Hero, mentee, or one of us? Social construction of the “we” and “they” categories in the discourse of the disabled people’s assistants Cover Image

Osoba niepełnosprawna: bohater, podopieczny czy jeden z nas? Konstruowanie społecznych kategorii swojskości i obcości w wypowiedziach pracowników(...)
Hero, mentee, or one of us? Social construction of the “we” and “they” categories in the discourse of the disabled people’s assistants

Author(s): Ewa Nowicka, Małgorzata Głowacka-Grajper
Subject(s): Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life
Published by: Kancelaria Sejmu
Keywords: discourse; social constructions; disabled; strangers; we-group;

Summary/Abstract: In the paper the authors deal with the issue of the perception of people with disabilities by people working as their assistants. They compare two assistance programs for people with disabilities – the program of the city of Warsaw and the program of the Office for People with Disabilities at the University of Warsaw. The authors show that in the assistants’ statements one can find three images of “strangeness” of people with disabilities and analyze in details their content. Only one of them is a picture showing a social inclusion, and two others – although they seem to be positive – create distance between people with disabilities and the rest of society.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 67–93
  • Page Count: 27