Comment Paper posting

French, S., & Swain, J. The Relationship between Disabled People and Health and Welfare Professionals, Disability in Context, 734-751.

People with disabilities have always faced obstacles. Now, is this the thought from an ableist perspective? Or, do people with disabilities believe this as well? If they do, what are the obstacles that they wish to overcome? This paper, written by Sally French and John Swain, looks at the relationship between people with disabilities, and health and welfare professionals. It seeks to explain that people with disabilities are not looking to change things about themselves or their environment, but their relationships between themselves and their healthcare and welfare workers. One Joshua Malinga, the secretary general of the Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled states about healthcare professionals, “The point is that they believe that they have solutions our problems. They do not see us as belonging to society, they think we belong to them, they have to keep files on us throughout our lives, and decide when we should see a doctor…” (French and Swain: 740). French and Swain believe that “critical questions can no longer focus on professionals, their skills, expertise, and interventions for cure or care. The possibilities for moving forward are generated within changing power structures and relations between disabled people and professionals”.
This paper by French and Swain recounts experiences that people with disabilities have faced in their relationships with the medical profession. It seems that most experiences for people with disabilities are negative ones. The paper tries to change the view held by most ableist people that doctors and medical professionals are doing what is right. Actually, to people with disabilities, “doctors are nothing more than groups of anonymous men who would ask very personal and insensitive questions, photographed unclothed, and were compelled to walk nude in front of medical students”. It seems to the reader of this paper, that people with disabilities are not seeing doctors to be helped or fix their ‘disability’ but to educate the next wave of medical professionals.
This paper by French and Swain also looks at the effectiveness of disabled people as professionals. Studies have found that as social workers, people with disabilities are quite effective. As a social worker, there are various advantages in being impaired (in some way), including an increased knowledge of disability, the ability to empathize, and the breaking down of professional barriers” (French and Swain, 744). However, there is some difficulty when it comes to being a disabled professional, such as barriers to promotion. There are many studies written about racism and sexism in the workplace, however, little research has been done about discrimination towards people with disabilities. One thing is true though, it does exist.
Finally, the paper talks about disabled people power and how to change the professional-disabled people relationships. French and Swain state in their paper that relationships between disabled people and professionals have been totally dominated by the professionals. The paper also states that with the growth of the disabled people’s movement, the greatest challenge to professional dominance has come from disabled people themselves. When it comes to changing the relationships between professionals and people with disabilities, it falls on the person with the disability. “The first (change) is at the personal level of individual disabled people taking an active role in realizing their own goals. From this reading, what helped me understand the most important point is this: “Disabled people define independence, not in physical terms, but in terms of control. People who are almost totally dependent on others, in a physical sense, can still have independence of thought and action, enabling them to take full and active charge of their lives (French and Swain, 749).” What people with disabilities want to change out of the professional relationship is to have the professional’s knowledge at the service of the client…To remove the power from the hands of the professional and put it in the hands of the client. I agree with this view to a degree, however, with knowledge comes power. For a patient, disabled or not, dictating to a doctor how to do his job will not be the answer to fixing the relationships, but could cause a decrease in the quality of care being given. What would be good for both parties is to make a visit to the doctor as comfortable and unintrusive as possible, but the doctor still needs to do his job.