People first voicing disability, embodied identity and social policy in Ontario

**algohiny**

People first
voicing disability, embodied identity and social policy in Ontario
by: Epp, Timothy D.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 1999

ABSTRACT
This study examines disability and identity in Canadian society at the nexus of personal experience and social discourse. Using a multi-sited ethnographic methodology, I draw on Foucault's theory of 'governmentality' and 'bio-politics', and Csordas' concept of 'embodiment', as well as an earlier work by Goffman, in examining
divergences and junctures between discourse on disability and the person, as expressed in self-advocacy discourse. I also draw on interviews with eighteen
self-advocacy group members with disability and two group advisors; on service provider policy, and social policy on disability in the province of Ontario, Canada, as presented in the document 'Making Services Work for People' and the 'Levels of Support' project. My critical look at issues of disability emerged out of several years' personal experience in the field of disability services and eighteen months of interaction and participation with the self-advocacy organization People First.

The main issues that I address concern processes of individual and collective identification within sociopolitical contexts of deinstitutionalization, the emergence of the disability self-advocacy movement and the restructuring of social services in Ontario. In particular, I explore the social construction of voice and self, the dys-appearance of the disabled body in self-advocacy discourse, and the implications of this approach for self-advocacy as political strategy.

My research findings indicate that, although People First has been successful in hallenging particular instances and cases of human rights abuse for persons with disabilities in North America, proclaiming the agency and fundamental humanness of persons with disabilities, and providing forums for individuals to negotiate personal experience and identity, nevertheless the emphasis on voice and the marginalization of the disabled body reproduce societal dichotomies of mind/body, limiting the organization's effectiveness in advocating for persons with developmental disabilities.
Overall, this thesis endeavours to contribute to several domains, these including the Anthropology of the Body, of Citizenship, of Identity, of Policy, of Self-Advocacy Groups, and of the State's 'caring' for local worlds of meaning and practice, as well as contributing ethnographically and analytically to the interdisciplinary field of Critical Disability Studies.

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كن متفاعلاً إيجابياً ولا تحمل وترحل شاركنا بأفكارك لنرتقى معاً

ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
قربت أموت
بانده عليكى بأعلى صوت
دفينى بحنانك لاموت
بانده ولا بيجينى صوت
ما تردى يا امه بنظره حتى من عنيكى

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algohiny كتب:

thank you

People first
voicing disability, embodied identity and social policy in Ontario
by: Epp, Timothy D.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 1999

ABSTRACT
This study examines disability and identity in Canadian society at the nexus of personal experience and social discourse. Using a multi-sited ethnographic methodology, I draw on Foucault's theory of 'governmentality' and 'bio-politics', and Csordas' concept of 'embodiment', as well as an earlier work by Goffman, in examining
divergences and junctures between discourse on disability and the person, as expressed in self-advocacy discourse. I also draw on interviews with eighteen
self-advocacy group members with disability and two group advisors; on service provider policy, and social policy on disability in the province of Ontario, Canada, as presented in the document 'Making Services Work for People' and the 'Levels of Support' project. My critical look at issues of disability emerged out of several years' personal experience in the field of disability services and eighteen months of interaction and participation with the self-advocacy organization People First.

The main issues that I address concern processes of individual and collective identification within sociopolitical contexts of deinstitutionalization, the emergence of the disability self-advocacy movement and the restructuring of social services in Ontario. In particular, I explore the social construction of voice and self, the dys-appearance of the disabled body in self-advocacy discourse, and the implications of this approach for self-advocacy as political strategy.

My research findings indicate that, although People First has been successful in hallenging particular instances and cases of human rights abuse for persons with disabilities in North America, proclaiming the agency and fundamental humanness of persons with disabilities, and providing forums for individuals to negotiate personal experience and identity, nevertheless the emphasis on voice and the marginalization of the disabled body reproduce societal dichotomies of mind/body, limiting the organization's effectiveness in advocating for persons with developmental disabilities.
Overall, this thesis endeavours to contribute to several domains, these including the Anthropology of the Body, of Citizenship, of Identity, of Policy, of Self-Advocacy Groups, and of the State's 'caring' for local worlds of meaning and practice, as well as contributing ethnographically and analytically to the interdisciplinary field of Critical Disability Studies.