From Comparison to Indices: A disabling perspective on the history of happiness

Y. Söderfeldt, P. Verstraete

Abstract


Who should be considered the most unhappy, the blind or the deaf? The intensive debate over this issue in the early 19th century is the outset of our study of how during the last two hundred years disability and happiness have become inextricably connected. On the basis of our historical analysis we have identified characteristics that also can be found in current happiness interpretations, namely the persistent role played by activation, professional intervention, and alignment with normative behaviors. In order to highlight this intimate connection between past and present we subsequently focus on the contemporary preoccupation with the happiness of people with disabilities, exemplified by research on the so-called “disability paradox” and the development of happiness indices within the behavioral sciences. Our thesis is that applying perspectives from disability studies to happiness research uncovers processes of exclusion and other modalities of power previously overlooked. In our examples, we recognize a desire to lay bare the inside of disabled people’s minds and impose on them un/happy subjectivities. We furthermore argue that the way we think of, and treat, both disability and happiness, i. e. by systematization and professionalization, belongs to a rationalization process which risks colonizing the emotional realm of disabled people. Thus we suggest a research program that ‘dis/ables’ happiness studies and, aided by historical analysis, reconsiders the emotional dimension of disability.

Keywords


disability studies; deaf education; blind education; disability history; happiness

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ahmed, S. (2007/2008). The happiness turn. New Formations 63, 7-14.

Ahmed, S. (2004). The cultural politics of emotion, Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.

Ahmed, S. (2010). The promise of happiness, Durham, UK: Duke University Press.

Albrecht, G. L. & Devlieger, P. J. (1999). The disability paradox: high quality of life against all odds. Social Science and Medicine, 48,977-988.

Baynton, D. Disability and the justification of inequality in American history. In P. Longmore & L. Umansky (eds.) The new disability history. American perspectives (pp. 33-82). New York, NY: New York University Press.

Berthier, F. (1837). Lettre à Pierre Armand Dufau, Le sourd-muet et l’aveugle, tôme premier. Bruges, Belgium: Vandecasteele-Werbrouck.

Bézagy-Deluy, M. (1990). L’abbé de l’Epée. Instituteur gratuity des sourds et muets 1712-1789. Paris, France: Seghers.

Blindenvriend (1939). Op den trein. Sint-Lutgardisblad. Katholiek Vlaamsch driemaandelijks tijdschrift voor blinden en blindenvrienden, 4(2), 17-22.

Bowling, A., Seetai, S., Morris, R., & Ebrahim, S. (2007). Quality of life among older people with poor functioning. The influence of perceived control over life. Age and Ageing 36, 310-315

Bruno, Marie-Aurélie, Jan L. Bernheim, Didier Ledoux, Frédéric Pellas, Athena Demertzi and Steven Laureys. (2011). A survey on self-assessed well-being in a cohort of chronic locked-in syndrome patients: happy majority, miserable minority,” BMJ Open 2011;1:e000039. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2010-000039

Burch, S. (2005). Disability history: Suggested readings -- An annotated bibliography. The Public Historian, 27(2),63-74.

Dreves, F. (1998). Leider zum grössten Theile Bettler geworden … Organisierte Blindenfür-sorge in Preussen zwischen Aufklärung und Industrialisiering. Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany: Rombach Verlag.

Dufau, P. A. (1837). Essai sur l’état physique, moral et intellectuel des aveugles. Paris, France: L’Imprimerie Royale.

Education of the Blind. (1833). The New-England Magazine, IV(Jan-Jun), 177-187.

Estermann, A. (2012). Inhaltsanalytische Bibliographien deutscher Kulturzeitschriften des 19. Jahrhunderts – IBDK. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter.

Fellinghauer, B., Reinhardt, J. D., Stucki, G., & Bickenbach, J. (2012). Explaining the disabil-ity paradox: a cross-sectional analysis of the Swiss general population. BMC Public Health. 12 (655). doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-655

Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry, 8,777-795.

Foucault, M. (1983). On the genealogy of ethics: An overview of work in progress. In H. L. Dreyfus & P. Rabinow, Michel Foucault: beyond structuralism and hermeneutics, second edition with an afterword by and an interview with Michel Foucault (pp. 231-232). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Gessinger, J. (1994). Auge & Ohr. Studien zur Erforschung der Sprache am Menschen 1700-1850. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter.

Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma; notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Green C. W., & Reid, D. H. (1996). Defining, validating, and increasing indices of happiness among people with profound multiple disabilities. Journal of Applied Behavior Analy-sis, 29(1), 67-78.

Green C. W., & Reid, D. H. (1999). A behavioral approach to identifying sources of happi-ness and unhappiness among individuals with profound multiple disabilities. Behavior Modification, 23(2),280-93.

Guillié, S. (1817). Essai sur l’instruction des aveugles, ou exposé analytique des procédés employés pour les instruire. Paris, France: Imprimé par les Aveugles.

Habermas, J. (1981) Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns. Vol. II. Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft. Frankfurt a. M., Germany: Suhrkamp.

Hartman, A. (1817) De l’état de l’aveugle-né, comparé à celui du sourd-muet, soit qu’on les suppose l’un et l’autre isolés et abandonnés à eux-même sur une île déserte, soit qu’ils se trouvent au milieu de leurs concitoyen dans l’indigence ou dans l’aisance. Bruxelles, Belgium: Imprimerie P.J. De Mat.

Hopkins, D., McKie, L. Watson, N. & Hughes, B. (2005). The Problem of emotion in care: contested meanings from the disabled people’s movement and the feminist movement. In H. Flam & D. King (eds.) Emotions and social movements (pp. 119-134). New York, NY: Routledge.

Howe, S. G. (1837). On the Education of the Blind. The lectures delivered before the Ameri-can Institute of Instruction in Boston, August 1836. Including the journal of proceedings and a list of the officers (pp. 3-26). Boston, MA: American Institute of Instruction.

Ivancic, M. T., & Barrett, G. T. (1997). A replication to increase happiness indices among some people with profound multiple disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabili-ties18(1), 79-89.

Trent, J. W. Jr. (1994). Inventing the feeble mind.- A history of mental retardation in the United States. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Jantzen, W. (2003). "...die da dürstet nach Gerechtigkeit" : De-Institutionalisierung in einer Großeinrichtung der Behindertenhilfe. Berlin: Wissenschaftsverlag Volker Spiess.

Keseman, J.H. (1824). Over den staat van den doofstomme, vergeleken met dien van den blindgeborenen. Groningen, Netherlands: R.J. Schierbeek.

Kinniburgh, R. (1840) The uneducated deaf and dumb. The Scottish Christian Herald. 75, 353-356.

Koch, T. (1998). The illusion of paradox. Social Science & Medicine, 50(6), 757-9; 761-2.

Kruse, O. F. (1853). Ueber Taubstumme, Taubstummen-Bildung und Taubstummen-Anstalten; nebst Notizen aus meinem Reisetagebuche. Schleswig, Germany: Otto Kruse.

Kudlick, C. J. (2003). Disability history: Why we need another 'other'. American Historical Review 108, 763 – 93.

Lancioni, G. E., O’Reilly, M. F., Singh, N. N., Oliva, D., & Groeneweg, J. (2002). Impact of stimulation versus microswitch-based programs on indices of happiness of people with profound multiple disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities 23, 149-160.

Lancioni, G. E., O’Reilly, M. F., Singh, N. N., Oliva, D., Campodonico, F., & Groeneweg, J. (2003). Stimulation and microswitch-based programs for enhancing indices of happi-ness: a maintenance assessment. Behavioral Intervention, 18, 53-61.

Lancioni, G. E., Singh, N. N., O’Reilly, M. F., Oliva, & Basili, G. (2005). An overview of research on increasing indices of happiness of people with severe/profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation, 27(3), 83-89.

Longmore, P., (2003). Elizabeth Bouvia, assisted suicide, and social prejudice. The resistance: The disability rights movement and assisted suicide. In idem, Why I burned my book and other essays on disability (pp. 149-203). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Maes, B., Lambrechts, G., Hostyn, I., & Petry, K. (2007). Quality-enhancing interventions for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: A review of the empirical research literature. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability 32(3), 163-178.

Markström, U. (2003). Den svenska psykiatrireformen: bland brukare, eldsjälar och byråkrater. Umeå, Sweden: Boréa bokförlag.

McMahon, D. (2006). Happiness. A history. New York, NY: Grove Press.

Moller, D. (2011). Wealth, disability, and happiness. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 39, 177–206. doi: 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2011.01205

Morgan, M. (1977). Molyneux’s question: Vision, touch and the philosophy of perception. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Orpen, C. E. H. (1836). Anecdotes and annals of the deaf and dumb (2nd ed. ). London, UK: Robert H.C. Tims.

Pablasek, M. (1867). Die Fürsorge für die Blinden von der Wiege bis zum Grabe. Die Erziehung, der Unterricht, die Beschäftigung und Versorgung derselben. Vom rationellen, humanen und staatsrechtlichen Standpunkt beleuchtet. Wien, Austria: Beck’sche Universitäts-Buchhandlung.

Parsons, M. B., Reid, D. H., Bentley, E., & Lattimore, L. P. (2012). Identifying indices of happiness and unhappiness among adults with autism: potential targets for behavioral assessment and intervention. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 5(1), 15-25.

Persson, L-O., & Rydén, A. (2006). Themes of effective coping in physical disability: an interview study of 26 persons who have learnt to live with their disability. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science, 20, 355-363.

Philo. (1802). A comparative view of the disadvantages attending deprivation of sight and loss of hearing. The Monthly Magazine or British Register, XIV:II (91), 100-105.

Rée, J. (1999). I see a voice: Deafness, language and the senses – a philosophical history. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Riis, J., Loewenstein, G., Baron, J., & Jepson, C. (2005). Ignorance of hedonic adaptation to hemodialysis: a study using ecological momentary assessment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134(1), 3-9.

Rush, K. S., Crockett, J. L., & Hagopian, L. P. An analysis of the selective effects of NCR with punishment targeting problem behavior associated with positive affect. Behavior-al Interventions 16, 127-135.

Salkever, S. G. (1978). Rousseau and the concept of happiness. Polity, 11(1), 27-45.

Scherr, I. T. (1827) Zwei Abende unter den Zöglingen der Blindenanstalt in Zürich, im Früh-jahr, 1826. Ein poetischer Versuch zur Beantwortung der Frage, ob der Blinde oder der Taubstumme mehr zu beklagen sey. Zürich, Switzerland: Orell, Füßli und Compagnie.

Schuber, M. (1986). Begründung des deutschen Blindenbildungswesens. Entstehung und Entwicklung des deutschen Blindenbildungswesens in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahr-hunderts. Frankfurt a. M., Germany: Peter Lang.

Ubel P. A., Loewenstein G., Schwartz N., & Smith D (2005a). Misimagining the unimagina-ble: the disability paradox and health care decision making. Health Psychology 24(4), S57-S62.

Ubel P. A., Loewenstein G., & Jepson, C. (2005b). Disaqbility and sunshine: can hedonic predictions be improved by drawing attention to focusing illusions or emotional adap-tation? Journal of Experimental Psychology:Applied, 11(2), 111-123.

Verstraete, P. (2009). The politics of activity: emergence and development of educational programs for people with disabilities between 1750 and 1860. History of Education Review, 38(1), 78-90.

Viemerö, V., & Krause, C. (1998). Quality of life in individuals with physical disabilities. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 67:317-322.

Weygand, Z. (2003). Vivre sans voir. Les aveugles dans la société française, du Moyen Age au Siècle de Louis Braille. Paris, France: Créaphis.

Wines, F. H. (1888). Deafness and blindness compared. American Annals of the Deaf, XXXIII (3): 226-227.

Zames Fleischer, D. & Zames, F. (2011). The disability rights movement: from charity to confrontation. Philadephia, PA: Temple University Press.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/hcs.2013.134

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share