Abstract
Disability is a concern to all of us, as no one is immune to the loss of ability.
For most disabled people, their actual physical impairment is the least of their problems. A great deal of their frustration, hurt and pain results from the attitudes and reactions of other people, including health professionals. This chapter is about demystifying disability and introducing a model aimed at achieving an autonomy based on the primary mother–baby relationship and the awareness of human mortality. This requires therapists to be aware of their own internal process, including attraction and repulsion that disability might evoke.
Through a range of case studies, we will be looking at the felt experience of disabled people and how this psychodynamic model could be constructively utilised in bringing to the surface the desires, hopes and frustrations of disabled people living in an environment ridden with fears and prejudices. Each disabled person is a unique individual; no two people experience disability in the same way, as no two people experience life in the same way.
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Wilson, S. (2020). Disability: An Integral Aspect of Being Human. In: Benuto, L., Duckworth, M., Masuda, A., O'Donohue, W. (eds) Prejudice, Stigma, Privilege, and Oppression. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35517-3_8
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