Handicappet uden diagnose - Elisabeth Kampmann

English Summary
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between medical diagnosis and the
construction of the category disability and to look closely into the role that medical diagnosis
plays for the understanding of deviance. I am looking at the subject in relation to children
with disabilities. I look after the role of diagnosis in the construction of disability in relation
to identity of the child and relations to family and friends in the lifeworld. I also look at the
importance of the medical diagnosis in relation to social assistance and grants.
My theoretical starting point is an understanding of disability as a social construction. I
supplement this understanding with a relational understanding influenced by theories of
symbolic interactionism.
The material on which my investigation is built is qualitative interviews – two interviews with
skilled social workers working with disabled children in local authorities and four interviews
with parents to disabled children. Two of the children has got a diagnosis (the same) and the
other two has not got any in spite of the fact that the hospital system has done huge efforts to
find one. All of the four children are classified as delayed regarding psychomotoric
development. Furthermore my material consists of texts: the legislation of social assistance
and other substantial texts both governmental and from user organisations of disabled people.
Using critical discourse analysis as a method for my investigation I analyse the texts
mentioned above and thereby determine the order of discourse in the disability area in
Denmark.
I find that the primary discourse in the order of discourse is the equality/inequality discourse,
but I also find elements of a normality/deviance discourse. The equality/inequality discourse
emphasises the material aspects. The welfare state is expected to compensate for the problems
in different areas of life where disability causes problems. It also emphasises equality in
citizen-ship and participation in democratic life for the disabled. The legislation dissociates
from the individualistic and diagnostic view of disability and emphasises the relation between
the subject and his surroundings as the ground for social assistance.
Through the analysis of the interviews I find that a medical diagnosis is important for the
construction of the category of disability and thereby for understanding of the child. I also
find that it is much easier in the lifeworld to understand and explain to others the deviance of
the child – when there is a diagnosis. The insecurity in interaction with disability can be
reduced by the medical explanations that the diagnosis offers.
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