Deinstitutionalising women
Subtitle: an ethnographic study of institutional closure
By: Kelley Johnson.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 216
Subjects: People with mental disabilities -- Deinstitutionalization -- United States -- Case studies.; People with mental disabilities -- Care -- United States -- Case studies.; People with mental disabilities -- Rehabilitation -- United States -- Case studies.
Genres: Case studies.
Description: An ethnographic study of deinstitutionalisation, this book explores the lives of women living in a locked ward within a large institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Kelley Johnson describes, in rich and carefully observed detail, the lives of the women in the institution largely through their own stories and experiences. The closure of this institution gave her a unique opportunity to closely examine the impact of deinstitutionalisation on these women. The book raises a number of broad questions about our understanding of disability. It considers the role of professional views of intellectual disability in shaping perceptions. It also looks at the process of deinstitutionalisation, with its paradoxical discourse of rights and management. Finally the book's feminist analysis brings insight to the ways in which institutionalised women are not only locked out of society, but out of their lives as women as well.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-208) and index.