Since I've got to the point with the Social Model, where I can see more
holes than cheese - i'm in the mood to throw a few grenades at where I'm
standing, to hasten my departure to greener pastures. It's great to
finally allow myself the pleasure of saying some of the things I've been
thinking for years.
Responding to various ideas of Carolyn and Mairian:
> I believe it is professional v. amateur power struggle at work
Let's not always locate the problem in someone else.
How about admitting that there is also a somewhat unseemly power
struggle going on between two branches of academia - science and the
humanities - I believe that humanities academics covet the status of
doctors - and that a lot of the pseudo-technical and incomprehensible
jargon of sociology is an attempt to emulate the language of science,
with not nearly so tangible results -
I can't resist saying that whatever the deficits of the medical model or
the insights of the social model - while I've often been glad when the
doctor has turned up - I can't recall ever feeling glad that the
sociologist has turned up - while not fair comment - it does illustrate
what the "social model" is up against -
Including the high level of responsibility, stress, risk,
decision-making and accountability that the medical profession has to
operate under, which the public still respects,
My experience on my autistic lists, (NOT those "terrible" parents lists
that we keep being warned about, I hasten to add, but *bona-fide*
PWD's), is that whenever I introduce the social model, people will
simply not accept it uncritically - they don't see these theories as
their "saviours" - they don't want to see black and white - they don't
want to buy into the power struggle between the social theorists and the
natural scientists - they prefer to choose a middle path.
Judy Singer
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