The term ‘disability’ is laden with medical origins and medical meanings, which contribute to
exclusion and oppression for persons labeled as ‘disabled’. Moreover, these processes are
amplified by constructing disability as an individual burden or personal tragedy. Medicalizing
disability keeps it a personal matter, a personal problem that needs to be treated, rather than
addressing the social processes that actually restrict or constrict the disabled person’s life.
Rehabilitation Science and my lived experience of disability and walking serve as contexts that
assist me as I explore how my subjectivity as a disabled woman and clinician helps me
understand the theoretical tensions of five key themes: independence, power, client-centred
practice, ableism, and the social model of disability in relation to disability and rehabilitation.
These themes offer me a way to analyze my experiences, and how I have come to access and
engage with Disability Studies literature in order to deepen my understanding of the critiques on
disability and rehabilitation. As an insider, my research explores three decades of personal
narrative. Through critical reflexivity as part of autoethnography, I work to increase my own
awareness and that of my readers on the tension and complexities with respect to disability and
rehabilitation. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/18221 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mahipaul, Susan |
| Contributors | Rosenbaum, Peter, Rehabilitation Science |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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