The order of classification and the disorder of the human being

Birgit Kirkebæk

doi:10.1080/15017419909510733

Original Articles

The order of classification and the disorder of the human being

Author:

Birgit Kirkebæk

About Birgit

Birgit Kirkebæk is associate professor at The Royal School of Educational Studies, Institute of Psychology and Special Education and Center of Research in the History of Handicap in Denmark. She also serves as professor at the University of Oslo, Institute of Special Education. Birgit Kirkebæk has written books and articles about the history of handicap and about communication and interaction between young children with disabilities and their parents.

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Abstract

Diagnoses are not only objective phenomena.: they are products of a subjective language and historical conditions. When we study the history of disabled people, we find that we as professionals create classifying order based on predetermined, historical criteria. This situation creates a general problem. We are not able to find a universal truth, but only local and cultural conceptions of different kinds of disability. Of course the disability itself is not always a construct. There are blind, deaf, mentally retarded people, but the meaning of their disability is constructed based on historically given conceptions. When we today use words such as sick, healthy, normal and deviant, where do we then set the boundary? How do we in our present biogenetic universe avoid preventing and eliminating conditions which are not considered unbearable, maybe not even considered a disease, by those implicated? What orders do we produce and what kind of limitation of the human disorder will be the result?

How to Cite: Kirkebæk, B., 2009. The order of classification and the disorder of the human being. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 1(1), pp.4–12. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1080/15017419909510733

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Published on 08 Jul 2009

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References

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Kristiansen , Marianne and Bloch‐Poulsen , Jørgen . (1997). . . I mødet er sandheden – en videnskabsteoretisk debatbog om engageret objektivitet. , [city: Ålborg]: : Ålborg Universitetsforlag. .
Lange , Torben . (1996). . . Historien om en idiot ‐ fortalt af ham selv. , [city: Gylling]: : Borgens Forlag. .
Lillestø , Britt . (1997). . . Når omsorgen oppleves krenkende. , Dr. avhandling, Tromsø Universitet. .
Sundhedsstyrelsen (1993). . . Prænatal genetisk rådgivning og undersøgelse. , Redegørelse. Udsendes til høring. . (The Danish Ministry of Health 1993).

[CIT0001] Bauman , Zygmunt . (1993). . . Postmodern ethics. , [city: Oxford]: : Blackwell. .

[CIT0002] Bauman , Zygmunt . (1997). . . Postmodernity and its discontents. , [city: Cambridge]: : Polity Press. .

[CIT0003] Dingstad , Pål. E. . (1997). . Avvik, sosiobiologi og kritikkproblemet. , [city: Oslo]: : Sosiologisk Årbok. .

[CIT0004] Foucault , Michel . (1996). . . Tingenes orden, [city: Oslo]:

[CIT0005] Graugaard , Christian . (1997). . . Professor Sands høns ‐ om sexualbiologi i mellemkrigstidens Danmark. , Københavns Universitet. . Ph.d.‐afhandling.

[CIT0006] Kristiansen , Marianne and Bloch‐Poulsen , Jørgen . (1997). . . I mødet er sandheden – en videnskabsteoretisk debatbog om engageret objektivitet. , [city: Ålborg]: : Ålborg Universitetsforlag. .

[CIT0007] Lange , Torben . (1996). . . Historien om en idiot ‐ fortalt af ham selv. , [city: Gylling]: : Borgens Forlag. .

[CIT0008] Lillestø , Britt . (1997). . . Når omsorgen oppleves krenkende. , Dr. avhandling, Tromsø Universitet. .

[CIT0009] Sundhedsstyrelsen (1993). . . Prænatal genetisk rådgivning og undersøgelse. , Redegørelse. Udsendes til høring. . (The Danish Ministry of Health 1993).

Reading: The order of classification and the disorder of the human being

Original Articles

The order of classification and the disorder of the human being

Author:

Birgit Kirkebæk

About Birgit

X close

Abstract

References