Physical disability and social liminality: A study in the rituals of adversity

Murphy, Robert F.; Scheer, Jessica; Murphy, Yolanda E.; Mack, Richard

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(88)90244-4

Cited by 188 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…For individuals with disabilities, however, these negative experiences are often accompanied by intense (and frequently embarrassing) expressions of kindness and sympathy from others. Individuals with disabilities are simultaneously`cared about' and kept`at arms length' from ordinary social relations (Cahill and Eggleston 1994, Murphy et al 1988, Mwaria 1990, Perry 1996, Susman 1994. The third category, the wise, is composed of those who do not possess the trait`.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Oh, those therapists will become your best friends’: maternal satisfaction with clinics providing physical, occupational and speech therapy services to children with disabilities

Green

2001

Sociology Health & Illness

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Little is known about maternal satisfaction with clinics that provide physical, occupational and speech therapy services to chronically impaired children. Because of the frequency and duration of contact between mothers and therapy clinics, this represents a significant gap in the literature on satisfaction with health care providers. This study uses a modified labelling approach to the issue of interactions between the own, the wise and the others as a framework for understanding such satisfaction. Data are drawn from a survey of 81 mothers of children regularly treated at one of three paediatric therapy clinics, and from extensive interactive interviews with seven of these mothers. Findings suggest that satisfaction with therapy clinics is a complex phenomenon that is affected by the relationships among mothers, the wise and others, in a number of ways: (1) Mothers who find it easier to interact with wise individuals than with others are more satisfied with the therapy clinic; (2) The perceived quality of the social environment is more important to overall satisfaction among mothers who do not prefer interactions with wise individuals than among those who do; (3) Among mothers who do not prefer interactions with wise individuals, perceived stigma is inversely related to overall satisfaction and moderates the relationship between the social environment and satisfaction. The greater the degree of perceived stigma, the more important the social environment of the clinic is to overall satisfaction among mothers who do not prefer interactions with the wise.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Oh, those therapists will become your best friends’: maternal satisfaction with clinics providing physical, occupational and speech therapy services to children with disabilities

Green

2001

Sociology Health & Illness

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“…Desires to withdraw are further motivated by the sociocultural contexts of American life which values independent movement and upright stature (Stein 1979(Stein , 1989Murphy et al 1988) as reflected in patterns of avoidance, denigration, and ascriptions of spoiled identities to the disabled.…”

Section: Individual's Concerns About Personhoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cultural adversity of physical disability: Erosion of full adult personhood

Luborsky

1994

Journal of Aging Studies

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Adversities facing people with disabilities include barriers to meeting daily needs and to social life. Yet, too, fundamental social devaluation erodes an individual's capacity to retain title to the cultural category of a full person. These cultural adversities are important components in the disablement process. The cultural meanings for physical dependency convey images of childlike, dependent, incomplete persons near death. Using interviews with middle aged and elderly polio survivors, the author identifies key cultural categories, the expectations and values linked with disability and describe the strategies people use to confront, or not, the erosion of personhood. The importance of understanding the category of the person, its historical setting, and evolution are highlighted. Finally, the inversion of traditional cultural logics for defining the personhood of individuals with disabilities is illustrated.Severe physical impairments pose a host of hardships, some of which are more obvious than others. Impairments limit the ability to do basic daily tasks that sustain the body and the spirit. Eating, moving around, bathing, and taking part in valued personal and social life through holding a job and leisure activities all require extra efforts. Being unable to perform valued activities fosters social devaluation and low self-regard. Yet, the social devaluation is corrosive to people with disabilities at a more implicit cultural level.One of the cultural consequences of having disabilities is that an individual's identity as a complete person comes into question rather than remaining taken for granted. Being unable to fully perform normatively valued activities and roles in the workplace, home, and community challenges an individual's core identity as a full adult person. The erosion of personhood that is associated with disability is a cultural level adversity that is not well understood. The aim of this article is to examine and illustrate these issues. It will contribute an understanding of individual values, motivations, and actions as situated within an ecology of cultural contexts one of which is the category of personhood. To begin, basic concepts and orientations need to be made explicit.

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“…Women occupy a liminal position [26] with regard to the category of other [27,28]. Some women (virgins, or monogamous wives for example), are allowed categorization as healthy selves.…”

Section: The Sick Othermentioning

confidence: 99%

Self and other through the prism of AIDS: a literary examination of relationships with patients

Shapiro

2002

Microbes and Infection

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Physical disability and social liminality: A study in the rituals of adversity

Cited by 188 publications

References 7 publications

‘Oh, those therapists will become your best friends’: maternal satisfaction with clinics providing physical, occupational and speech therapy services to children with disabilities

‘Oh, those therapists will become your best friends’: maternal satisfaction with clinics providing physical, occupational and speech therapy services to children with disabilities

The cultural adversity of physical disability: Erosion of full adult personhood

Self and other through the prism of AIDS: a literary examination of relationships with patients

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