APS 432 Disability and Society

This text presents the background, results and conclusions of a major cross-cultural applicability study of the revised version of the WHO's International Classification of Functioning and Disability (ICIDH-2), adopted in 2001, and used in 191 countries. Like the related ICD-10 did for diseases, ICIDH-2 is expected to revolutionize care of disabilities.

In many African countries, mental health issues, including the burden of serious mental illness and trauma, have not been adequately addressed. These essays shed light on the treatment of common and chronic mental disorders, including mental illness and treatment in the current climate of economic and political instability, access to health care, access to medicines, and the impact of HIV-AIDS and other chronic illness on mental health. While problems are rampant and carry real and devastating consequences, this volume promotes an understanding of the African mental health landscape in service of reform.

Culture and Mental Health takes a critical look at the research pertaining to common psychological disorders, examining how mental health can be studied from and vary according to different cultural perspectives. Introduces students to the main topics and issues in the area of mental health using culture as the focus Emphasizes issues that pertain to conceptualization, perception, health-seeking behaviors, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment in the context of cultural variations Reviews and actively encourages the reader to consider issues related to reliability, validity and standardization of commonly used psychological assessment instruments among different cultural groups Highlights the widely used DSM-IV-TR categorization of culture-bound syndromes

'Black and minority ethnic communities lack confidence in mental health services',according to the National Service Framework for Mental Health published by the Department of Health in 1999. Cultural Diversity, Mental Health and Psychiatryexamines how and why this situation has come about, and makes specific practical, often surprising, suggestions for changing the status quo. In his latest and most critical analysis, Suman Fernando reflects on the current situation in light of his own personal experience, academic research and anecdotal reports. He weaves together themes of immense importance for the future of psychiatry and mental health services in a multi-cultural setting.

At the heart of this volume is the recognition that childrens engagement with play and story are intrinsically and intricately linked. The contributing authors share a passionate interest in the development and well-being of children, in particular through their use of imagination and adaptation of the everyday into play and stories. Following these principles, the volume explores the connections between play, story, and pretense with regard to many cultural and contextual factors that influence the way these elements vary in children¿s lives. In a departure from earlier collections on play and story, the authors take a particular focus on normative as compared with atypical development.

Theories of social justice are necessarily abstract, reaching beyond theparticular and the immediate to the general and the timeless. Yet suchtheories, addressing the world and its problems, must respond to thereal and changing dilemmas of the day. A brilliant work of practicalphilosophy, Frontiers of Justice is dedicated to this proposition. Takingup three urgent problems of social justice neglected by current theoriesand thus harder to tackle in practical terms and everyday life, MarthaNussbaum seeks a theory of social justice that can guide us to aricher, more responsive approach to social co-operation.

Presenting thirteen essays, editors James C. Wilson and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson unite the fields of disability studies and rhetoric to examine connections between disability, education, language, and cultural practices. The contributors span a range of academic fields including English, education, history, and sociology. Several contributors are themselves disabled or have disabled family members. While some essays included in this volume analyze the ways that representations of disability construct identity and attitudes toward the disabled, other essays use disability as a critical modality to rethink economic theory, educational practices, and everyday interactions.