Erste Schritte in die Physik für Gehörlose - sonderpaedagoge.de!
Erste Schritte in die Physik für Gehörlose - sonderpaedagoge.de!
Erste Schritte in die Physik für Gehörlose - sonderpaedagoge.de!
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Madness and Disabilities: Interview with Geoffrey Reaume<br />
Geoffrey Reaume: I can say that madness and psychiatric disabil-<br />
ities are as tenuous and difficult to <strong>de</strong>f<strong>in</strong>e as they were when the<br />
walls were built over 100 years ago at the former Toronto Asylum.<br />
The 20th century, particularly the latter half of the 20th century,<br />
has seen the immense <strong>in</strong>fluence of the medical mo<strong>de</strong>l on <strong>in</strong>terpret-<br />
<strong>in</strong>g madness which is troubl<strong>in</strong>g as this leads to a reductionist ap-<br />
proach where a person's biology is said to <strong>de</strong>term<strong>in</strong>e their mental<br />
state. Yet, mental anguish and psychiatric disabilities are very<br />
much due to social and economic factors, far more than any physi-<br />
ological basis which has been touted especially s<strong>in</strong>ce the days of<br />
Kraepel<strong>in</strong> and Bleuler. The good th<strong>in</strong>g is that there is far more<br />
recognition of the material basis of madness today than when<br />
Kraepel<strong>in</strong> and Bleuler reigned supreme, which is largely the result<br />
of the large numbers of current and former psychiatric patients<br />
writ<strong>in</strong>g about their own experiences and organiz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> ways that al-<br />
low for greater discussion of non-medical approaches to un<strong>de</strong>r-<br />
stand<strong>in</strong>g madness than <strong>in</strong> the past. While there certa<strong>in</strong>ly were peo-<br />
ple who wrote about madness and organized, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Ger-<br />
many, a century ago, <strong>in</strong> the last three <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s this organiz<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
outspokenness has helped to challenge the medical monopoly<br />
about what it means to be mad than was previously the case. How-<br />
ever, there is no po<strong>in</strong>t pretend<strong>in</strong>g that this means th<strong>in</strong>gs are f<strong>in</strong>e -<br />
because they aren't f<strong>in</strong>e. Discrim<strong>in</strong>ation is as alive as ever towards<br />
people with psychiatric disabilities and most people and organiza-<br />
tions who have alternative perspectives that are not medical mo<strong>de</strong>l<br />
don't get much fund<strong>in</strong>g or have the recognition that medical mo<strong>de</strong>l<br />
approaches have to madness to this day. So the struggle cont<strong>in</strong>ues<br />
to support and promote greater alternatives to the medical mo<strong>de</strong>l<br />
of madness.<br />
- 60 -<br />
Heilpädagogik onl<strong>in</strong>e 04/ 08