Impairment is a physical fact, but disability is a social construction

Impairment is a physical fact, but disability is a social construction Intro This essay will discuss disability as a socially constructed concept, as viewed from a historical viewpoint the first as a physical fact and the second as socially constructed condition. The manner by which this will done is to investigate disability from an historical viewpoint and the socially constructed viewpoint, this will concluded in an evaluation. Oliver (1996) defines impairment as lacking part of or all of a limb, or having a defective limb, organ or mechanism of the body. And disability as the disadvantage of activity (Oliver 1996:22). Barnes (1991) suggests that disability is a recently modern term used to describe a system in which society discriminates by enforcing social restrictions on people with impairments. It would be almost impossible to go back in time and identify when exactly society began to discriminate against people with impairments. Although it has been suggested that societys view of impairment and disability came about as a result of peoples psychological fear of the unknown. As the perception of what is normal is transmitted by accepted values and beliefs through learning and culture from other people in society. (Douglas, 1966) Historians have found evidence from ancient times that suggests different societies generated their own ideological thoughts through out history, about people who suffered impairment. In Israel a 46,000 year old skeleton of a man was found, which showed he was born with an impairment that would have required the support from his society through out his life. This individual had severe impairment and yet his survival was the result of respect from his society (Rudgley, 2000) however not all societies had the same ideological responses to impairment. An excavated burial site (c.100, 000BC) in Turkey demonstrated how an individual with a hunched back was dumped on a rubbish tip, instead of being buried the traditional way as society viewed him as an outcast. (Rudgley, 2000) giving an early example of someone with a physical impairment being isolated from society. It was during the industrialization of 19th century that an extreme policy of exclusion was envisioned by segregating people with impairments from society by placing them in institutions. The term institution is used to describe a number of social organisations that range from hospitals, asylums, workhouses and prisons that use organized long term provision in a residential setting with the emphasis being on care treatment or custody (Jones and Fowles, 1984) Institutions were first established to deal with the problem of mental defectives these were people with learning disabilities and mental illness. As previously Individuals who had severe impairments were taken into small medieval hospitals where the sick or bedridden were kept. The philosophy of these hospitals was religious based, seeking to care than to cure. (Skull, 1984) However this philosophy changed as the institutions were built with the belief that people with learning disabilities could be educated and trained and then let back in to society once rehabilitated. (Race,1995) As prior to industrialisation people with learning disabilities had managed to cope in society by doing simple manual work, as literacy and numeracy were only prerequisites of the higher classes. Until industrialization brought a faster work pace and created a new bourgeoisie based on a persons position in society and their individual attributes, (Hobsbawm 1962) resulting in the social exclusion of people with learning disabilities. (Skull 1979) Therefore capitalism was a way of controlling and giving discipline to individuals who could not obey the rules of new working practices. Therefore to enforce greater control there was a increase in institutions and asylums (Skull, 1979) there was an increasing fear that people with learning disabilities were contributing to the degeneration of society, therefore the regimes within the institutions were in place to contain people than reform them. The reason for people with learning disabilities being segregated from people in society was through the negative image given by labelling that resulted in stigmatisation. As in the first half of the century people classed as learning disabled were labelled idiot (very severe) imbecile (severe) feebleminded (less severe) other derogatory labels used were moron and moral defective. Even at the present time people with learning disabilities are still being stigmatised through labelling, that resulted from the past. As the term mental handicap to classify people with learning disabilities gives the illusion of mental illness, and the term handicap gives an image of a person with a cap in their hand begging and depending on the charity of others. The terms idiot and imbecile are labels still used to describe people in language used today. Indeed it was not the view that people with learning disabilities were a financial burden to society that was seen as a threat, but the way that they b red and spread the ills of society that caused concern for people. As it was believed that people who referred to as feebleminded were the cause of many problems in society such as prostitution, alcoholism and crime. It was this negative image of labelling learning disabilities that would lead the way for the science of eugenics. (Borsay, 2005) It is Francis Galton (1883) who is recognized as being the founding father of eugenics, which was defined as a science of improving inborn human qualities through selective breeding. (Galton, 1883) this meant only the most desirable people in society were allowed to procreate. This idea was to prove popular with social thinkers and politicians of the time and attracted approval from many people in society. Policies were made as a result and one such policy was that sterilizing or segregating people with learning difficulties was much lower than, the higher cost that society would accrue in supporting generations of defectives in the future. (Larson,1995) showing how easy it was for social policy makers to be persuaded into making policies based on welfare costs with little regard on how it would effect people with learning disabilities . (Porter 2000) Even the nazi doctors under Hitlers command committed genocide by measuring disabled peoples lives in term of economic importance. (Burleigh 1994) Medical professionals took part in the operation of the Nazi eugenic programmes (Lifton, 1986) that lead to people with impairments being sterilized against their wishes and resulted in the death of 2000,000 to 275,000 the majority of which had learning disabilities. (burleig 1994) Pfeifler (2000) argues that even at present, the classifications of the medical model in disability still occupy the eugenic agenda (Priestly) As ground breaking advances in science and medicine gave medical professions the power to dictate in the lives of people with impairments. With Genetic screening being seen as favorable in choice and cost effective, as the cost of genetic screening and abortion is cheaper to perform than the long term cost of supporting people with defective impairments. (Vintzileos et al, 1998) The medical model has been highly influential on setting the parameters for how people with impairments were treated by society. As Chernovsky (1997) states that research carried out into intelligence was one way in which psychologists helped maintain the status quo in society, by creating social inequality. This can be seen in the intelligence tests that were used to decide whether an individual was incapable of living in society. These tests made little attempt at assessing an individuals capabilities, by getting the individual to distinguish the difference between a fly and butterfly or how many feathers were on a chicken or how many miles it was to America (National Council for Civil Liberties, 1951; Potts and Fido, 1991) this test made sure that the doctor could certify the individual as being incapable and institutionalise them for not being able to answer. In the second half of the century a transformation came about that changed how society viewed a person with learning disabilities. During the 1950s the effects of war and polio epidemics highlighted the inequalities faced by people with disabilities, this led to the development and campaigning of human and rights movements as well as policies to combat these inequalities, including the European Convention of Human Rights 1950. Sociological studies were carried out and gave evidence to show that people with learning disabilities who had been lock away in institutions away from society, did have intellectual and social capabilities necessary to live in the community and that institution life was blocking this ability. (Race,1995) Tizard and OConnor (1952) discovered from their research that people with learning disabilities living in institutions who had been previously labelled as being unemployable did have the essential skills required to complete a job in a work environment. Clarke and Clarke (1959) found evidence that the environment had an effect on a persons performance, and the poor conditions inside institutions had a bad effect on the people living within them. Goffman coined the term total institutions to describe where people are cut off from the offside world and from family and friends. Procedures involve calling people inmates and humiliating them by removing their personal identity and by using a system of punishments and rewards. As well showing that people behave in accordance to label assigned to them, if people are labelled deviant, they will become deviant, and this in turn reinforces the beliefs up held by society about people with learning disabilities. The studies showed the damaging effects that institutions had on the development of the individual and in the 1960s a number of academic reports were published that detailed findings of research carried out into the conditions of institutions. The most renowned of these was the Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Ely Hospital (Howe Report, 1969). The report described the impoverished and neglected living conditions, as well as lack of privacy that people with learning disabilities suffered from under the custodial regime carried out by staff. Due to public opinion the above reports resulted in a change in the law, the new Mental Health Act (1959) changed the certified term mental deficiency to mental subnormality this meant that most people with learning disabilities who were not being detained for a legitimate reason were free to leave and could return to the community. (Clarke 1983) The introduction of White Paper Better Services for the Mentally Handicapped in 1971 led to a 50% reduction in hospital places by 1991 and led to the provision of local authority-based residential and day care. It also called for an end to custodial methods of care in hospitals and recommended the re-training of hospital staff. In 1979, The Jay Report re-emphasised the need for local authority-led care and, importantly, a service philosophy based on the principles of normalisation. In the 1980s, this was redefined as social role valorisation to include reference to strategies used in the creation, support and defence of valued social roles for people at risk of devaluation (Wolfensberger, 1998). In the UK, the principles of normalisation adopted were those interpreted by OBrien and Tyne (1981) as the five service accomplishments. These have become the developmental goals which organisations then and now strive towards A new philosophy was constructed that emphasised care in the community this change resulted in the closure of all the old asylums. Community care was designed to bring about positive changes, these were governmental values aimed at allowing people with learning disabilities to live on their own, in their neighbourhood with services to support them. The government hoped to develop community based services made up of day centres, supported accommodation, support workers, training and employment, these services were to help people with learning disabilities be included into society. The development of care in the community was result of reforms introduced by the Conservative government

Burying Your Life Essay

1. The short story Burying Your Life is written by Harkiran Dhindsa and published in 2010 on The Guardian website. Rahul is standing in his backyard trying to dig a grave. The soil is extremely hard so he struggles a lot with the hole. As he digs his wife Sarah walks back and forth from the house to the grave. They have agreed be nice to each other when Tom their son is around. Rahul try to make Sarah understand that it for the best that Tom stays with him at the house because of the incident with George their cat which has died. As Rahul continues to dig Sarah comes to the hole and try to explain that she haven’t been unfaithful and that it ´s just a friend that she has been seeing. Rahul don’t believe her as she is trying to explain her innocence. When the grave is complete they all gather around it. As Rahul puts the box with the dead cat inside down into the pit Tom says goodbye and help covering the grave with soil. Rahul watches Sarah stroking Toms back and gets emotionally touched. 2. Rahul is a normal man with a calm temper who lives with his wife Sarah and their son Tom in London. He gets home from work on time at least three times a week to eat with his son. He is a dependable person who appears to be in good contact with his own emotions. As Sarah wants to leave with Tom to her mom, Rahul try to talk her out of it. He is afraid of two things. That Tom is going to stay there for good and that Sarah will meet up with her lover again. He gets very affected by Sarah ´s unfaithfulness and actually don’t believe her, but on the other hand he want to believe her because he want their family to be together. Rahul is too dependable and that’s maybe why Sarah has been seeing another guy. Rahul is boring. 3. Sarah has many issues leaving her husband. The gardener Chris who she has been unfaithful with is probably more exciting than Rahul. They have been together for nine years and the spark between them is gone. But she still loves him and they have a son together. So that why she isn ´t just leaving him at once. She wants to work things out first by going to her mom and stay there for some time with Tom. As she walks back and forth from the house to the grave it is like she hasn’t completely made her mind yet about leaving. She can ´t decide whether to leave or stay with Rahul. She has big issues with keeping a job and drifts around from job to job and that also shows that she has big difficulties in keeping her attention on one thing for a long time. As she tries to explain to Rahul several times that she hasn ´t been unfaithful she also tells us that she wants to stay with Rahul or at least justify what she has done.

Unifine Richardson Case

Executive Summary- This report will evaluate an analyze Unifine Richardson’s current purchasing strategy. The company currently purchases approximately one million pounds of honey per year. A majority of the purchased honey is a 50-50 blend of Chinese and Canadian honey. Unifine Richardson’s main honey supplier is Harrington Honey. Unfortunately, Harrington Honey has informed Unifine Richardson that they can no longer supply the company with honey from China. Harrington Honey’s decision to stop importing honey from China was based on China’s use of chloramphenicol, which is an antibiotic that is band for use in food-producing animals.As a result of the Harrington Honey’s decision to stop importing honey and not having secondary supplier, Rob Pincombe (Unifine Richardson’s purchasing manager) must make a decision on how to proceed. Because he does not have a secondary supplier which I think is the root of his problem, Rob has to make a decisio n based on the following analysis points: †¢He has a small window to make a decision †¢Honey expenditures make up 3 to 5 percent of the firms total expenditures †¢He must analyze the other import options oCanadian only will cost $1. 75/lb. oUS only will cost $1. 10/lb. US dollar) o50/50 Argentina/Canadian cost $1. 42/lb. ?US imposed a tariff tax on Argentina honey ?There’s a chance that the honey for Argentina may be recalled n by management. Recommendations discussed include: Problem Statement: In spite of meeting the company’s current delivery schedule, there are several issues that must be addressed by the Quality Assurance Director and the company’s other directors. As indicted by the General Manager there is, â€Å"lack of a quality attitude in the plant†. Because of that lack of quality Below are some of the identified issues; 1.Quality Processes are not being followed 2. Operations personnel are not properly trained to operate machin ery 3. Maintenance personnel are not performing the proper scheduled maintenance 4. Purchasing is not properly coordinating with the sales representatives. 5. Design and Packaging potentially developed a defective product, 6. Lack of coordination between manufacturing and the other department 7. Marketing poor coordination. These issues are reducing the quality of the product that’s being produced and probably costing the company a lot of money.Analysis Plans: For the analysis, a Strategic Factor Analysis Summary (SFAS) Matrix (Wheeler, 2011) will be used. This matrix will be used to identify the external and internal factors that are causing this company to produce products that are not meeting the desired specifications. Based on the data provide, the matrix will focused on the following factors: man, machine, materials, and methods. These factors appear to play a part in the product variations. Each factor will be weighed and ranked based on how the company responded to th e factor in the document.Assumptions/Other Data: B-Cycles are primarily locations are in downtown Denver, Cherry Creek and Denver University neighborhoods (Denver B Cycle, 2012). This case study is being generated under the assumption that if the rider does not live in these are primary locations of the bikes, they are commuters and they either commute via RTD or their private vehicles. So, the alternates cannot be fully eliminated from the equations. Conclusion – This company’s SFAS Matrix (Wheeler, 2011) weighted score is 2. 05 the average is score is 3. 0. This company is not paying attention to the factors that could lead to the production of a quality product. Based on the information provide, this company is more focused on meeting the order demand vice delivering a quality product. Employees are cutting corners and processes in order to meet the delivery schedules, there are no process related decisions being made. It appears that quality and safety come second to schedule The General Manager is the ultimate cause of these quality and safety oversights.His schedule is causing employees are taking shortcuts to meet it, which in turn, is causing variances that are leading to products that aren’t being product to the desired specification. Recommendation – My recommendations to Mr. Kolb are: 1. In the short term ensure that the over pressurize cans follow the proper process. If they require rework, for the safety of the employees he has to ensure that’s what happens no shortcut. 2. He has to bring his findings to the General Manager (GM), the GM may not have a clear understanding of how his schedule is effecting the entire plant. . I would recommend a Kaizen Event, that’s attended by all process owners from each business area. The groups can define their processes an identify how they impact other business areas. The group can make process improvements as needed Figure 1 Strategy Canvas of Alternatives to B-Cycle T able 1 Attributes for the Alternatives Figure 2 Strategy Canvas for B-Cycle Table 2 Attributes for B-Cycle Works Cited Denver B Cycle. (2012). Retrieved from Denver B Cycle: http://denver. bcycle. com/home. aspx Downtown Denver Bicycle Trends and Conditions: June 2012. 2012, Jun). Retrieved from http://www. downtowndenver. com/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=O8RegjT0HAs%3D&tabid=566 Hertz Global Holdings INC. (2011, 12 31). 2011-12-31 Annual/10K Report. Retrieved from 2011-12-31 Annual/10K Report: http://ezproxy2. library. colostate. edu:2735/documents. php? compnumber=116020 Partnership’s, D. D. (2012). State of Downtown Denver. Retrieved from State of Downtown Denver: http://downtowndenver. com/LinkClick. aspx? fileticket=p%2bRv8bvTlF8%3d&tabid=538 Wheeler, J. D. (2011). Essenials of Strategic Management.

Subversive Poetry - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 823 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/07/29 Category People Essay Level High school Tags: Walt Whitman Essay Did you like this example? It is his subversive poetry that challenged the antiquated traditions and conservative ideals associated with literature; because of this, Walt Whitman is arguably the most important poet of the American Romantic. Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist during the 19th century. As a humanist, he was part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, and incorporated both views of thought into his work. Contemporary historians have cited Whitman as among the most influential poets in American edict often called the father of free verse. In the early 19th century, free verse had yet to exist American poetry descended from a long line of European tradition that dictated content, style, and form. Anything other than that was quickly dismissed as somewhat of an amphigory. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Subversive Poetry" essay for you Create order Whitman believed that the American poet did not elevate himself above the commoner he didnt hold to tradition for traditions sake, and most importantly, he did not identify with Europe, its people or its society. Unfortunately, his ideals contradicted everything about modern America poetry and American poets who traditionally adhered rigidly to a definite verse structure or set of characteristics. Consequently, when he published the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855, he was virtually a nobody. Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting Leaves of Grass, revising it constantly before his death. He paid for the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself, after receiving high praise from Ralph Waldo Emerson, to whom he sent a complimentary copy (at the time seen as a bold move, but now a common promotional strategy). He even went so far as to anonymously publish reviews of his own work in several other newspaper, for which he was scrutinized. Sex and sexuality have dominated Leaves of Grass from the very beginning and have shaped the course of its reception. Its first edition, containing Song of Myself, The Sleepers, and I Sing the Body Electric, which incorporated themes (though not exclusively) of homoeroticism (manly love), and sexual love, (Whitman, Song of Myself) with heavy emphasis on intensely passionate attraction and interaction, as well as bodily contact he describes a lover settl[ing] your head athwart my hips and gently turnd over upon me, And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue to my bare-stript heart, (Whitman, Song of Myself, section 5). Whitman defined himself as the poet of the Body and the poet of the Soul he equated the two, and argued that a sexual experience was essentially a spiritual experience. Although he had never called direct attention to this element of his work, in one of his anonymous reviews, he wrote of himself: ?The body, he teaches, is beautiful. Sex is also beautiful Sex will not be put aside; it is a great ordination of the universe. He works the muscle of the male and the teeming fibre of the female throughout his writings, as wholesome realities, impure only by deliberate intention and effort. However, Whitman and his poetry were not well-received by all. Leaves of Grass was highly controversial during its time for its explicit imagery, and Whitman was subject to derision by many critics. His poetry was regarded by many as obscene Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a famous abolitionist, wrote It is no discredit that Walt Whitman that he wrote Leaves of Grass, only that he not burn it afterwards, . Critic Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote an issue of The Criterion, a New York-based literary magazine at the time, categorizing Whitman as a filthy free lover, and condemning his work guilty of that horrible sin not to be mentioned by Christians, homosexuality. Evidently, Whitmans delight for discussion of sensual pleasures during Victorian America when such candid displays were considered immoral, faced incredible controversy. During the 1800s, particularly between 1837-1901, the strict beliefs of procreation only and pervasive gender roles were revitalized. Many people born into the Victorian age were both uniformed and emotionally frigid about sexual matters. Having sexual desires was nigh solely identified with men and women of lower classes prostitutes. When a women did experience sexual desire, she was thought to have a disease. Even male masturbation was alleged to cause a wide range of physical and mental diseases. These strict views on gender and sex have become what we now refer to as the Victorian stereotype. It is very important to contextualize Whitmans Song of Myself in order to understand why its ostensibly raunchy passages are so revolutionary. Whitman was a pioneer in his field nobody else dared to write about such private matters in such a public manner, and the scrutiny and hate he received are testimony to the importance of his work. Whitman dared to breach many of the rigid cultural norms that American had adhered to for generations. And perhaps it is his audacity and boldness that has made his poetry and his legacy so enduring.