-A reaction of mine of Chapter 9 titled "Care, support, and assistance" from Shakespeare's book Disability Rights and Wrongs
Shakespeare makes the claim
on page 151, which states, “in this chapter I have argued for the pluralist
approach to care and support, recognizing the diversity of disabled people’s
lives and preferences.” Additionally, by stating that the solution is to have a
balance of individualism (independent living) and mutuality (residential care),
it provides an easy, yet not truly helpful solution to this problem. While
Shakespeare is correct in saying this, he provides no real valid solution to
the problem. This is ironic because he criticizes supporters of the feminist
ethic of care for the same thing. A balance in these situations is always the
best method. We want people who are disabled to feel incorporated into a
community, but still provide them insurance for those things they simply cannot
do. However, the implementation of such program is another issue. At this point,
direct payments seem to be the best form because it is a tangible way of
showing support and care to the disabled person.
As Shakespeare basically
indicates, it is very difficult to create such a system that provides
legitimate solutions for every problem a disable person has. Each disabled
person has a different set of consequences. Disabled people have physical,
cognitive, and sensory impairments, each affecting their situation in a
specific way. Thus different forms of “care needs to be provided”. Direct
payments and independent living may provide those with physical benefits a
solution because their impairments are easier to target, and thus find a
solution for. However, this does nothing for those with cognitive impairments.
As Shakespeare notes on pg. 141, those individuals need other forms of care
such advocacy, advice, and emotional support. No amount of money can fix this
type of impairment. There was a suggestion of personal assistants. However,
this falls short as well, because while a personal assistant can help those
with physical impairments, it doesn’t help with cognitive impairments because
they are unable to provide the support needed by the nature of their
relationship with the client. Additionally, good personal assistants are hard
to find, and even less that actually “care” for the client. My grandmother
provides an example as an elderly individual with both physical and cognitive
impairments at this stage in her life. She needs the pluralist model described
by Shakespeare. She is in assisted living with subsidiaries from the
government. Independent Living does not abolish her dependency, there may be
more or less of it, because she cannot do certain tasks without conventionally
dependent adults. However, this also wouldn’t solve all of her problems. She
still need the feminist ethic of care model to provide for her cognitive
disabilities. Thankfully, her situation works out, but it is still very
difficult to coordinate.
Shakespeare attempts to find
a solution on pg. 151 when he states, “it may be that independent living based
on direct payments represents the best compromise between the different ends
for the average disabled person.” In other words, you can use money to achieve
your levels of convenience, control, companionship, safety and routine. Making
this process even more difficult is that all disabled people do not have the
same ends that they are trying to establish. As Shakespeare says on pg. 150,
“Care is not a single and simple goal, but can be disaggregated into a range of
different goals or ends.” Some ends include: control over one’s own life,
convenience and lack of responsibility, safety and security, companionship and
intimacy, and routine and familiarity. Each person thinks about their situation
in a different way, depending on their condition, how serious it is, and where
they are at in their lives. Different agents further complicate the process. It
appears the only viable system is the current one, with more individualism
methods implemented, and more flexibility to use your resources to find the
solution that directly impacts one’s situation.
References:
Shakespeare, Tom.
2006. Disability Rights and Wrongs. New York: Routledge. 135-152
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