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Pathologising

B

I'm just going to quote myself here from the Terminology thread:

" ... a lot of things I grew up believing were just a normal part of being human have names and are actually now labelled a 'condition' or 'disorder'.

I think I must now have about 20 conditions and disorders I wasn't aware of until recently.

It feels as though everything is being neatly put into boxes."

I read this article the other day

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-special-needs-racket-is-out-of-control/

(if a box comes up + it looks like you can't read the article, you can close the box down and read still).

I'm really undecided what I think about all this.

When I was younger I had 'anxiety' put on my medical records and I was very surprised as I thought everyone got anxious, although I'd been given meds to deal with it.

Anyway, I later heard about 'general anxiety disorder' and I still can't make my mind up about whether anxiety is just part of the human condition.

Do others have views on these thoughts?

Are too many things being pathologised and defined these days?

Parents

  • There are two different topics here - there is pathologising everything and then there is the article about schools. 

    The article has kind of got my ire up because it's is full to the brim with misinformation. I know from being the Chairperson of my school council (which is in Scotland), that all pupils get for being identified as special needs, is a plan. That's it. No extra money for the school, no extra tuition. Even if half the class needs extra help, the teacher doesn't get any extra assistance. I personally questioned the council on the zoom call, and yeah, that is all the teacher gets. So the author of the article implying parents are getting their kids diagnosed simply for a benefit;

    "Children are routinely being made out to be disabled in some way – either because their schools want more money or because their sharp-elbowed parents want them to have some advantage."

    Frankly, the author has a daughter that has real difficulties and unless anyone has a child as disabled, he doesn't count them and it's actively attacking the idea they are allowed to have anything wrong with them and shouldn't be allowed and allowances. I think his attitude is disgusting frankly.

    I do think there are a lot of conditions and I don't need labels for all of mine, but that article will lead to an attack on disabled people who aren't visiblely disabled.

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I will correct myself, there is one child who gets extra help, but they are so profoundly autistic and learning disabled they didn't learn to talk till they were seven and has a host of other issues/needs. Yet they are doing good in a regular school with their own learning assistant. I'm guessing the author of the article would deign to allow this from his ivory tower.

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  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I will correct myself, there is one child who gets extra help, but they are so profoundly autistic and learning disabled they didn't learn to talk till they were seven and has a host of other issues/needs. Yet they are doing good in a regular school with their own learning assistant. I'm guessing the author of the article would deign to allow this from his ivory tower.

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