The point with which I will be engaging in my journal is lifelong maintenance of children with Down syndrome in psychoneurological boarding schools. Today, there are a huge number of stumps in the USA, in which more than 150 thousand people with Down syndrome live (Kelemen et al., 2020). Even if they are considered capable, they are still deprived of the right to dispose of their property, they cannot make important decisions without the knowledge of the guardian. The legal status of many residents of psychoneurological boarding schools with Down syndrome does not correspond to their real mental state. Among the incapacitated there are many people who have been deprived of their civil rights unreasonably.
This idea was new to me, as I knew that many parents completely abandon children with Down syndrome. Nevertheless, I did not know that there are institutions to which parents who do not give up parental rights send their disabled children. In such places, children lose the ability to live independently, and not because they lack mental development. In special institutions where children with Down syndrome are sent by their parents, social and household skills are lost or not formed at all. For example, such children do not know how to go to the store, or pay for housing and communal services. Isolation of the child leads to violations of the personal sphere, emotional and physical development.
Studying the information on this topic horrified me and a strong emotional response emerged. So, in boarding schools, children with Down syndrome who need help and support are kept locked up, and in some they are immobilized with sedatives. Many institutions for patients with severe mental illnesses, such as Down syndrome, have very poor conditions of detention. Uncomfortable rooms, untimely change of linen, irregular hair cutting and body care of the wards are frequent phenomena (Jenks, 2019). Also, the problems of most of these institutions are insufficient provision of children with clothes, as well as a shortage of staff. Many residents do not even have their own chairs and bedside tables, there are no libraries and gyms in boarding schools, there are no conditions for preparing for independent life.
This idea made me look at institutions for children with Down syndrome in a new way. During the study of the literature, it was revealed that in boarding schools, professionals who thoroughly know the features of the disease do not always take care of the child. Any child realizes his potential much better in a loving family at home than separated from his parents in a special institution. In addition, I looked at the patients of such institutions from the other side. It turns out that not all patients with Down syndrome are incapacitated. Many of them could manage their property themselves, make many decisions on their own, including those concerning treatment. In practice, even personal rights are restricted in boarding schools under the pretext of incapacity.
A racialized or gendered lens, considerations of class, or other marginalized identities can significantly affect this idea. People who have class and preeminence have the opportunity to place a child in an expensive neuropsychiatric boarding school. There the child can really have good conditions of detention. However, representatives of the lower class do not have such an opportunity. They are forced to use the services of State institutions, where the conditions of detention may not be suitable for children with special needs. It is the environment that creates most of the difficulties for marginalized identities. It is not always ready to accept people with disabilities and provide services that meet their needs.
For me, this idea lacks a description of alternative opportunities for parents of children with Down syndrome. In the studied sources, two variants of the development of events are presented: the refusal of parental rights, the permanent residence of the child in a specialized boarding school. Very little attention is paid to organizations that parents who have decided to raise a child with Down syndrome at home can contact.
This idea can be improved by providing information about public organizations for parents with disabilities. So, it is possible to develop the idea of psychological and informational support of families. It is also worth pointing out that it is possible to participate in the movement to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. To improve the idea, it is worth informing the reader about the development of inclusive education methods and specialized schools. The paper will include a description of successful and effective support programs for families with children with developmental disabilities.
The paper emphasizes the significance of understanding both the philosophy of disability and how it connects to the construction of the impaired personality. As a result, I contend that embracing a post-structuralism perspective by campaigners and supporters is detrimental to disabilities politics. I illustrate how discourses can have substantial, undesirable repercussions for the personal experiences of disabled individuals. The significance of incapacity rights assertions was founded on the visibility of damage. Finally, I make a plea for disability studies experts to incorporate handicap issues into their research.
References
Jenks, A. (2019). Crip theory and the disabled identity: Why disability politics needs impairment. Disability & Society, 34(3), 449-469. Web.
Kelemen, T., Matthews, S., & Breevaart, K. (2020). Leading day-to-day: A review of the daily causes and consequences of leadership behaviors.The Leadership Quarterly, 31(1), 101-344. Web.