Tensions of Trans-institutionalization in Disabled Childhoods: A Photo Essay

Abstract


 
 
 This article describes how researchers from a longitudinal study of early childhood service systems generated a visual representation of transinstitutionalization that could facilitate dialogue for change with a variety of audiences. Comprised of seven portable banners, the photo essay that we constructed features snapshots of documents and/or material objects brought forward by mothers, grandmothers, fathers and foster parents in the course of research interviews. Working the theme of tensions in disabled childhoods, we assembled the collection to produce sharp contrasts between the generalizing effects that institutional involvement has on disabled children, and the particular lives that they live out at home with family members. Proceeding banner by banner, the article reveals the “thinking through” that we did to produce the photo essay, and our hopes for informing action on a systemic relation whereby parents are held responsible for producing ‘normal’ children.
 
 

Youth carceral deinstitutionalisation and transinstitutionalisation in Ontario: Recent developments and questions

“…Chiefly, concerns were raised early on that deinstitutionalisation did not, in fact, lead to greater availability of community‐based care and support, but instead led to the imposition and replication of carceral institutional logics onto other public, community and social networks. Rather than transforming institutionalised care, then, many suggest that the institution was simply dispersed and decentralised into the community (Church, Vostermans & Underwood, 2020; Haley & Jones, 2020).…”

“…With the closure of some facilities such as those for people with disability, others have taken their place, such as prisons, hospitals and community organisations. This is described as transinstitutionalisation, and speaks to the ways an institution persists in different forms and sites (Church, Vostermans & Underwood, 2020; Haley & Jones, 2020). Regarding Ontario, there is some dated literature speaking to the long history of justice reform, including closures and transitions of youth confining institutions – from Reformatories, to Industrial Schools, to Training Schools, to Youth Detention Centers, and the rise of community‐run programmes and treatment centres in the 1970s and 1980s (Bennett, 1988; Boyd, 1981; Grant, 1984; Morrison, 1984; Neff, 1994).…”

Pandemic Effects: Ableism, Exclusion, and Procedural Bias

“…We have seen that institutions hold power through procedures, policies, and qualifying criteria for services (Church et al, 2020;van Rhijn et al, 2021). This power comes through professionals' decisions, as well as requirements for families and frontline workers to comply with policies and procedures in order to gain and maintain access to programs and services.…”