Abstract
This study examined the representations of one Finnish child with disabilities as constructed in reports written by professionals. The professional action models which appeared in the discourse of the reports were also explored. The theoretical framework of the study was based on the social constructionist approach. Research data consisted of 145 documents, the analyses of which were based on critical discourse analysis developed by Fairclough (1992). Results indicated that the child with a disability was constructed in the documents in varying ways, either as an object, a problem, or a subject Professional expertise, mechanistic and objectivist practices, and seeing disability as an individual problem were verified as the professional modes of action. By revealing how institutionalized views shape the lives of children with disabilities, this study discusses the prevailing and alternative ways to construct disability.
Highlights
This study examined the representations of one Finnish child with disabilities as constructed in reports written by professionals
One of the common presuppositions of the orientations included in social constructionism is that the language people use describes the world and creates it (Gergen, 1985; Soder, 1989)
Views on disability from social constructionism are described by the social model (Abberley, 1987; Oliver, 1990, 1996), the socio-political approach (Hahn, 1986; Hahn, 1988) and the rights-outcome approach (Rioux, 1997)
Summary
This study examined the representations of one Finnish child with disabilities as constructed in reports written by professionals. One of the common presuppositions of the orientations included in social constructionism is that the language people use describes the world and creates it (Gergen, 1985; Soder, 1989) From this view, disability is not just a question of a physical or psychic, medically defined difference, but it is defined as a relative, socially created concept, the meanings of which vary according to historical time, context, and the definers of disability. Reports usually represent clients as cases, and develop into different types of clinical biographies comprised of reporting clinical identities of these clients They indirectly tell about the function of institutions and their ways of intervening in a client's life The analysis presents possibilities for changes by making the hidden aspects of discourse, such as inequality and power, more visible (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997; Wodak, 1996, 1997)
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