British researcher and disability advocate has published this interesting book full of new insights without being to scientific in his approach, but rather using a more personal and human style. As a patient advocate myself, I found his more scientific work very relevant for my advocacy work, and I'm sure many people, disabled or not, ill or not, will benefit from his insights. He argues that next to the organised care that the state provides to people stands the self-reliance of the individual to deal with these services that are offered. Yet he also argues for a third element, the presence of "the community", the need for connectivity that every human being needs, but especially so for disabled people.
Just to highlight one passage, but of course there are many more that are noteworthy in this book:
"What I am suggesting is that disability opens up possibilities for rethinking desire and, in particular, the desire for connection. Like belonging, connection acknowledges our need for others and others' need for us. Disabled people have magnified the importance of these interconnections through their political movements, their arts, their culture and their history. Take these connectivities that are commonly found in the world of disability: human-animal (in the case of guide or service dogs), human-machine (when one considers the use of wheelchairs and other prosthetics) and human-human (in the case of personal assistance or support workers). These exemplify what Barbara Gibson (2006) calls 'disability connectivities'. The centrality of connectivity, care and support in the lives of many disabled people has emphasised the human gains of partnership, community building and interdependence. This latter term, Solveig Reindall (1999) has argued, recognises that we are all situated and embedded in a host of communities. And to pursue interdependence unveils new kinds of desire. 'Desire itself', Margrit Shildrick (2007, p. 242) writes, 'is no longer figured in terms of lack but is always directed outwards' to establish ever renewed zones of connection. Our capacities as human beings- the things we can and cannot do-are always contextual and relational". (p. 50)
Inspirational and valuable.
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