people throughout the world. Roger Crawford's incredible life illuminates the truth that while challenges are inevitable, defeat is optional. When most people would have given up hope, Crawford found a way to work around his physical challenges to eventually become a tennis champion, innovating a way to hold onto a racket with just one finger on his right hand and two fingers on his left. His story demonstrates the power of an "I can" attitude inspiring readers to reach past their own difficulties and live up to their true potential. Challenges are Inevitable provides both the inspiration and motivation needed to break through self-imposed obstacles and limitations that often hold us back from fulfilling our purpose. Readers will discover new ways of thinking and be empowered and encouraged to unleash their potential, allowing them to redefine what is truly possible. As they apply this new mindset, they will learn to achieve exceptional results in their own life! Roger has become one of the most in-demand motivational speakers today, equipping others to follow his lead in breaking down barriers. He is dedicated to helping organizations conquer change, increase performance and produce exceptional results. Roger's presentations go beyond a feel-good message, teaching actionable ideas that impact lives forever. This book is no different. Expect to walk away feeling emboldened and inspired that nothing can standing the way of accomplishing your wildest dreams, and that challenges are meant to be overcome.

This book provides a framework for explaining why governments adopt the policies they do. In addition, it establishes a basis for comparing political systems in terms of their public policies rather than their institutions or political processes. The book begins by placing in a historical perspective the worldwide role of the state as a major provider of goods and services. Following this general background is an 'accounting scheme' that brings some semblance of order to the seemingly infinite variety of policy-relevant variables and makes the comparative study of public policy more manageable. It is suggested that any nation's public policies can be explained in terms of situational, structural, environmental and cultural factors. The second part of the book applies the accounting scheme to an increasingly specific and narrow range of public policies. The author examines one crucial area of public policy - health care - and the evolution of that policy in four diverse nations: Germany, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and Japan. The book concludes with an assessment of the prospects for an American national health care programme in the light of the experiences of these other nations.

Connected at the chest by a band of flesh, Chang and Eng Bunker toured the United States and the world from the 1820s to the 1870s, placing themselves and their extraordinary bodies on exhibit as "freaks of nature" and "Oriental curiosities." More famously known as the Siamese twins, they eventually settled in rural North Carolina, married two white sisters, became slave owners, and fathered twenty-one children between them. Though the brothers constantly professed their normality, they occupied a strange space in nineteenth-century America. They spoke English, attended church, became American citizens, and backed the Confederacy during the Civil War. Yet in life and death, the brothers were seen by most Americans as "monstrosities," an affront they were unable to escape. Joseph Andrew Orser chronicles the twins' history, their sometimes raucous journey through antebellum America, their domestic lives in North Carolina, and what their fame revealed about the changing racial and cultural landscape of the United States. More than a biography of the twins, the result is a study of nineteenth-century American culture and society through the prism of Chang and Eng that reveals how Americans projected onto the twins their own hopes and fears.

Since first being identified as a distinct psychiatric disorder in 1943, autism has been steeped in contestation and controversy. Present-day skirmishes over the potential causes of autism, how or even if it should be treated, and the place of Asperger's syndrome on the autism spectrum are the subjects of intense debate in the research community, in the media, and among those with autism and their families. Bringing together innovative work on autism by international scholars in the social sciences and humanities, Worlds of Autism boldly challenges the deficit narrative prevalent in both popular and scientific accounts of autism spectrum disorders, instead situating autism within an abilities framework that respects the complex personhood of individuals with autism. A major contribution to the emerging, interdisciplinary field of critical autism studies, this book is methodologically and conceptually broad. Its authors explore the philosophical questions raised by autism, such as how it complicates neurotypical understandings of personhood; grapple with the politics that inform autism research, treatment, and care; investigate the diagnosis of autism and the recognition of difference; and assess representations of autism and stories told by and about those with autism. From empathy, social circles, and Internet communities to biopolitics, genetics, and diagnoses, Worlds of Autism features a range of perspectives on autistic subjectivities and the politics of cognitive difference, confronting society's assumptions about those with autism and the characterization of autism as a disability. Contributors: Dana Lee Baker, Washington State U; Beatrice Bonniau, Paris Descartes U; Charlotte Brownlow, U of Southern Queensland, Australia; Kristin Bumiller, Amherst College; Brigitte Chamak, Paris Descartes U; Kristina Chew, Saint Peter's U, New Jersey; Patrick McDonagh, Concordia U, Montreal; Stuart Murray, U of Leeds; Majia Holmer Nadesan, Arizona State U; Christina Nicolaidis, Portland State U; Lindsay O'Dell, Open U, London; Francisco Ortega, State U of Rio de Janeiro; Mark Osteen, Loyola U, Maryland; Dawn Eddings Prince; Dora Raymaker; Sara Ryan, U of Oxford; Lila Walsh.

Contributions by Cynthia Neese Bailes, Nina Batt, Lijun Bi, Helene Charderon, Stuart Ching, Helene Ehriander, Xiangshu Fang, Sara Kersten-Parish, Helen Kilpatrick, Jessica Kirkness, Sung-Ae Lee, Jann Pataray-Ching, Angela Schill, Josh Simpson, John Stephens, Corinne Walsh, Nerida Wayland, and Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Children, Deafness, and Deaf Cultures in Popular Media examines how creative works have depicted what it means to be a deaf or hard of hearing child in the modern world. In this collection of critical essays, scholars discuss works that cover wide-ranging subjects and themes: growing up deaf in a hearing world, stigmas associated with deafness, rival modes of communication, friendship and discrimination, intergenerational tensions between hearing and nonhearing family members, and the complications of establishing self-identity in increasingly complex societies. Contributors explore most of the major genres of children's literature and film, including realistic fiction, particularly young adult novels, as well as works that make deft use of humor and parody. Further, scholars consider the expressive power of multimodal forms such as graphic novel and film to depict experience from the perspective of children. Representation of the point of view of child characters is central to this body of work and to the intersections of deafness with discourses of diversity and social justice. The child point of view supports a subtle advocacy of a wider understanding of the multiple ways of being D/deaf and the capacity of D/deaf children to give meaning to their unique experiences, especially as they find themselves moving between hearing and Deaf communities. These essays will alert scholars of children's literature, as well as the reading public, to the many representations of deafness that, like deafness itself, pervade all cultures and are not limited to specific racial or sociocultural groups.

Spinal cord injury, or SCI, is frequently sudden and unexpected--through accident, disease, or violence, patients temporarily lose control of their bodies and, it seems, their lives. With rehabilitation, they can learn to navigate their world once more, retraining muscles and mind to compensate for paralyzed limbs and diminished strength. But as Dr. Michelle Alpert shows here, there is far more to recapturing full, independent lives than regaining movement. Central to long-term success is mending the family unit.

Combining Dr. Alpert's clinical experience with patients' own stories, "Spinal Cord Injury and the Family" is for individuals and their families who must climb back from injury: for the young quad couple, both quadriplegic, who wish to conceive and raise a child; for the paraplegic dad who wants to teach his daughter to drive; for the couple wondering how they can regain the sexual spark in their relationship.

The authors cover the causes of and prognosis for SCI through case studies, review common courses of rehabilitation, and answer the "what now?" questions--from daily routines to larger issues concerning sex, education and employment, childbearing, and parenting with SCI. Rich in clinical information and practical advice, the book shows how real patients and their families are living full lives after spinal cord injury.

This volume presents a state of the art account of the clinical specialty of mental health care of deaf people. Drawing upon some of the leading clinicians, teachers, administrators, and researchers in this field from the United States and Great Britain, it addresses critical issues from this specialty such as Deaf/hearing cross cultural dynamics as they impact treatment organizations Clinical and interpreting work with deaf persons with widely varying language abilities Adaptations of best practices in inpatient, residential, trauma, and substance abuse treatment for deaf persons Overcoming administrative barriers to establishing statewide continua of care University training of clinical specialists The interplay of clinical and forensic responses to deaf people who commit crimes An agenda of priorities for Deaf mental health research Each chapter contains numerous clinical case studies and places a heavy emphasis on providing practical intervention strategies in an interesting, easy to read style. All mental health professionals who work with deaf individuals will find this to be an invaluable resource for creating and maintaining culturally affirmative treatment with this population.

The Silent Garden provides parents of deaf children with crucial information on the greater possibilities afforded their children today. Deaf since birth, Paul Ogden, a professor of Deaf Studies, offers parents a firm foundation for making the difficult decisions necessary to begin their child on the road to realizing his or her full potential. This encouraging book first helps parents to address critical concerns right away, such as how to communicate with their child. It then guides parents on issues such as what type of school their child can attend, what kinds of professional help are beneficial to the family, and what technological alternatives are available. Case studies and interviews with parents of deaf children help to reassure parents that they can prepare their child for a full, productive life.

At first glance it may seem that the Hebrew prophets offer little resolution on contemporary concerns of inclusivity and defense for persons deemed "other." Bound by their time and culture, the prophets' message seems obscure and irrelevant. However, on closer look, we see that the prophets offer a call to justice for those who are wrongly oppressed and marginalized, those on the fringes of society-the downcast and the disabled. In Prophetic Disability, Sarah Melcher opens our eyes to the prophetic corpus' ongoing theological relevance in the first book-length treatment of disability in the Bible's prophetic literature. Melcher takes a deep exegetical dive into Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve, analyzing passages that mention disability explicitly and those that offer complementary relevance. With careful and detailed exegetical work, she shows us the profound relationship between disability and the sovereignty of God, the latter being the dominant theme shaping all other motifs in the prophets. Influenced by the prominent work in disability studies by Tom Shakespeare's critical realism, she sets forth her own method in conversation with rhetorical and literary criticism. Melcher's engagement with these ancient texts is informed throughout by a respect for the context and circumstances that generated the texts relevant to disability, as well as a sensitivity to the lived experiences of people with disabilities. To that end, Prophetic Disability maintains the central theme from Shakespeare: that labels describe, but do not "constitute," disease. Who we are is a reality beyond our distinct experience with disability and impairment. What emerges from Melcher's analysis are ways in which the theological implications arising from the prophetic corpus might guide us toward more ethical practice in our encounters with disabilities.