Publication details
Profesní slepota a režimy spěchu : Podpora soběstačnosti při jídle v institucionální péči o lidi s mentálním znevýhodněním
| Title in English | Professional blindness and regimes of haste : Support of self-sufficiency in eating in institutional care for people with mental disability |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Biograf |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | http://www.biograf.org/clanek.html?clanek=6001 |
| Field | Sociology, demography |
| Keywords | Regimes of care; regimes of haste; support of self-sufficiency; assistance in eating; institutionalised care for people with mental disability; participative approach to analysis |
| Description | People living in „homes for mentally disabled” perform activities connected with preparation, serving and eating of food with various degree of self-sufficiency. Their autonomy in eating is influenced by the character of their disability, as well as by associated sensory and physical impairments. But observation of assistance with eating also shows that self-sufficiency is negotiated – it is a result of an agreement between the client and the network of care, constituted not only by clients and carers, but also by technologies and rules, as well as by architectures of surrounding „material” world. Self-sufficiency – in our case manifested as ability to consume breakfast or lunch more or less independently – is not essential quality of the client. It does not exist by itself, in a space formed solely by „level of mental disability”, but in a complex network of associations, constituted by many human and non-human actors undergoing constant change. In the practice of institutional care for people with mental disability we are frequently confronted with situation characterized by lack of time, individual approach, cooperation or necessary resources indispensable for support of self-sufficiency. We propose to describe this state of affairs – called „professional blindness” by the actors – not as an impairment of sight or judgment, but as an ordering of the network of care, in which space for support of self-sufficiency is limited by accepted regimes of haste. The research described in the article focuses on a few concrete situations influenced by institutionalized regimes of haste and together with actors seeks possibilities for their analysis and retuning. |