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“He is never ever going to pay off.”:A relational care ethical response to ideas of ‘worthy mothering’ for a child with profound intellectual disability
No full textThe experiences and practices of caregivers and care receivers, as well as the emerging moral understandings that arise in those practices, have always been at the heart of care ethics. In the early years the focus was on practices of mothering (Ruddick 1989; Gilligan 1982; Noddings 1984), before Joan Tronto shifted the focus to the political context of the ethics of care in her pathbreaking Moral Boundaries (1993). In our research into practices of care for people with profound and multiple impairments, however, we discover that the informal care given predominantly by mothers, offers insights into care that have political power. We recognize their stories as profound critical counterstories against neoliberalism and against neoliberalist negative valuations of care. In this chapter we claim that reproductive justice – the theme of this volume – is non-existent when the voices remain unheard of mothers who give demanding care to their children with profound impairments and for this reason bring sacrifices, also of themselves. Their experiences and practices are often questioned, as well as the worthiness of their children’s existence. Mothers and other parents experience criticisms of dedicating their lives to caring for their children and their experiences are sometimes discarded or dismissed as unworthy or the result of unacknowledged subordination in a patriarchal society. These responses attribute passivity to them and rob them of their voices and subjectivity (see also Van Nistelrooij 2015, 87). Such simplifying dismissals fail to recognize mothers and other caregivers as moral and political subjects. <br/
Experiences of Treatment-Seeking Children and Young People Following Parental Intimate Partner Homicide
No full textEducating chaplains for a changing society:Discourses of worldview in professionalism
No full textChaplaincy’s professionalism is closely connected to worldview. However, in Western contexts, this relationship is changing in response to increasing secularization, pluralization, and professionalization. Still, little is known about how chaplaincy educational programs address these changes and prepare future chaplains to integrate worldview with professionalism. Therefore, this study examines the main discourses regarding the role of worldview for chaplaincy’s professionalism within chaplaincy educational programs in the Netherlands. Through a critical discourse analysis of program documents and interviews with representatives from these programs, we identify five key discourses: worldview care, interfaith care, tradition-specific care, neutral care, and societal engagement. These discourses reflect various, sometimes conflicting, perspectives on the role of worldview in chaplaincy professionalism. While all educational programs share the worldview care discourse, some emphasize interfaith and neutral approaches to accommodate pluralistic and secular contexts, while others maintain a strong connection to specific worldview traditions. The societal engagement discourse highlights an expanding role for chaplaincy in addressing broader societal issues. These coexisting discourses underscore the ongoing negotiation of the role of worldview in chaplaincy professionalism and suggest a need for dialogue both within and between educational programs
The Definition Dilemma: How Definitions of Disability Shape Statistics on Social Participation
No full textTo monitor progress in including persons with disabilities, including in interventions which can improve their health and quality of life, it is crucial to collect data on their participation. However, there are many different ways of defining disability and thus categorising individuals as disabled/not disabled, which may impact measures of participation. This study aims to assess the relationship between three different measures of disability and the level of participation of persons with disabilities. We analysed data from a population-based survey of disability amongst Syrian refugees in Istanbul, which collected data on disability using the Washington Group enhanced set of disability questions as well a two-question set asking about perceived activity limitations due to disability. The prevalence of disability ranged from 13.5 to 22.4% depending on the measure used. The group of people that are categorised as disabled also differs, indicating who is being seen as disabled changes when a different measure is used. Levels of participation, with regards to paid work, education and being partnered, also varied by measure, for example, being in paid work ranged from 26% to 38%. These findings underscore the importance of carefully selecting and clearly defining disability measures in studies, (health) interventions and policy contexts
On the Importance of Gratitude for Humanistic Education in the Anthropocene
Get PDFThe present ecological crises that mark the Anthropocene make it clear that our exploitative way of relating to the world undermines humans' and many other beings' potential to flourish on Earth. Therefore, education should be concerned with fostering awareness and understanding of the value and vulnerability of (the conditions for life on) our planet, and our dependency in relation to this good. Gratitude experiences are characterized by and can contribute to such forms of awareness, types of understanding, and corresponding motivation to cherish the good these take as their object. Moreover, experiences of existential gratitude can reshape our relation to the natural world, making us perceive its objects as beautiful, intrinsically valuable entities that we feel profoundly connected with rather than as instrumentally valuable benefits. In particularly profound cases, people’s sense of self alters as they come to experience and understand themselves as an interdependent part of a larger whole such as Earth . Such experiences not only enrich our relationships with the natural world, but also provide us with meaning by deepening our sense of identity, and by infusing our lives with a sense of moral responsibility to care for the ecosystems we are part of. Thus, gratitude experiences not only have the potential to enhance flourishing, but may also have a bearing on how we approach the ontological-ethical question of what it means to be and flourish as a human being. Therefore, the potential educational value of gratitude seems to be particularly relevant for humanistic education in the Anthropocene. However, there seems to be a tension between existential gratitude and central elements of the modern western worldview; whereas the former is marked by an acknowledgement of our dependency and the uncontrollability of some aspects of the world, the latter is characterized by the humanistic values of freedom, autonomy and self-fulfilment, and by a belief in progress through the exercise of control over the natural environment. We discuss how humanism can disentangle itself from these problematic aspects of the modern worldview, and explore possibilities to foster existential gratitude within the framework of humanistic education
Meaning making as a process of orientation in life
No full textIn this chapter, the focus is on developing an interdisciplinary perspective on existential meaning making as a process of orientation in life. It is argued that this allows for a holistic understanding of existential meaning making which highlights not only its spiritual character but also its physical, relational, and socio-cultural dimensions. Disorienting experiences are an inherent part of processes of orientation in life, interrupting habitual modes of meaning making. Such interruptions may be experienced as a threat to meaning making or as an opening towards new meaning. An existential meaning making model is presented, explaining how people (re)orient in life in the context of disorienting experiences
Humanism as a critical, entangled, and inclusive worldview
No full textThe central question in this chapter is how to understand contemporary humanism as a worldview. Three developments in humanistic thought – towards critical, entangled, and inclusive humanism – are presented as guidelines for outlining a dynamic, contextualized, and critical view of contemporary humanism. This view critically engages with work by Dutch authors who have, over the last decades, theorized humanism as a worldview, in particular work by Jaap van Praag and Peter Derkx. Furthermore, as worldviews comprise an understanding of spirituality - an understanding of goodness that people may connect with, even in the face of severely disorienting experiences – the notion of humanist spirituality is elaborated on, on the basis of philosophical ideas by Iris Murdoch, Emmanuel Levinas, and Hannah Arendt
Emotional responses to potentially traumatic events:An interpretative qualitative analysis of high-risk professionals in relation to their social structures
No full textProfessionals in emergency-focused environments are taught to prioritize emergencies over their own emotions and trained to suppress their own emotional reactions. High-risk professionals in a vertical social structure, such as police officers, military personnel, career firefighters, and perioperative nurses, also tend to develop an us-versus-them mentality with emotional distance from patients or civilians